"¡Ay, Dios,
ayúdame, que me muero de mambo!"
"Ismael
Miranda - Live From San Juan, Puerto Rico",
2001, Universal Music Latino
Reviewed
by
I love salsa - all kinds,
from any country, and from any decade. I listen daily
to both the classics, and the very new. This space has
been generously allotted to me to give exposure to those
talented and deserving musicians who are the ones that
are taking this music I love into the future.
It is to these musicians
that I offer my humble apology, because more than two
months have passed since my last review. Yes, life is
complicated, and we all have more things to do than time
in which to do them, but this is not the only reason
I have taken so long to start writing again. I have another
excuse: "Ismael Miranda - Live From San Juan,
Puerto Rico".
If salsa is your passion, and you do
not yet have this CD, then I have two words for you: "Get it."
Then I'm sure you'll understand
my little vacation into Mambo Heaven.
If you are just discovering salsa (where
have you been?), then I have three words for you: "Get
it now."
I want you to know from the
start, what is great salsa, what is "CLAVE",
what is "SONEO" and what is "SABOR"!
"Ismael Miranda -
Live From San Juan" is a salsa jewel. Perhaps
for me it is, in part, because listening and dancing
to it brings back so many memories. The 2-CD set is a
recording of Ismael's "comeback to salsa" concert
in November, 2000 at the Arena at Pier 10 in San Juan
after 5 years of singing mostly boleros. It is mainly
a compilation of his major hits of the 70's, and it was
during this decade that I first became acquainted with
salsa and with Puerto Rico. But this CD is much more
than a trip down memory lane. Miranda has been "soneando"
(singing salsa lead) for 35 years, and his wonderful
tenor voice is still as clear as a bell, and as powerful
as when he started. There are some moments when it will
pierce not only your eardrums, but also your soul. Listen
to the one bolero on the album, "Todo de Mi".
It is exquisite.
It must have been wonderful
to experience that concert live. Lucky for us, and for
the rest of the world, the CD is a close second to being
there. The recording is superb - one of the best live
recordings I have ever heard. The sound is as crisp and
as rich as any good studio recording, but with all the
electricity of a live performance. Ismael chats and jokes
with his audience, and gives a short historical intro
to many of the songs. Then he sings his heart out for
his fans, and they in turn, eat it up and beg for more.
You can just imagine them dancing in the aisles.
But then, who would not dance
to such a phenomenal band? The group of musicians that
Miranda has assembled for this performance is SO FINE,
that it would be a terrible injustice to mention just
a few. Please pay special attention to the list of band
members at the end of this review, for these are names
you should remember.
All the songs are delivered
with "big band" punch, thanks to an especially
magnificent horn section, a "sabroso" (full
of flavor) piano and tres, and percussion and bass with
"clave caliente " (hot afro-latin rhythm) to
carry it through to perfection.
In "Mi Mami Me Quiere",
the longest single cut, the band really shows it's stuff.
Hey, guys! You could have gone on playing for 8 MORE
minutes, or maybe 16! After all, this is how you do it
on my personal "mambo-mobile" tape recording
- 3 sets of "Mi Mami Me Quiere", 2 of the Miranda-Harlow
medley, and 1 1/2 "Maria Luisa" 's gets me
to work on the worst traffic days with no problem!
I guess you could surmise
by my mention of the above 3 songs, that these are my
favorites. Well, yes and no - but only because my favorite
is WHATEVER song is playing from this CD at any given
moment!
"Abran Paso/Revolución/Arsenio"
makes me wish that Ismael Miranda and Larry Harlow would
get together again (HINT, HINT!) This medley
is a great reminder that their collaboration was one
of the best, and one of the most important forces in
the history of salsa. More than this, the lyrics and
the music are as fresh and dynamic as they were 30 years
ago. Great salsa is just like any other music - it is
timeless.
The singers in Miranda's
back-up chorus deserve special mention here; their singing
is wonderful throughout the entire CD, but listen to
their chords in "Arsenio" - pure heaven!
"Maria Luisa" is,
as Ismael says, the one woman who has followed him around
for more than 30 years, and it's easy to understand why
- I DARE you not to dance your feet off to this one.
Any self-respecting salsero or salsera would reach frenzy
level by the time the "coro" kicks in… "Mari
Bele Bele Bele Bele -- ¡Eso no se le hace a nadie!"
* * *
I have never believed in
ratings. I don't like putting tags on things, especially
not music. There are so many types and levels of talent
out there! You can find real gems, even in a very badly
produced CD. However, there are some CDs that you can
recognize immediately as the epitome of great music.
These are the ones that you know you will never tire
of, the ones that will keep you dancing for days, for
months, and for years. These are the ones that show the
world what is so magically addictive about our favorite
music. "Ismael Miranda - Live From San Juan,
Puerto Rico" does just that. So I have decided
that it's time to break my own rule.
Henceforth, whenever you see this title
on a CD review of mine: "Ay, Diós,
ayúdame que me muero de mambo." you will know that
I have had another extreme salsa attack, and the only way I could get
out of it, and move on, was to share it with you!
¡Qué viva la música!
Diane
Ismael Miranda - Live
From San Juan, Puerto Rico
Executive Producers:
Ismael Miranda and Gilberto Santa Rosa
Recording Engineer: Ronnie
Torres
Musicians:
Charlie Sierra - Timbal
Sammy García - Conga
Richard Carrasco - Bongó
Leni Priete - Piano
Pedro Pérez - Bass
Elías Lópes - Trumpet
Efren Rodríguez - Trumpet
Vicente Castillo - Trumpet
Miguel Rivera - Trombone
Gamalier González - Trombone
Daniel García - Chorus
Wichie Camacho - Chorus
Louis García - Tres & Musical Director
This page was last updated
on
22-Jan-2005
