THE JAZZ CHILL CORNER REISSUES FROM RAY BARRETTO - LA CUNA; ESTHER PHILLIPS - FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM; ERIC GALE - FORECAST |  |
- REISSUES FROM RAY BARRETTO - LA CUNA; ESTHER PHILLIPS - FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM; ERIC GALE - FORECAST
- NEW RELEASES - LINDA SEDIO, LISA DONNA, DIAN S. MEECHAI
- NEW RELEASES FROM - ART BLAKELY, ADMAD JAMAL, FOX CAPTURE PLAN
- THE SOUNDS OF REGGAE & SKA FROM WINSTON APPLE AND THE TWO TONES
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Posted: 19 Dec 2013 06:58 PM PST
RAY BARRETTO - LA CUNA - FEATURING TITO PUENTE / CHARLIE PALMIERI / JOE FARRELL / JOHN TROPEA / STEVE GADD
Digitally remastered by Chris Herles (Sony Music Studios, New York). Producer Creed Taylor has inspired everything from praise to anger among jazz fans. His work has been brilliant at times, detrimental at others (his worst flaw being a tendency to overproduce). Taylor plays a mostly positive role on La Cuna, a jazz-oriented effort uniting Ray Barretto with such first-class talent as Tito Puente (timbales) and the late Joe Farrell (tenor & soprano sax, flute). As slick as things get at times on La Cuna (originally released on vinyl by Taylor's CTI label and reissued on CD in 1995), Taylor wisely gives the players room to blow on everything from the haunting "Doloroso" and the driving "Cocinando" (a piece by Carlos Franzetti that shouldn't be confused with Barretto's major salsa/cha-cha hit) to a somewhat Gato Barbieri-ish take on Mussorgsky's "The Old Castle." Barretto successfully moves into soul territory on Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise" (which rapper Coolio recast as his hit "Gangsta's Paradise" in 1994). Barretto may hate the term "Latin jazz," but make no mistake: La Cuna is one of his most memorable contributions to that genre. ~ Alex Henderson 2013 Japanese pressing BLU-SPEC CD. Remastered. CTI Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, New Jersey in August 1979. Includes liner notes by Arnold Jay Smith. Personnel: Ray Barretto (congas, percussion); Willy Torres (vocals); Joe Farrell (tenor & soprano saxophones, flute); Carlos Franzetti (piano); Charlie Palmieri (piano, percussion); Jeremy Wall, Suzanne Ciani (synthesizers); John Tropea (guitar); Francisco Centeno (bass); Steve Gadd, Mark Craney (drums); Tito Puente (timbales). ~ cduniverse.com |
