Tag Archives: Latin

Eric Olsen laments the loss of Salsa Queen Celia Cruz

Is it me, or is the Michelina’s TV ad the creepiest to air nationally in some time? First, a third-rate Ted Knight imitator newscaster (a bad imitation of a parody) comes on with breaking news about Michelina’s, then in a befuddling disjunction, a breeder-hipped woman on a treadmill in a …

Israel “Cachao” Lopez, 84 year old Cuban bass player who co-created the mambo over 60 years ago, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: [Cachao] received the walk’s 2,219th star Friday in front of the King King nightclub, where a Cuban band performed in his honor after the …

If I had to pick a single collection as an introduction to the glories of American jazz, I would have to go with Ken Burns’s Jazz collection, a remarkable greatest hits of jazz that functions as an Official History. But an exemplary Alternative History, especially of the period from the …

On Monday I told you about the freaking amazing concert Dawn (by the way, read this beautiful post, she rules) and I went to last weekend: Cordero and Los Lobos. The Cordero review is here but I wanted to take some time to think about Los Lobos and let the …

While I am not a crazy-go-nuts fan of the Indigo Girls, I sure am wild about Indigo Girl Amy Ray’s Daemon Records label. Her not-for-profit concern is as diverse as it is packed with quality. Ray’s own punk, indie-noise CD Stag is an eye-opener, and I also particularly enjoy the …

Great popularizer of Latin jazz and polyrhythms was 85: He was best known for his 1963 recording of Herbie Hancock’s song “Watermelon Man,” which became his first Top 10 hit. In 1959, Santamaria penned “Afro Blue,” which quickly became a jazz standard covered by stars such as Count Basie and …

Scathing report on payola in the American Latin music biz from the Miami Herald: Edgar Alvarez quit being a promoter in Spanish-language radio two years ago. But on this afternoon, he is making some calls from the South Miami offices of his recently opened talent agency to show how his …

I don’t mean to gush overly, but I love the new remastered CD version of Chralie Byrd’s classic Bossa Nova Pelos Passaros, originally recorded in 1962-63, at the very apex of the American bossa nova explosion. There is a freshness and a subtle excitement (bossa nova is always subtle) to …

Time flies in the absence of Spanish dance crazes involving lateral hand movements. Yes it’s been six years since the Macarena swept like a tsunami over an unsuspecting earth. The Spanish have struck again: along comes “The Ketchup Song” – and dance. The Spanish pop tune with gobbledygook lyrics is …