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LP
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GR 038LP
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Manteca, the London Latin jazz/salsa funk combo, are back with a first-time vinyl release of their brilliant digital album Oye from 2014. Oye is a collection of heavy-duty Latin music that reaches well beyond the standard salsa or Cuban dance-band style, appealing to anyone and everyone, from mambo dancers to B-boys, jazz brothers to soul sisters! Led by Colombian singer Martha Acosta and bassist Javier Fioramonti, who have played with everyone from Roberto Pla and Candela, to Alex Wilson's groups and Salsa Celtica, as well as backing Latin legends such as Joe Bataan, Jack Costanzo, Henry Fiol and Azuquita, this band really cooks! "Que Pasa" is smoking Latin funk, this will get your head nodding and foot tapping for sure. "Oye," a lovely mid-tempo Afrobeat/Latin jazz fusion number with punching brass and super-funky kit playing. There are three cover versions on the album: Horace Silver's "The Jody Grind," a 1960s Blue Note Records soul jazz classic. Manteca does it justice, taking the original and turning it into a heavy Mongo Santamaria style funky Latin soul belter. Sergio Mendes' "Groovy Samba" is also given the 1960s Mongo "Watermelon Man" style Latin soul jazz treatment. Very hip arrangement, and some fantastic brass soloing in there too. The last one is a brave choice. It's the timeless bolero standard "Como Fue," which the band plays beautifully. "Para Pello" ("For Pello"), a conga-style big percussive beat that evolved from Afro-Cuban street carnivals. Secondly, "Bomba Chevere", a blend of Puerto Rican bomba and Colombian cumbia. The big Afro-Cuban track of the album is "Descarga China", which has two different mixes. One is a descarga funk mix with some heavyweight kit playing and smoking trumpet soloing, while the other is a more straight-ahead Latin jam with Javier's upright bass playing underpinning the whole number in a very Cachao way. Big shouts to the whole band, which features some of the best musicians from the London Latin music scene of the last three decades. This London Latin music gem has been crying out for a vinyl release for over a decade. At last, it's here. Slap it on the turntable, drop the needle on track one, turn the volume up, press play and be ready to dance. Standing still is NOT an option!
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LP
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EM 1079LP
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Born and raised in Cuba, Lazaro Pla was a master "bongosero" known world-wide as Manteca. This vinyl reissue of Ritmo y Sabor, a mid-'70s rarity, features 35 minutes of percussion madness that will please any and all interested in pure, deep Latin music. Heavy, relentless yet limber bass-driven grooves are the order of the day, featuring Manteca's percussive extrapolations as well as the irresistible contributions of Nelson 'El Flaco' Pardon on timbales and Carlos 'Potato' Valdez on congas. Manteca was a featured performer with pianist Ernesto Lecuona, acknowledged as Cuba's greatest composer; Manteca's dazzling work can be found on recordings with Lecuona's Cuban Boys, as well as sideman work with other Cuban combos. His recorded output as leader and featured soloist is limited, however, so this LP, with its no-nonsense old-school rootsy production is a blessing, a chance to hear the master in full flight. Two vinyl sides of Afro-Cuban funk paradise from renowned legend Manteca!
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