Latin Jazz Music

The best thing about this album is that it is honest. It is a true exploration of AfroCuban music with true rumberos. The interplay between the singing by Pedrito Martinez and the solo guitar and flute are very unique in that there is no coro section, which makes the music sparse and fertile for invention. This happens alot, especially on "Jete Dlo" which combines Dominican rhythms within rumba, and they pull it off very nicely. Needless to say that if you lean more towards rumba than this cd is chock full of excellent percussion. One thing i must add is that the percussionist on this album are the cream of the crop and are true rumberos (Gene Golden, Skip Burney, Pedrito Martinez, Nani Santiago)...props to Mark for selecting this group of rumberos/tamboleros to lay a rich foundation for Jean Paul Bourelly and himself to play both with the rhythm and on the rhythm...you really have to listen for yourself guaranteed you don't have anything like this in your collection...

This is one of my all-time favorite jazz albums. Sepulveda hails from Puerto Rico, put out a few solo albums 10-15 years back, played on countless sessions for other artists, and then nothing. Where is he and what happened to him? "Algo Nuestro" is absolutely his best. Picked it up in San Juan on a business trip back in 1994. One of the top 10 CDs in my collection. Have been listening to it coming on twelve years, so that should tell you something. Highly recommended, especially for Latin Jazz enthusiasts.

This is one of my all-time favorite jazz albums. Sepulveda hails from Puerto Rico, put out a few solo albums 10-15 years back, played on countless sessions for other artists, and then nothing. Where is he and what happened to him? "Algo Nuestro" is absolutely his best. Picked it up in San Juan on a business trip back in 1994. One of the top 10 CDs in my collection. Have been listening to it coming on twelve years, so that should tell you something. Highly recommended, especially for Latin Jazz enthusiasts.

Luis Ramirez was a major player in the New York latin music scene during the 1960's and 70's. He was mainly known as an arranger and composer of many hit songs. He was also a great percussionist and bandleader. His timbale work grazed many latin and jazz sides since at least the 1950's. He was also very able with the vibes.
This session, his second for the Fania label, has him covering a lot of ground musically. The band mixes boogaloo and tipico numbers.
The personnel are: Larry Spencer, Bobby Marin, Jimmy Sabater, Rudy Calzado, Willie Torres, the Latin Chords, and others.
Great little album. It's a great party records. "Lots of fun!"

Great set by Louie and his group. Some boogaloo numbers and some salsa (guaguanco, etc.) supported by hot playing. Get it!

By 1978,Maria Bethania had become a star of big leagues in Brazil and certain parts of the world.She had started her career at 17 in the show Opiniao which spawned the hit Carcara.She had also recorded with the likes of Vinicius de Moraes & Toquinho as well as Chico Buarque .Songs penned by Chico and her brother Caetano Veloso had taken her to the top in the Brazilian charts.
However,the year 1978 held a special stature definition for the woman who sold out shows in hours,yet rejected the label of superstar that many appropriately applied to her.A blockbuster full of soon to become standards such as NEGUE,RONDA and EXPLODE
CORACAO shipped platinum to brazilian stores in the fall of 78.It became her trademark album,her Sergeant Pepper's.Boasting creations by the creme de la creme of the MPB(Brazilian Popular Music),ALIBI the Lp catapulted Bethania into Queen of brazilian popular music ,a title she seemed to ignore.Now,behold the masterpiece,listen to it and understand this milestone recording's importance.The orgasmic compositions sung by that soothing contralto voice in it invite you to go in a journey of passion discovery,through jealousy ,often ending in betrayal,always for the sake of love.
Sit back and live through the songs Alibi,O meu amor,Ronda,Calice and others which confirmed what many supected :she was one of the most important figures in music ever.
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This is Bethania's great masterpiece, and the album that made her a superstar. One of her most successful releases -- both aesthetically and commercially. Soft, romantic jazz-pop balladry with tasteful and effectively understated keyboard-and-string arrangements throughout -- it's slick, but in a very good way. This is as good as her torch song style gets, and the album still holds up very well. Features a haunting version of Chico Buarque's "Calice," as well as the transcendently sweet duet with Gal Costa, "Sonho Meu."