GALLERY > BIOGRAPHY > ˇCUBANISMO!
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ABOUT ˇCUBANISMO! (CUBA) - A sizzling display of up-tempo big band Latin jazz dance rhythms with mind blowing solos - As the title indicates, The Very Best Of ˇCubanismo! - ˇMucho Gusto! collects the brightest of the many high points from ˇCubanismo!'s four Hannibal Records releases - Jesús Alemańy's ˇCubanismo! (1996), Malembe (1997), Reencarnación (1998), and Mardi Gras Mambo (2000) - and adds two previously unreleased covers - the Bob Marley/Peter Tosh classic "Get Up, Stand Up" (a live favorite, with legendary Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin guesting), and Marley's "Could You Be Loved" (with reggae singer Luciano contributing lead vocals). ˇCubanismo! launched the breakthrough of Cuban music into mainstream America with their self-titled 1996 debut. Fronted by bandleader Jesús Alemańy, the band quickly established their reputation as one of the tightest and most dynamic of the island's touring groups. Drawing it's membership from an extensive pool of talented musicians, the ensemble has an uncanny ability to marry Latin rhythms to a variety of musical styles, from New Orleans jazz and rhythm and blues to reggae, successfully blending the old with the new and fusing sounds from around the globe into a danceable musical form that is uniquely their own. Alemańy, a brilliant trumpeter, writer, arranger and musical director leads ˇCubanismo! through an irresistible blend of freewheeling dance tunes, traditional rumba, cha-cha, son, and lesser known danzon and pa'ca rhythms, with arrangements in the descarga (jam) tradition developed by Cuban jazz players of the 1940s. ˇCubanismo! - the expression - refers to something specifically Cuban or unique to the island and not common to the general Spanish culture of Latin America. Different from Latin jazz, ˇCubanismo!'s music is danceable from beginning to end - a celebration of the legacy of Cuban music and its influence on other dance styles around the world. At its heart is the Cuban son, which dates back to the turn of the century and is the root of much of the up-tempo international pop music, from African soukous to New York salsa. |