Al Caiola • Guitar Woodwinds & Bongos

Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Guitarist Al Caiola initially made his reputation as a session musician, playing on records made by Percy Faith and Andre Kostelanetz, among others. Caiola was the conductor and arranger for United Artists Records in the late '40s and early '50s. After leaving UA, he signed with RCA, where he released a number of singles in the '50s. In the early '60s, he went back to United Artists, which is where he scored his first hit with the theme to the film The Magnificent Seven. The single peaked at 35 in early 1961 and it was quickly followed by the theme to the television series Bonanza, which climbed to number 19. For the rest of the '60s, Caiola released a number of easy listening instrumental albums and also hosted a television show, which was only aired for a short while. Caiola continued to record throughout subsequent decades; he died in Allendale, New Jersey in 2016 at the age of 96.

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Biografía de Stephen Thomas Erlewine

El guitarrista Al Caiola inicialmente hizo su reputación como músico de sesión, tocando en discos hechos por Percy Faith y Andre Kostelanetz, entre otros. Caiola fue la directora y arreglista de United Artists Records a finales de los años 40 y principios de los 50. Después de dejar UA, firmó con RCA, donde lanzó una serie de singles en los años 50. A principios de los años 60, regresó a United Artists, que es donde anotó su primer éxito con el tema de la película The Magnificent Seven. El single alcanzó su punto máximo en 35 a principios de 1961 y fue seguido rápidamente por el tema de la serie de televisión Bonanza, que llegó al número 19. Durante el resto de los años 60, Caiola lanzó una serie de álbumes instrumentales fáciles de escuchar y también presentó una televisión. Espectáculo, que solo se emitió por un corto tiempo. Caiola continuó grabando a lo largo de décadas posteriores; murió en Allendale, Nueva Jersey en 2016 a la edad de 96 años.

Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys • Mambo Tengoku

Japanese latin music ensemble, consisting of 2 percussionists and a DJ, who performed with various constellations of supporting musicians. Active from 1991 to 1993, reformed in 2006.

https://www.discogs.com/es/artist/4047262-Tokyo-Panorama-Mambo-Boys

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Conjunto de música latina japonesa, compuesto por 2 percusionistas y un DJ, que actuó con varias constelaciones de músicos de apoyo. Activo de 1991 a 1993, reformado en 2006.

https://www.discogs.com/es/artist/4047262-Tokyo-Panorama-Mambo-Boys

 

 

 

VA • The Colors Of Latin Jazz Cubop

 

Cumbia!: Scenes of a Migrant Latin American Music Genre

 

Cumbia is a musical form that originated in northern Colombia and then spread throughout Latin America and wherever Latin Americans travel and settle. It has become one of the most popular musical genre in the Americas. Its popularity is largely due to its stylistic flexibility. Cumbia absorbs and mixes with the local musical styles it encounters. Known for its appeal to workers, the music takes on different styles and meanings from place to place, and even, as the contributors to this collection show, from person to person. Cumbia is a different music among the working classes of northern Mexico, Latin American immigrants in New York City, Andean migrants to Lima, and upper-class Colombians, who now see the music that they once disdained as a source of national prestige. The contributors to this collection look at particular manifestations of cumbia through their disciplinary lenses of musicology, sociology, history, anthropology, linguistics, and literary criticism. Taken together, their essays highlight how intersecting forms of identity—such as nation, region, class, race, ethnicity, and gender—are negotiated through interaction with the music.

Contributors. Cristian Alarcón, Jorge Arévalo Mateus, Leonardo D'Amico, Héctor Fernández L'Hoeste, Alejandro L. Madrid, Kathryn Metz, José Juan Olvera Gudiño, Cathy Ragland, Pablo Semán, Joshua Tucker, Matthew J. Van Hoose, Pablo Vila

Héctor D. Fernández L'Hoeste (Editor), Pablo Vila (Editor)

VA • Nu Yorica Roots! The Rise Of Latin Music In New York City In The 1960s

  

