First impressions of Joe Cuba and Cal Tjader

December 30, 2005

Three of the CDs I ordered recently arrived today - The Best of Joe Cuba Sextet, Cal Tjader - The Latin Vibe, and Tito Puente - Rough Guide to Tito Puente. As expected, most of the songs in all of these albums will not work as a Salsa dance track. Here are my quick reactions to each of the albums.

Joe Cuba Sextet - One third into the first CD I am not sure I heard a song that can be played at a Salsa club. Two third into the first CD and after 'El Pito', I'm still not sure. The second CD has many more conventional Salsa tracks.

Cal Tjader - Nearly half of the album is live and everything sounds very jazzy and pretty, but how many of them work as Salsa dance track? Incidentally, this album led me to discover the name Poncho Sanchez.

Tito Puente - As I glanced at the album information on the back of the CD I was thinking, "I didn't realize I was buying an album by the Ramones! Most of the songs are under 3 minutes."

Club Salsa was not crowded but also not deserted either. It bodes well for New Year's Eve Party. I might have had better Bachata practice than I had Salsa practice tonight.

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