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CD Review
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Boston Globe, CD Review >>
- By Siddhartha Mitter
Cuban-American vocalist Jose Conde is both the lead singer and writer of the arrangements for his New York City-based band, Ola Fresca. That helps explain how the 14 tracks on the band's eclectic new album, "Revolucion," can at once honor the propulsive requirements of the Afro-Cuban form while displaying, in their lyrics and musical choices, a singer-songwriter's individuality and trademark whimsy. The program stretches broadly across the greater Caribbean basin, blending multiple styles (son, mambo, salsa but also cumbia, soca, reggae, and several flavors of funk) In a statement of roots connections that edges on occasion toward the didactic but recovers by grace of its sheer musical affability. Ola Fresca's mainly Cuban lineup develops the clave with the best of them, and some distinguished guests sit in for some of the album's memorable moments: New York salsa dura icon Jimmy Bosch and 88-year-old Cuban doyen Generoso Jimenez match trombones on "Descarga Inez," and Meters drummer Ziggy Modeliste appears on two songs, "Oshiri Pan Pan" and "Ride la Ola," that connect New Orleans and Havana in a way that, once you hear it, makes complete historical and musical sense and IS utterly swinging.
05/29/07
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