TITLE: A La Memoria Del Muerto
LABEL: Vampisoul
What we now call salsa, the admixture of Cuban son montuno with Puerto Rican bomba and plena, American jazz and soul, and rock ‘n’ roll attitude, was invented in New York City in the 1960s. Like so many great American innovations, it’s now made better somewhere else – Colombia is salsa’s world headquarters right now. Here’s an album that’s seminal in the development of Colombian salsa gorda. Julio Ernesto (Fruko) Estrada was a studio musician for Discos Fuentes, and his various bands (Sus Tesos, Latin Brothers, Afrosound, Wganda Kenya) are responsible for much of the massive Fuentes catalog. Tesos specialize in hard salsa, the sound that guys like Eddie Palmieri, Richie Ray and Ray Barretto were pioneering. With their two-trombone attack, variety of Caribbean rhythms, brisk tempos and gangsta demeanor, Tesos circa 1972 (when this album was recorded) are like a Colombian version of the classic Willie Colon-Hector Lavoe combo. Try their balls-to-the-wall versions of pachanga (track 1), son montuno (2), El Gran Combo (6) and Cortijo (7), or the rare (at this point in their career) original 4 – hair-raising stuff. Salsa dura doesn’t get any better than this.
TOP TRACKS: 1 2 4 6 7
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 5 8 9 10 11 12
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