OCOTE SOUL SOUNDS & ADRIAN QUESADA: ‘EL NINO Y EL SOL’ (AIRE SOL RECORDS, US IMPORT)
When multi-instrumentalists Martin Perna and Adrian Quesada (co-founders, respectively, of NYC’s Afrobeat kings Antibalas and Austin’s nu-latin trailblazers Grupo Fantasma) met, sparks were sure to fly. And fly they do on this imaginary movie soundtrack, put together by the guys in an Austin studio during Martin’s forced, extended sleepover (due to serious automobile breakdown problems!). This is modern jazz-funk that takes its time, nothing too hurried, overtones of afro, latin, Blue Note, deep funk and hip hop. Equally great for club play or kicking back chez vous. Not easy to put your hands on a copy in the ol’ UK, I’m afraid (so, what’s new?), but check both mothership websites – http://www.antibalas.com and http://www.grupofantasma.com – as well as http://www.ocotesoulsounds.com – for news of where, how, when, etc.

LATINO CON ALMA – THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR BAD LATIN MUSIC!
Many of you know my views on salsa dance classes- nothing against them per se, you understand, we all have to make a living… But over the years, they’ve distracted attention from where attention should be – on the music itself – and focused on the technical aspects of dancing and ditzy , Catskills –esque cabaret displays, etc – in other words, what most true salseros would call the incidentals.

This has an unfortunate knock-on effect with the musical quality: obviously, hard-pushed salsa session –players need to make a living, too, and feeding the dance-class market has tended to water down the soul of afrolatin dance music. At its worst, there are rashes of tacky latino boy-band vocalists (with too many shares in hair-gel, chest-wig and lycro manufacturing corporations) and just plain silly projects – for instance, who remembers that pointless ‘Beatles Go Tropical’ set some years back?

The result of all this is that (in the States, in any event) most dancers under 25 regard salsa as ‘mum’s music’, dismal, speed-dating soundtracks that must be at exactly the ‘right’ tempo, must be danced together, are preciously puritanical (few dance-classers seem to smoke or drink, for instance – unlike Colombia, Puerto Rico, Brazil or Cuba, where there is no bembe without rum, beer and smoke!), and so forth. The ultimate idiocy was something I witnessed at first hand when the stupendous Eddie Palmieri Orchestra played Hackney’s Ocean a few months back: I heard dancers complaining that Eddie’s tunes were too long for dancing purposes! What the hell is that about? This is music, for God’s sake!

But the flipside of all this is that there’s been a reaction from those who care, especially in NYC, San Fran, Los Angeles and Miami. It’s been called salsa dura, salsa old-school, salsa-swing, salsa y control : I think the best epithet’s latino con alma – no matter whether it’s salsa, deep latin house and hip hop, charanga, afrocuban jazzdance, Havana timba - with soul and heart. It usually has strong Afro- Cuban elements, lyrics that mean something, a touch of jazz comping in the keyboard and brass parts, and a vocalist who can go ‘off-script’ if required to do so (even if you don’t understand Spanish).

More than a little busy on the Apple’s latino con alma scene are my friends Oscar Poche and Carlos Ortiz.Apart from being a leading Latin House DJ, Oscar runs the latino promo and press side of Media Services NYC and Rumba Jams with Carlos. And on the evidence of their current workload, they only promote the best. Check my review of their ‘THE BIG THREE PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA –LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE’ in the Kilombo site link:essential, period.

AND HERE’S SOME MORE RUMBA JAMS NUGGETS…..

RICKY GONZALEZ: ‘OASIS’ (RUMBA JAMS)
Observant salseros will know Ricky as the MD./arranger of one of NYC’s top salsa dura outfits, Los Soneros Del Barrio. Although nominally a solo album, this is really Ricky as ringleader and fixer, leading a cast of New York’s most interesting and soulful latin musicians through ten burning arrangements of largely self-penned material.