Review by John Bush
One of the best collections of Latin American music ever assembled, Nu Yorica Roots! compiles some of the funkiest Latin soul and, occasionally, traditional music recorded in the Big Apple during the 1960s and '70s. The disc definitely concentrates on groove tracks, with standout inclusions by Joe Cuba ("El Pito"), Ray Barretto ("Acid," "Together"), and Tito Puente ("Oye Como Va," "Tito on Timbales"). But Nu Yorica Roots! also salutes the more tribal, drum-centered facets of Latin music during the era, with Mongo Santamaria ("Druma Kuyi"), Eddie Palmieri ("My Spiritual Indian"), and Sabu Martinez ("The Oracle") paying homage to their Afro-Cuban roots with flair. Harvey Averne's swinging cover of "The Word" by the Beatles and Orchestra Harlow's dance novelty "Horsin' Up" are a bit silly (even if they're good representations of the Latin soul scene), but without exception, this compilation nails the late-'60s convergence of amazing Latin instrumentalists and more groove-centered black music around El Barrio in East Harlem. Though it's saying quite a bit, Nu Yorica Roots! is the finest compilation produced by the inestimably valuable reissue label Soul Jazz Records.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/nu-yorica-roots%21-the-rise-of-latin-music-in-new-york-city-in-the-1960s-mw0000454610

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Reseña de John Bush
Una de las mejores colecciones de música latinoamericana jamás reunida, Nu Yorica Roots! recopila algunos de los temas más funk del soul latino y, ocasionalmente, de la música tradicional grabada en la Gran Manzana durante las décadas de 1960 y 1970. El disco definitivamente se concentra en temas de groove, con inclusiones destacadas de Joe Cuba ("El Pito"), Ray Barretto ("Acid"," Together") y Tito Puente ("Oye Como Va","Tito on Timbales"). Pero Raíces Nu Yorica! también rinde homenaje a las facetas más tribales y centradas en el tambor de la música latina durante la época, con Mongo Santamaria ("Druma Kuyi"), Eddie Palmieri ("My Spiritual Indian") y Sabu Martinez ("The Oracle") rindiendo homenaje a sus raíces afrocubanas con estilo. La versión oscilante de Harvey Averne de "The Word" de the Beatles y la novedad de baile de Orchestra Harlow "Horsin' Up " son un poco tontas (incluso si son buenas representaciones de la escena del soul latino), pero sin excepción, esta compilación clava la convergencia de finales de los años 60 de increíbles instrumentistas latinos y música negra más centrada en el groove alrededor de El Barrio en East Harlem. Aunque es decir bastante, Nu Yorica Roots! es la mejor compilación producida por el inestimablemente valioso sello de reedición Soul Jazz Records.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/nu-yorica-roots%21-the-rise-of-latin-music-in-new-york-city-in-the-1960s-mw0000454610

VA • Nu Yorica! Culture Clash In New York City Experiments In Latin Music 1970-77

 

Review from The Guardian (CD of the Week):
An inspired selection. Soul Jazz deserve credit for delving further into the murky background of popular dance and jazz music. If ever a CD was worth buying, this is it.
https://www.theguardian.com

Review from Record Collector:
Some compilations are so influential and universally loved that they become classic albums in their own right. Just as Harry Smith cemented forever the underground sound of the US between the wars, so did the then young Soul Jazz imprint immortalise the Latin music emerging from 1970s New York with Nu Yorica! This anniversary reissue retains what was always a sensational collection of almighty Latin grooves. Make no mistake, this album is extraordinary. Infectious, revolutionary, inspirational and funkier than a mosquito's tweeter, Nu Yorica! fuses jazz, soul, funk and every kind of Latin music, all the while infusing it with the energy and freedom of the Big Apple.
https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/nu-yorica-culture-clash-new-york-city-experiments-latin-music-1970-77

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Resena de The Guardian (CD de la Semana):
Una seleccion inspirada. Soul Jazz merece credito por profundizar en los oscuros antecedentes de la musica popular de baile y el jazz. Si algun dia vale la pena comprar un CD, este es el caso.
https://www.theguardian.com

