Rating:
Genre:
Latin
Release Date: 06/29/2004
After percussionist/composer
Roberto Juan Rodriguez's stunning
Tzadik debut,
El Danzon de Moises, he turns once more to his now trademark meld of
Latin and
Jewish music. Featuring multi-instrumentalist
Matt Darriau on clarinet and trumpet (among other things), accordionist and Hammond B-3 whiz (strained through a Leslie, no less!)
Ted Reichman, trombonist
Curtis Hasselbring, violinists
Meg Okura and
Sam Bardfeld, cellist
Mary Wooten,
Brad Jones on the
traditional bajo, and guest
Roberto Luis Rodriguez on everything from trumpet to valve trombone,
Baila! Gitano Baila! is a
tour de force of swirling old-world
Jewish melodies and
Latin rhythms and harmonics with an occasional
mariachi touch thrown in for good measure. All but one of the album's ten tracks were composed by
Rodriquez. First there's the
klezmer cum Cuban
son orgy of
"Wolfie's Corner," followed by the sweet pasodobles/
mariachi dance processional that is
"Paseo del Prado." Then there's the funky
meringue meets wedding dance whirl of the title track. But the album's pearl is its final cut, a radical reworking of
Naftule Brandwein's
"Turkish-Bulgarish," where
gypsy street music meets
Afro-Cuban strut. This tune burns and is akin in spirit and feel to
Santana's
"Soul Sacrifice," and lasts over 11 minutes.
Baila! Gitano Baila! is a musical and transcultural journey of delight, surprise, humor, and elegance.
Rodriguez is an arranger who understands the subtleties in blending two seemingly different musics seamlessly, and he also tosses the blatant differences into the mix to his advantage. This music swings, sweeps, swirls, weeps, moans, and laughs until the tears fall. The secret is in neither
Latin nor
Jewish but rather in the groove; he gets it from the ground and screws it down, down, down into the bloodstream of the astonished listener.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
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