And if you’re a DJ, you’ll know that, once every so often, there appears a tune that is so ‘right’, so on-the-ball, that you’ll have a queue of folk at the booth, pen and paper in hand : ‘What the hell was that?!’ One such is Ricky’s oh-so-correct version (with nu-skool rap, even) of Bobby Caldwell’s 70’s soul classic, ‘What You Won’t Do For Love’. English- language salsa is cool if the repertoire is right – which usually means great country and western, soul, and r & b classics, as opposed to dismal versions of equally-dismal English chart tunes (‘Lady In Red’ or ‘All Night Long’, anyone?).

In other words, tasteful. And the Caldwell is the ‘rightest’, the most tasteful I’ve heard since ‘The Telephone Song’ by Los Jovenes Del Barrio, from a few years back. Other highlights include Ray Vieira’s lead vocal on ‘ ‘Ya Era Tiempo’, Herman Olivera’s on ‘Es Mi Nueva York’ (and what a great composition that is, Ricky!), cameo appearances from Johnny Pacheco, El Canario, and the grand old man of Brooklyn/Bronx salsa, Jimmy Sabater . Latin jazz luminary Dave Valentin plays his inimitable, breathy flute solos on ‘Pair Of Aces’, - and whatever you do, don’t miss Cuban maestro Orestes Vilato’s timbales work on ‘Timbalero’. Yup – another must-buy, I’m afraid!

LOS MOCOSOS: ‘AMERICAN US’ (SIX DEGREES RECORDS)
What a pleasure to see such a fine comeback from this Mission District, San Fran, multinational latino funk/rock/rap institution, who’ve been off my radar since 1998’s classic ‘Mocos Locos’, which contained at least one all-time Chicano anthem, ‘Brown And Proud’.

‘American Us’ heralds a smoother production sound but no less apposite social/political comment. The big surprise is the opener, ‘Bandolera Era’, a cracking merengue that loops a rough pericao Dominican lick with some great rock/afro guitar – not too far from Juan Luis Guerra’s style, but more down’n’dirty. ‘Senor Presidente’ reseals the Mocos’ Chicano political credentials, but the out-and-out rocker for me is ‘Bacalao’, a salsa-rap with great bilingual lyrics, some nice brass arrangements, and a filthy tenor solo from Shorty Ramos. A welcome guest artist at this get-down is Cuban conguero Jesus Diaz (check Diaz’ two West Coast solo albums, ‘Caramelo’ and ‘Jardinero’ if you can still find them).

JOSE CONDE Y OLA FRESCA:’AY! QUE RICO’ (PIPIKI RECORDS)
Good Vibes is the only way to describe Cuban tresero/percussionist/vocalist Jose Conde’s fiesta en el solar. Son montuno, changui, funk mambo, cha cha cha rap, songo and samba all rub shoulders happily in a self-composed set that includes contributions from one of my own favourite fellow-DJs, DJ Spam, one of the leading ‘real’ latino jocks out there at present. The overall feel of Jon Fausty’s lovely, laid-back-and-natural production sound reminded me of West Africa’s mighty Africando more than once: nothing too hurried, just let the rum talk to the drums and everything will take care of itself…’Hands-off ‘salsa of the best kind!

ANTHONY BLEA Y SU CHARANGA:’VIRGEN DE CARIDAD’(HOPPING MAD)
No doubt about it: the West Coast has got Charanga down, and the New York players really need to catch up! Charanga Cubana, Fito Reynoso, Los Terry, Bobby Matos, John Santos – not all ‘pure’ Charanga artists, admittedly, but all ready and more than willing to bring modern influence and progression to this timeless combination of classical European instrumentation with African rhythm – and all West Coast based.

The cream of those players – and many more, including the legendary violinist Alfredo De La Fe – are assembled by Charanga violin phenomenon Anthony Blea for this impressive set of eight original compositions, ranging from the fiery ‘Virgen De La Caridad’ and ‘Disfruta La Vida’ to the more measured ‘Las Cosas De Mi China’.