Resena de Record Collector:
Algunas compilaciones son tan influyentes y universalmente amadas que se convierten en albumes clasicos por derecho propio. Asi como Harry Smith cimento para siempre el sonido underground de los EE.UU. entre guerras, el entonces joven sello Soul Jazz inmortalizo la musica latina emergente del Nueva York de los anos 70 con Nu Yorica! Esta reedicion aniversario conserva lo que siempre fue una coleccion sensacional de poderosos grooves latinos. Sin lugar a dudas, este album es extraordinario. Infeccioso, revolucionario, inspirador y mas funky que nada, Nu Yorica! fusiona jazz, soul, funk y todo tipo de musica latina, impregnandola con la energia y la libertad de la Gran Manzana.
https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/nu-yorica-culture-clash-new-york-city-experiments-latin-music-1970-77

VA • Nu Yorica 2! Further Adventures In Latin Music-Chango In The New World 1976-1985

 

Cuba and Its Music From the First Drums to the Mambo

 

This entertaining history of Cuba and its music begins with the collision of Spain and Africa and continues through the era of Miguelito Valdés, Arsenio Rodríguez, Benny Moré, and Pérez Prado. It offers a behind-the-scenes examination of music from a Cuban point of view, unearthing surprising, provocative connections and making the case that Cuba was fundamental to the evolution of music in the New World. The ways in which the music of black slaves transformed 16th-century Europe, how the claves appeared, and how Cuban music influenced ragtime, jazz, and rhythm and blues are revealed. Music lovers will follow this journey from Andalucía, the Congo, the Calabar, Dahomey, and Yorubaland via Cuba to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saint-Domingue, New Orleans, New York, and Miami. The music is placed in a historical context that considers the complexities of the slave trade; Cuba's relationship to the United States; its revolutionary political traditions; the music of Santería, Palo, Abakuá, and Vodú; and much more.

 

Ned Sublette (Autor)  

 

Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba

 

 

Music and Revolution provides a dynamic introduction to the most prominent artists and musical styles that have emerged in Cuba since 1959 and to the policies that have shaped artistic life. Robin D. Moore gives readers a chronological overview of the first decades after the Cuban Revolution, documenting the many ways performance has changed and emphasizing the close links between political and cultural activity. Offering a wealth of fascinating details about music and the milieu that engendered it, the author traces the development of dance styles, nueva trova, folkloric drumming, religious traditions, and other forms. He describes how the fall of the Soviet Union has affected Cuba in material, ideological, and musical terms and considers the effect of tense international relations on culture. Most importantly, Music and Revolution chronicles how the arts have become a point of negotiation between individuals, with their unique backgrounds and interests, and official organizations. It uses music to explore how Cubans have responded to the priorities of the revolution and have created spaces for their individual concerns.

 

 

 

  Robin D. D. Moore (Author)

 

 

Oye Como Va!: Hybridity and Identity in Latino Popular Music

 

Listen Up! When the New York-born Tito Puente composed "Oye Como Va!" in the 1960s, his popular song was called "Latin" even though it was a fusion of Afro-Cuban and New York Latino musical influences. A decade later, Carlos Santana, a Mexican immigrant, blended Puente's tune with rock and roll, which brought it to the attention of national audiences. Like Puente and Santana, Latino/a musicians have always blended musics from their homelands with other sounds in our multicultural society, challenging ideas of what "Latin" music is or ought to be. Waves of immigrants further complicate the picture as they continue to bring their distinctive musical styles to the U.S.--from merengue and bachata to cumbia and reggaeton.

In Oye Como Va!, Deborah Pacini Hernandez traces the trajectories of various U.S. Latino musical forms in a globalizing world, examining how the blending of Latin music reflects Latino/a American lives connecting across nations. Exploring the simultaneously powerful, vexing, and stimulating relationship between hybridity, music, and identity, Oye Como Va! asserts that this potent combination is a signature of the U.S. Latino/a experience.

 

Tropical Riffs Latin America and the Politics of Jazz

 

In Tropical Riffs Jason Borge traces how jazz helped forge modern identities and national imaginaries in Latin America during the mid-twentieth century. Across Latin America jazz functioned as a conduit through which debates about race, sexuality, nation, technology, and modernity raged in newspapers, magazines, literature, and film. For Latin American audiences, critics, and intellectuals—who often understood jazz to stem from social conditions similar to their own—the profound penetration into the fabric of everyday life of musicians like Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker represented the promises of modernity while simultaneously posing a threat to local and national identities. Brazilian antijazz rhetoric branded jazz as a problematic challenge to samba and emblematic of Americanization. In Argentina jazz catalyzed discussions about musical authenticity, race, and national culture, especially in relation to tango. And in Cuba, the widespread popularity of Chano Pozo and Dámaso Pérez Prado popularity challenged the United States' monopoly on jazz. Outlining these hemispheric flows of ideas, bodies, and music, Borge elucidates how "America's art form" was, and remains, a transnational project and a collective idea. 

