Ritmos Unidos
Ochun Suite
; Fragments; Chaweleke; Iyesa for Ochum
Road Song
Water Babies
Nariva al Amanecer
Pan Rising
Jeremy Allen (bass); Jamal Baptiste (piano and keyboards); Joe Galvin (steelpans, batá, Hand Percussion, background vocals); Pat Harbison (trumpet); Nate
Johnson (tenor saxophone, background vocals); Mike Mixtacki (drums, Timbales, lead vocals); Michael Spiro (congas, Bata, hand percussion); Joel Tucker
(guitar, Tres guitar) Guests: Wayne Wallace (trombone); Liam Teague (steel pan); Kevin Bobo (marimba)
PATOIS RECORDS PRCD017
[50:43]
This is Ritmos Unidos’ second album – Funklorico was released in 2012 – and in this latest offering there is an even greater quotient of foot-tapping
rhythms and folkloric elements, all of which draw together seamlessly to produce music that is shamelessly enjoyable and yet harmonically rich. The Cubano
Latino groove is practised to perfection here, with Michael Spiro’s percussion work on the title track remarkably assured and the vocals and trombone solo
adding their own lucid contributions. Ochun Suite is a three-piece suite with two short movements surrounding the long central one. Romantic sway
of piano and batá percussion course through Fragments whilst Chaweleke is inhabited by Salsa swing abetted by a muted trumpet à la Miles,
sinuous tenor sax, and a stunning steel pan solo from the Lionel Hampton of the pans, Liam Teague.
Wes Montgomery’s Road Song gets a solidly, indeed excitingly swinging treatment with fine solos all round. It expands the vernacular to plough
more straight-ahead avenues, and given the guest musicians Ritmos Unidos can take in South of the border and North too pretty much at will. Wayne Shorter’s Water Babies is another case in point, with its jazz-articulate solo (Jamaal Baptiste) propelled by Jeremy Allen’s bass licks and tenor and
trumpet front line solos. The Trinidadian ethos fusing Calypso and Dominican elements provide, via Pan Rising, the exuberant finale – fine breaks
and a great pan solo included.
Versatility, colour, harmonic sophistication, rhythmic energy: markers of Ritmos Unidos, a great band.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
PATOIS RECORDS PRCD017