Don’t confuse this with the stately danzon/cha cha cha Charanga of (for example) Orq. Aragon: this is Charanga that will rock any party, very Caribbean, great for dancing ‘close’ ( ‘Mabouya’-style as they say in the French Caribbean, the mabouya being a kind of lizard that sticks flat to the noonday, sunshine -soaked walls in the countryside). A fine antidote for that prissy ‘washing- machine’ dance style so popular at present!

JAZZ HAMILTON Y LAS ESTRELLAS DEL PUEBLO(title as group)(LA ROOSEVELT RECORDS)
Take a savvy New Jersey alto player/arranger (‘Jazz’’ Hamilton Sanchez), add a handful of classic 70s/80s Fania/Bronco/TH-Rodven-style salseros and soneros (Adalberto Santiago, Marvin Santiago, Luigi ‘El Ocho Negro’ Teixidor, Chamaco Rivera), sprinkle with a touch of underrated female vocals (the great Zaida Nieves), add a couple of Cuban luminaries for good measure ( J. P. Torres, Juancito Torres), stir well – and stand back.

A dream for classic 70s salsa ‘rumbon’ lovers, this 15-tracker also features one of the first ‘parental advisory’ salsa tunes, the cheeky ‘Deja Que La Gente Diga’, in both ‘original’ and ‘clean’ versions! Every cut’s a winner here – and it’s invigorating to hear the ol’ ‘Freshwater Shark’ himself – Marvin Santiago – in such fine vocal fettle, even though this must have been recorded just a few months before his untimely death after a long illness in October 2004. One for the Christmas salsa parties, no contest.

HENRI ‘KIKE’ GUEDON: BEST OF 70S AND EARLY 80S (COMET/NOCTURNE)
From the Paris label that brought us three achingly essential compilations of rare 60s/70s/80s Afro and Antillean beats comes this superb collection of the early sides from Martinique’s legendary conguero and percussionist. Fifteen tracks of spellbinding Afro-Cubano-Antillean dance and jazz, many of which were taken from two impossible-to-find 70s albums on tiny French labels (one of which was withdrawn after a few weeks’ release in any event, following a legal dispute).

‘Carnaval Nou’ is Santiago De Cuba carnival Mozambique transported momentarily to Fort-De-France, whilst ‘Negro Lucumi’ is a kind of Santeria-salsa. Thrilling stuff – save yourself the 500 Euros each that these two original albums have recently sold on e-Bay for, and treat yourself to Guedon’s totally unique brand of Caribbean jazzdance. (and while you’re there, check label co-boss Manu Boubli’s witty and funky collage of rare grooves, jazzy hip hop, West London broken beats, afro, latin and Blue Note classics, all in a great jacket full of in-jokes that gently parody the Hornby-esque world of rare record collectors: it’s called ‘RARE MOODS – PEACE IN DA NEIGHBORHOOD’, on the Comet label)

AND FINALLY FOR THE TIME BEING IN THE LATINO CON ALMA CHRONICLES…..

JIMMY BOSCH:’EL AVION DE LA SALSA’ (JRG RECORDS)
Every so often, a latinoconalma disc comes along that’s so damn good , I can’t listen to it all in one sitting or even give a considered and reflective critique of it. After, say, four tracks, I have to hit ‘eject’, have a sit-down, and reach for my medication, before plucking up the courage to return to the fray a few hours later. Such is ‘El Avion De La Salsa’, the great trombonist Jimmy Bosch’s first new product for five years – but trust me, it’s been more than worth the wait.

The all-star cast in this entirely self-produced and self-financed set (around 40 or more singers and musicians – count ‘em if you don’t believe me) slice their way through eleven smouldering and varied dance compositions like an Antarctic ice-cutter, leaving nothing to chance: guaguanco, charanga-descarga, mambo, plena, son montuno, bomba, it’s all grist to the fearsome Bosch mill. Too many stars to mention, and anyway, you just need to stop reading this now, go out and buy the damn record, and get a life!