Jason Borge (Autor)  

VA • Fania Records The Latin Sound of New York [1964-1978]

 

The Latin Sound of New York (1964–1978) es un extraordinario e inédito recopilatorio que conmemora el 60º aniversario de Fania a través de Craft / Concord.

El histórico legado de Fania es tan relevante para la música latina como Stax y Motown para el soul o Prestige y Blue Note para el jazz. Para reivindicarlo esta joya incluye dieciséis de los sencillos más importantes grabados por Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades, Johnny Pacheco, Ray Barretto, Celia Cruz, Fania All Stars, Joe Bataan, Eddie Palmieri, Pete Rodríguez, Ismael Rivera, Cheo Feliciano, Richie Ray, Bobby Cruz y Joe Cuba para el sello neoyorquino y subsidiarias durante su época dorada que logró popularizar la salsa, el latin-soul o el boogaloo por todo el planeta.

Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music

 

He was known as "El Rey"—the king—and he came to epitomize the Latin experience in music, not just to Latinos throughout the United States and Latin America but to a worldwide audience. 

Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music is the first in-depth historical, musical, and cultural look at the career and the influence of a giant of Latin music. Steven Loza brings the man and his music vividly to life through exclusive interviews with Puente and a number of his close associates, including Hilton Ruiz, Ray Santos, Jerry González, Poncho Sanchez, and Joe Conzo, as well as music journalist Max Salazar and former DJ/producer Chico Sesma. 

Loza shows how Puente's music evolved in tandem with the crystallization of Latin music into its current compelling mix of Afro-Cuban music, salsa, and Latin jazz. Tracing Puente's innovations as a drummer and a bandleader, Loza defines his influence over the course of half a century on Latin music as well as on other musicians and musical genres. Loza also delineates the social and cultural history of Latin music, exploring questions of nationalism and ethnic expression, the play between musical creation and commercial competition, and the politics of so-called multiculturalism as they bear on Latin music and musicians. The book includes detailed musical analyses and a discography of more than a hundred recordings. 

Celebrating a dynamic performer and a genre that is deeply rooted in America's rich ethnic diversity, Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music reveals all the vibrancy and color of a consummate artist's life, work, and world.

 

Steven Loza (Author) 

 

Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz

 

 

This title tells the saga of popular music of Cuban origin, and its major artists from the 1920s to today. Afro-Cuban music derives its richness from the fusion of various cultures. On the island of tobacco, rum and coffee, the marriage of sacred and secular African musical genres with Spanish and French melodies has given rise to numerous genres which have gained international fame: son, rhumba, guaracha, conga, mambo, cha-cha-cha, pachanga, nueva timba. In the US, Cubans have settled alongside other Hispanic communities. In New York, the boogaloo, salsa and Latin jazz, created by musicians such as Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo emerged from contact with Puerto Ricans and African-Americans, and the rhythms of Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo were integrated into salsa and Latin jazz.

 

Al Caiola • Tuff Guitar Tijuana Style

Al Caiola • Guitar for Latin Lovers

 

Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Guitarist Al Caiola initially made his reputation as a session musician, playing on records made by Percy Faith and Andre Kostelanetz, among others. Caiola was the conductor and arranger for United Artists Records in the late '40s and early '50s. After leaving UA, he signed with RCA, where he released a number of singles in the '50s. In the early '60s, he went back to United Artists, which is where he scored his first hit with the theme to the film The Magnificent Seven. The single peaked at 35 in early 1961 and it was quickly followed by the theme to the television series Bonanza, which climbed to number 19. For the rest of the '60s, Caiola released a number of easy listening instrumental albums and also hosted a television show, which was only aired for a short while. Caiola continued to record throughout subsequent decades; he died in Allendale, New Jersey in 2016 at the age of 96.

