Irakere - 1980 - Cuba Libre

Irakere

1980

Cuba Libre

01. Cuba Libre (12:58)

02. Sea Mail (6:58)

03. Encuentro (7:39)

04. Que Pasa? (5:28)

05. Gospelanza (5:59)

06. Cuba libre (Reprise) (1:09)

Chucho Valdes - keyboards

Arturo Sandoval - trumpet

Jorge Varona - trumpet

Carlos Averhoff - tenor sax

Oscar Valdes - percussion

Enrique Pla - drums

German Velazco Vrdeliz - alto sax

Carlos Emilio Morales - guitar

Carlos Del Puerto - bass

Jorge Alfonso - percussion

Chikara Ueda - Written, Composed, Arranged and Producer

Recorded at Sound Inn Studio, Tokyo, August 3,4,5, 1980

Remixed at Victor Studio using JVC DAS 90 DIGITAL AUDIO MASTERING SYSTEM

Special Thanks to: Mr. Eduardo H. Gispelt and Cuban Embassy / Mr. Hideyo Fukasaku / Miss Atsuko Yamamoto / Mr. Jun Takemura / Mr. Toyo Nakamura

Front Cover: "Tres Lindas Cubas"

Recorded in Japan, and the whole thing was composed, arranged and produced by Chikara Ueda. Genre-wise, it's right up the band's alley - Cuban rhythms and melodies with jazz harmony and improvisation - but he makes the classic fusion mistake, burying the distinctive elements of each style so that the result is neither here nor there ("Sea Mail"). Irakere's own arrangements might take a classical piece to Minton's or make psychedelia danceable (or vice versa), but you can always tell what they're trying to do; Ueda, by contrast, smooths the emotion out of the bolero "Que Pasa?" and ruins the uptempo "Encuentro" with silly disco drumming. It's the difference between getting your chocolate in my peanut butter, and blending the two so thoroughly you can't tell what the heck you're eating any more. The compositions themselves are intriguing (the title suite), and if Ueda had just left Irakere the sheet music and quietly withdrawn, the results would have been worth hearing. By now D'Rivera had defected, and was promptly replaced by Germán Velazco.