Arsenio Rodriguez
Legends Of Cuban Music

"with the grace of someone who is not convinced that rhumba is just that joy in tango"

Paraphrasing Paolo Conte, one could say about this album "with the grace of someone who is not convinced that mambo is just that languor in salsa."

And the character in question is a true legend of Cuban music, one might say the Duke Ellington of salsa. Marc Ribot paid tribute to him with the two albums by Cubanos Postizos. At that point, I felt the urge to drink directly from the source and sought out the originals. And I must say it's worth it.

You truly breathe the air of other times here. It's as if you're in a smoky venue (how I miss smoky venues, now they are all so prim and sterile) sipping a glass of rum between Havana and the next. Languid and rough notes, rhythmic and danceable.
The complexity of the arrangements of the pieces is truly remarkable, a bit reminiscent of the big bands of '30s jazz. And here we are in the post-war period, the pieces in the collection were recorded between 1946 and 1953.

This is music that is almost as rhythmic as rock and harmonically as complex as jazz. It has no intellectual pretensions, it is spontaneous and made for dancing. It is simultaneously joyful and melancholic, sweet and bitter, it tastes like a very alcoholic cocktail sweetened with cane sugar. Rodriguez, among other things, was a virtuoso of the "tres", the typical Cuban and Puerto Rican guitar (with three double strings tuned "G-C-E"). In the instrumental tracks (such as "Arpegio por Arsenio"), you can appreciate his excellent solo skills.

In the following link some information about the tres is reported, an instrument with a very fascinating sound.


What else to say, enjoy listening and "Then Mambo...".