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Biografía de Stephen Thomas Erlewine

El guitarrista Al Caiola inicialmente hizo su reputación como músico de sesión, tocando en discos hechos por Percy Faith y Andre Kostelanetz, entre otros. Caiola fue la directora y arreglista de United Artists Records a finales de los años 40 y principios de los 50. Después de dejar UA, firmó con RCA, donde lanzó una serie de singles en los años 50. A principios de los años 60, regresó a United Artists, que es donde anotó su primer éxito con el tema de la película The Magnificent Seven. El single alcanzó su punto máximo en 35 a principios de 1961 y fue seguido rápidamente por el tema de la serie de televisión Bonanza, que llegó al número 19. Durante el resto de los años 60, Caiola lanzó una serie de álbumes instrumentales fáciles de escuchar y también presentó una televisión. Espectáculo, que solo se emitió por un corto tiempo. Caiola continuó grabando a lo largo de décadas posteriores; murió en Allendale, Nueva Jersey en 2016 a la edad de 96 años.

Luiz Bonfá • The Brazilian Scene

 

 

Review
by Thom Jurek  
There is something truly majestic in the guitar playing and composing of Luiz Bonfá. From solo dates such as 1959's Solo in Rio (issued stateside by Smithsonian Folkways) to his 1972 masterpiece, Introspection, his sound is as telltale as the two other Brazilian guitar greats, Baden Powell and Djalma de Andrade (aka Bola Sete). Bonfá's elegance in style is what sets him apart from even these great masters. There is something utterly unhurried and gentle about his manner of playing, even during its most intense moments or in the most decorative settings (there were a lot of those during the bossa craze). The Brazilian Scene, released in 1965 on the Philips imprint, sits right on the knife edge between something as wonderfully organic as his solo recordings and the more stylized Anglo projects that were flooding the bins at the time. This date was produced by Hal Mooney, who also served as co-arranger along with Bonfá. The Brazilian Scene set features 12 tunes, seven of which are Bonfá originals, and one an arrangement of a traditional song ("Malaguena Salerosa"). The rest are pop standards and some that would be (the Beatles' "Yesterday"). The studio group includes Bonfá's New York studio band, featuring the great drummer Hélcio Milito, bassist Donald Payne, and flutist Jerome Richardson, with strings and a chamber orchestra that were dubbed in later. Bonfá's group was recorded absolutely live from the floor; his guitar playing, full of gorgeous dual pizzicatos, popping bass notes, and extended chord voicings, was captured as it is with no overdubs. This may not seem unusual until you hear it. More often than not it does feel as if a minimum of two guitarists are playing -- check the fluid, kinetic dual pizzicatos and single notes in the traditional tune, where his bass notes ground a flitting attack of two- and then one-string leads amid his basslines, which also feel twinned. Other standouts include the dark edges of "Zomba," with its foreboding horns and dramatic strings. Bonfá moves through them with his minor-key melody playing out in old Brazilian folk dance style, where chords are folded amid twinned lead lines and a hypnotic bassline -- accented on the codas by Milito. It does have the feeling of gentle exotica because of the orchestrations, but Bonfá's playing removes the flowery edges in the tune. Of the pop standards, his reading of "That Old Black Magic" transforms the tune into a top-flight samba, with ticking triple-time percussion by Milito. The band performs this one without accompaniment from the orchestra, and it is among the set's highlights. As far as mid-'60s bossa goes, this one falls to the Yankee side of that a bit, but this is no easy listening date, either. This is colorful and polished Brazilian jazz performed by a crack group with tasteful -- if sometimes overly busy -- arrangements.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-brazilian-scene-mw0000787731

