Jerry Gonzalez y los Piratas del Flamenco
Released June 29, 2004
Grammy Nominee for Best Latin Jazz Album 2005
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5a8q84yS8r9FkMI1RMw1Cr?si=-11RTufNQ8OpzVN7tWJxXw
About:
Backed by a cadre of Flamenco musicians, including acoustic and electric guitarists Nino Josele and Israel Sandoval, Israel Suárez “Piraña,” a master of the cajón – a wooden, box-like percussion instrument – and the great cantador Diego El Cigala, Gonzalez explores the interlocking inventions and dimensions of these Spanish and American musical genres.
The traditional “Hubo Un Lugar” features Gonzalez’s buttery horn overdubbed over his congas, complimented by Josele’s sinewy guitar lines. “Rosa Para Julia,” written for Jerry’s mother, is a zesty rumba, while “En El Corazón De Pescaderías,” is a mid-tempoed bulería finessed by Gonzalez’s muted, Milesian musings and his own equally impressive cajón playing. On “Gitanos De La Cava,” and Puerto Rican composer Pedro Flores’s song “Obsesion,” – with Gonzalez’s younger brother Andy on bass – Cigala’s impassioned Cante Hondo cries parallel Gonzalez’s golden horn.
“Pirates de Lucia” is a hypnotically syncopated tribute to the legendary guitarist Paco de Lucia. “Donnali” is the Latin jazz/flamenco translation of Charlie Parker’s bop classic ‘Donna Lee, and “Monk’s Soniquette,” is transformed from Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Dream” into a festive tablao, peppered with the distinct and intricate flamenco handclaps called palmas.
Track Listing:
1. Hubo un Lugar (Traditional) 5:17
2. Rosa Para Julia 5:01
3. En el Corazó de Pescaderías 6:31
4. Gitanos de la Cava 5:51
5. Pirata de Lucia 5:08
6. Donnalli (Charlie Parker) 3:48
7. Monk Soniquete (Thelonious Monk) 4:10
8. Al Abordaje 8:09
9. Obsesion (Pedro Flores) 9:05
Personnel:
Jerry Gonzalez: trumpet, congas, percussion, cajón
Nino Josele: flamenco guitar
Israel Sandoval: electric guitar
Israel Suarez “PIRAÑA”: percussions
Andy Gonzalez: bass
Piratas Del Flmaenco: palmas, vocals
Juan Jose Suarez Paquete: flamenco guitar
Diego El “Cigala” (special guest): vocals
Recorded in February 2001, at Music & Media, NY, and Musiquina, Madrid, Spain
Producer: Javier Limón
Review:
Jimi Hendrix, of rock
guitar fame, once led a group called a Band of Gyspys, who were really a bunch
of American guys. On Jerry Gonzalez y Los Piratas del Flamenco,
Jerry Gonzalez, the New York-born, Puerto Rican trumpeter/percussionist, goes
for the real thing, steering a group of Gitano (Iberian Peninsula) gypsy
musicians through an enchantingly spare program that mixes Afro-Cuban and
American jazz sensibilites with traditional Spanish flamenco.
Says Gonzalez: “In flamenco, their thing is
accoustic and simple; you don’t want to put too much in there.”
He followed that plan, keeping it simple and
accoutic, mixing in his trumpet with the flamenco guitar, cajon (a box-like
percussion instrument), and vocals, creating a beautifully spare and remarkably
organic sound.
Simple: Most of the tracks are just trumpet
(mostly muted, Miles Davis-like: Sketches of Spainminus the Gil
Evans orchestrations, comes to mind at times here), cajon and/or conga, and
flamenco guitar, and throw in the Indian tablas on “Pirata De Lucia.”
So it’s mostly human flesh on stretched skin or wood, plus the vibration of a
lower lip channeled through the loops of the brass horn, and fingers on
strings. Simple, organic, steeped in the Spanish flamenco tradition, stirred
(but not blended) with New World jazz sounds that originated with African
rhythms. The result is captivating.
Along with the traditional song “Hubo Un Lugar” and his own compositions, Gonzalez morphed Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Dream” into “Monk’s Soniquete” and Charlie Parker’s “Donna Lee” into “Donnali,” with almost surreal—but oddly beautiful—results.
This set is perfection, an unwaveringly focused vision that produced music that sounds inevitable, in spite of the seemingly disparate elements involved. One of the appeals is the “you can’t do that” factor; you can’t put congas or trumpet or tablas into a flamenco mix, or make gypsies out of Monk or Yardbird. But apparently you can—or Jerry Gonzalez can; and he comes out of the project sounding like a genius.
Pen this one in—with indelible ink—on the top ten of year list.
Dan McClenaghan (AllAboutJazz)
