This is a kind of music I love: classic son and trova from Santiago de Cuba. It's a great collection from the man who wrote "Mueva la cintura mulata" (made famous by his first band Cuarteto Oriente; it is not on here, though I wish it were). Born in 1927, Almenares is one of the last of the troubadours of Cuba's golden age. He still gets down to the Casa de la Trova where he plays with the likes of Eliades Ochoa, who already made his fame and fortune thanks to BV Social Club. This is a warm and wonderful set of his original compositions. It's well recorded, with crisp percussion and big bass in the mix, there's just one drawback: It's a two-CD set and instead of two discs packed with great music, there is one disc of songs and one of instrumentals. I really could do without the instrumental disc, especially since there is some mediocre soloing from gypsy violin (!), sax and flute replacing la voz. But then the tres strides forth and all is well. Almenares carries the whole thing, for in addition to being the composer he is also the tresero. This is not a condemnation of the album, since it's still priced as a single disc, I just think it was a waste of time adding the instrumental disc which I probably won't listen to again. Almenares is credited as composer (& his father on some tracks), but some of the songs, like the bolero son "Mujercita linda" show the influence, even the licks, of Trio Matamoros who established this field (in terms of recorded music, at least). It's a bit coy to claim an original composition when it is a note for note cover of "Amorosa guajira" by Nené Allué but then even the mighty Beatles stole this tune for "Do you wanna know a secret" (I have often wondered who brought it to them, because in 1963 it was already an oldie on 78 rpm. Probably a friend of George who knew how he liked to arpeggiate chords on his guitar). I don't wish to sell this short: It's a great set of finely honed originals, impeccably rendered by tres, guitar, double bass and percussion. There are two singers and a guest appearance from Eva Griñan to whom the album is dedicated as she died after it was recorded. The Casa de la Trova is high on my list of places to visit: music like this demonstrates why.