Matt
Unbelievable but true this album which is one of the all time Latin Jazz classics was recorded in less than six hours and sounds as fresh and joyous as you could want.They rolled the tape,you get studio banter and rev ups at the begining of tracks and away they go. Sixteen was the band number ( 6 vocalists,10 instumentalists) and to put this down with such precision is a remarkable feat. Charlie Palmieri is the Leader his younger brother was Eddie but that is for another time as his career is just as good as Charlie's as both are Latin Giants which actually was Charlie's nick name "The Giant of the Keyboards" and he sure was.
Volume three in the series and first up we have "Yumbambe" which is one Descarga you will be able to sing along and dance with because after the quickest intro on piano by Charlie it is one great Latin explosion of rythmn,"Yumbabe" repeated over and over and two solos you get. "Jose (Chombo)" on Tenor sax and along comes comes one screaming trumpet solo and what is always a pleasure with Latin music nobody is precious about their solos and placing bits within them is simply standard practice.Track 2 is "Sono Sono and has a Cuban structure within the song.The technical term for the rythmn is a "Guaguanco" as the percussion is employed for nearly half the song at the begining which quickly kicks into one driving Son tune with repetition of the title employed by the vocalists and solos of every delight thrown in over the top.trumpet tenor sax and some terrific trombone are the components. Track 3 is a Bolero so grab your gorlfriend or wife, get them up for a dance and hold them tight. Smoochy and romantic of course and the name of this Bolero is "Hay Que Vivir El Momento",( It is Necesary to Live The Moment ) . Then we have another Descarga with the title "Kako Y Palmieri" and is my favourite of the album with a real drive in the rythmn section and Bobby Rodriguez on Bass gets to do his stuff. Kako plays Timbales and you sure know he was present. Charlie shows also the reason he was The Giant on piano. Eight tracks in all were recorded and everyone is a delight the B side of the record had a" Guijara","Bolero" and two more "Descargas" which gives the album four in total and really they are the show stealers.
Why can't they make music like this anymore. This band put ther ass right out and showed that great music is fresh music and the calibre of the musicians cannot be overrated.
The cover is designed by Izzy Sanabria and what a Classic it is. There is truth about the tapes missing but they were just filed wrongly when they were discovered