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Reseña
por Thom Jurek  
Hay algo verdaderamente majestuoso en la forma de tocar y componer la guitarra de Luiz Bonfá. Desde fechas en solitario como Solo in Rio de 1959 (publicado en Estados Unidos por Smithsonian Folkways) hasta su obra maestra de 1972, Introspection, su sonido es tan revelador como el de otros dos grandes de la guitarra brasileña, Baden Powell y Djalma de Andrade (alias Bola Sete). La elegancia del estilo de Bonfá es lo que le diferencia incluso de estos grandes maestros. Su forma de tocar tiene algo de absolutamente desenfadada y suave, incluso en sus momentos más intensos o en los ambientes más decorativos (hubo muchos durante la locura de la bossa). The Brazilian Scene, publicado en 1965 en el sello Philips, se sitúa justo en el filo de la navaja entre algo tan maravillosamente orgánico como sus grabaciones en solitario y los proyectos anglosajones más estilizados que inundaban los contenedores en aquella época. Esta fecha fue producida por Hal Mooney, que también actuó como co-arreglista junto con Bonfá. El conjunto Brazilian Scene contiene 12 temas, siete de los cuales son originales de Bonfá y uno es un arreglo de una canción tradicional ("Malaguena Salerosa"). El resto son estándares pop y algunos que lo serían ("Yesterday" de los Beatles). El grupo de estudio incluye la banda de estudio de Bonfá en Nueva York, con el gran baterista Hélcio Milito, el bajista Donald Payne y el flautista Jerome Richardson, con cuerdas y una orquesta de cámara que se doblaron posteriormente. El grupo de Bonfá se grabó absolutamente en directo; su toque de guitarra, lleno de magníficos pizzicatos dobles, notas de bajo chasqueantes y amplios voicings de acordes, se capturó tal cual, sin sobregrabaciones. Esto puede parecer inusual hasta que se escucha. La mayoría de las veces parece como si estuvieran tocando al menos dos guitarristas: comprueba los fluidos y cinéticos pizzicatos duales y las notas sueltas en la melodía tradicional, donde sus notas de bajo conectan un ataque revoloteante de plomos de dos cuerdas y luego de una, en medio de sus líneas de bajo, que también parecen gemelas. Otros temas destacados son las oscuras aristas de "Zomba", con sus premonitorias trompas y sus dramáticas cuerdas. Bonfá se mueve a través de ellas con su melodía en clave menor, al viejo estilo de la danza folclórica brasileña, donde los acordes se pliegan en medio de líneas principales hermanadas y una hipnótica línea de bajo, acentuada en las codas por Milito. Da la sensación de ser un tema exótico debido a las orquestaciones, pero la interpretación de Bonfá elimina los bordes floridos de la melodía. De los estándares pop, su lectura de "That Old Black Magic" transforma la melodía en una samba de primera categoría, con la percusión a tres tiempos de Milito. La banda interpreta este tema sin el acompañamiento de la orquesta, y es uno de los puntos álgidos del conjunto. En cuanto a la bossa de mediados de los 60, ésta cae un poco del lado yanqui, pero tampoco es una cita fácil de escuchar. Se trata de jazz brasileño colorido y pulido interpretado por un grupo de primera con arreglos de buen gusto, aunque a veces demasiado recargados.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-brazilian-scene-mw0000787731

Al Caiola • Granada

 

Luiz Bonfá • Alta Versatilidade!

 

Although overshadowed by the towering figure of Antonio Carlos Jobim and to a lesser extent by João Gilberto, Luiz Bonfá was right there at the birth of bossa nova as well. In fact, at least two of his songs, the haunting "Manha de Carnaval" and equally evocative "Samba de Orpheus" swept the world at least three years before Jobim's songs began to make a global impact, paving the way for the first Brazilian wave. In addition, Bonfá cultivated a delicate, precise classical guitar style, though more attuned to the traditional samba rhythm than the Gilberto/Jobim bossa nova lilt. Born near the bay of Guanabara in Rio -- his father was an Italian immigrant -- Bonfá took up the guitar at eleven and studied classical guitar with the Uruguayan master Isaias Savio. He began to work Rio's clubs as a singer with the Quitandinha Serenaders, and by 1946, he was appearing on Brazil's Radio Nacional. By 1957, Bonfa was beginning to split his time between New York City and Rio, touring the U.S. with singer Mary Martin, as well as writing and recording Brazilian film scores. The turning point in his career came in 1959 when film director Marcel Camus asked Bonfá to contribute some songs to his film version of the play Orfeo do Carnaval (to be renamed Black Orpheus on the screen). The director originally rejected "Manha de Carnaval" as the film's main theme, but after coming up with what he felt was an inferior second effort, Bonfá fought for his first tune and got his way, and "Manha de Carnaval" became a global pop/jazz/folk standard. In the late '50s and '60s, Bonfá began recording several albums for the American market on EMI Odeon (Capitol), Dot, Atlantic, Cook, Philips, Epic, and Verve, and he and his songs appeared prominently on the Jazz Samba Encore album with Jobim and Stan Getz. His songwriting skills were in demand in the most unpredictable places; for example, he wrote the schmaltzy "Almost in Love" for Elvis Presley (included in the forgettable 1968 film Live a Little, Love a Little). Bonfá's profile in America virtually disappeared after the '60s, although he continued to tour and write, eventually cutting over 50 albums. But he resurfaced in U.S. CD shops after a 15-year gap in 1989 with Non-Stop to Brazil for Chesky, followed by the ravishing The Bonfá Magic in 1991 (released domestically on Milestone) and 1993's Moods on GSP. Also, the original soundtrack for Black Orpheus is available on a Verve CD, a firsthand snapshot of Bonfá and Jobim lighting the fuse for the world-wide Brazilian music explosion. On January 12, 2001, Luiz Bonfá died of cancer in Rio de Janeiro. ~ Richard S. Ginell

