Chico O’Farrill | Carambola – [Milestone, 2000]
Chico O'Farrill, Carambola
With 60 years of music making under his belt, the Cuban-born composer, arranger, and bandleader
Chico O’Farrill reigns as the dean of Latin jazz. After arriving in New York in 1948, he worked with
Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and
Machito.
Carambola, the maestro’s first CD of the 21st century, finds him in rare form. Old tunes like
“Carambola,” “Havana Blues,” and “
Crazy City (…But I Love It)” charge with a mambo-bebop fire. “
Waller Exercise” is a ragtime-stride,
New Orleans second-line ditty recorded to sound like a scratchy 78, while
“Rhapsody for Two Islands” is a Cubop shout to G
eorge Gershwin. The timeless vocals of
Graciela, the sister of
Machito and wife of
Mario Bauza, grace “
Oye Mi Rumba.” The CD’s high points, though, are O’Farrill’s extended compositions–his 1950 masterpiece, “
The Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite” with its mercurial, millennial mood, and “
The Aztec Suite.” Composed in 1959, the latter is featured on CD for the first time. Both numbers indulge peppery rumbas, bebop lines, boleros, and Afro syncopation’s with the touch of a master. Trumpeters
Phillip Michael Mossman and
Jim Seeley, trombonist
Papo Vazquez and alto saxophonist
Mario Rivera add their improvisations to the mix and make this aural offering one tasty Cuban-American dish. —
Eugene Holley Jr.
Check out “Afro Cuban Jazz Suite” performed by Chico and company on a clip from “Calle 54” the movie!
..:: Source: Amazon.com ::..
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