Chucho ValdÃ©s's piano-led recordings are studies in musical tension and dialogues. On Briyumba Palo Congo, he enlists a pair of percussionists, and RaÃºl Pineda Roque, the trap drummer,

Briyumba Palo Congo

Chucho ValdÃ©s's piano-led recordings are studies in musical tension and dialogues. On Briyumba Palo Congo, he enlists a pair of percussionists, and RaÃºl Pineda Roque, the trap drummer, shares with ValdÃ©s a smolder that turns to conflagration when their tense interplays burst. Of course much of the fire is locked into the percussion dialogues where patterned drumming inspires improvisation amid fairly strict rhythmic controls. ValdÃ©s runs away from the pack in spots, shuffling across the keyboard leaving a wake of chromatic color. Roque does the same, exploding on his drums in fits of even tempos and being tugged back into the Cuban rhythmic rumble promptly by Roberto VizcaÃno GuillÃ³t's conga and batÃ¡ drums, if not ValdÃ©s's own hyperimaginative harmonic runs. This is certainly not as flashy as Gonzalo Rubalcaba's dazzling explosions, and with the title suite's choral and vocal exclamations, it's rooted much more solidly in Afro-Cuban traditions. With his medium-hot pacing and his ability to blow solos wide open, it's clear that ValdÃ©s's years in Irakere barely prepared the ears for piano work of this magnitude. --Andrew Bartlett
Country USA
Brand Blue Note
Manufacturer Blue Note Records
Binding Audio CD
ItemPartNumber 724349891722
ReleaseDate 1999-06-08
UnitCount 1
UPCs 724349891722
EANs 0724349891722

Briyumba Palo Congo