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Aunque eclipsado por la imponente figura de Antonio Carlos Jobim y, en menor medida, por João Gilberto, Luiz Bonfá también estuvo allí en el nacimiento de la bossa nova. De hecho, al menos dos de sus canciones, la inquietante "Manha de Carnaval" y la igualmente evocadora "Samba de Orfeo" barrieron el mundo al menos tres años antes de que las canciones de Jobim comenzaran a tener un impacto global, allanando el camino para la primera ola brasileña. Además, Bonfá cultivó un estilo de guitarra clásica delicado y preciso, aunque más en sintonía con el ritmo tradicional de la samba que con la cadencia de bossa nova de Gilberto/Jobim. Nacido cerca de la bahía de Guanabara en Río-su padre era un inmigrante italiano-Bonfá tomó la guitarra a los once años y estudió guitarra clásica con el maestro uruguayo Isaías Savio. Comenzó a trabajar en los clubes de Río como cantante con los Quitandinha Serenaders, y para 1946, aparecía en la Radio Nacional de Brasil. Para 1957, Bonfa comenzaba a dividir su tiempo entre la ciudad de Nueva York y Río, realizando giras por los EE.UU. con la cantante Mary Martin, además de escribir y grabar partituras cinematográficas brasileñas. El punto de inflexión en su carrera llegó en 1959 cuando el director de cine Marcel Camus le pidió a Bonfá que contribuyera con algunas canciones a su versión cinematográfica de la obra Orfeo do Carnaval (que pasaría a llamarse Orfeo Negro en la pantalla). El director originalmente rechazó "Manha de Carnaval" como tema principal de la película, pero después de idear lo que sintió que era un segundo esfuerzo inferior, Bonfá luchó por su primera melodía y se salió con la suya, y "Manha de Carnaval" se convirtió en un estándar mundial de pop/jazz/folk. A finales de los 50 y 60, Bonfá comenzó a grabar varios álbumes para el mercado estadounidense en EMI Odeon( Capitol), Dot, Atlantic, Cook, Philips, Epic y Verve, y él y sus canciones aparecieron de manera destacada en el álbum Jazz Samba Encore con Jobim y Stan Getz. Sus habilidades para componer canciones eran demandadas en los lugares más impredecibles; por ejemplo, escribió la tonta "Almost in Love" para Elvis Presley (incluida en la olvidable película de 1968 Live a Little, Love a Little). El perfil de Bonfá en Estados Unidos prácticamente desapareció después de los años 60, aunque continuó de gira y escribiendo, llegando a grabar más de 50 álbumes. Pero resurgió en las tiendas de CD de EE.UU. después de una brecha de 15 años en 1989 con Non-Stop to Brazil para Chesky, seguido de ravishing The Bonfá Magic en 1991 (lanzado a nivel nacional en Milestone) y Moods de 1993 en GSP. Además, la banda sonora original de Orfeo Negro está disponible en un CD de Verve, una instantánea de primera mano de Bonfá y Jobim encendiendo la mecha de la explosión mundial de la música brasileña. El 12 de enero de 2001, Luiz Bonfá murió de cáncer en Río de Janeiro. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Ritmo Latino La música Latina desde la Bossa Nova hasta la Salsa