Jerry Gonzalez: El Vito En El Congo
Musicians:
Jerry Gonzalez (trumpet),
Fernando Hurtado, Josep Gomariz, Roger Font (trumpets), Dennis Hernandez (flugelhorn), Juanjo Arrom, José Pardal, Victor Correa (trombones), Perico Sambeat (soprano sax), Antonio Peral, Carlos Nostro (alto saxes, clarinets), Jimmy Jenks (tenor sax), Jaume Maristany (tenor sax, flute, alto flute, piccolo), Angel Molas (baritone sax), Eduardo Tancredi (piano), Pep Mendoza (guitar), Jordi Fiol (bass), Tito Busquets (drums), Jesus Catala (shekere), José Luis Monton (clapping), Aleix Tobias (djembe, sabar)
.Public Domain
.Recorded: Barcelona, Spain, April-June 2005
Rating: 90/100 (learn more)
It all starts with a very impressive imitation of jungle sounds by the percussionists, then the big band progressively enters with the melody and rhythm of a lush 3/4 song that displays its beauty at a relaxed medium tempo. Jerry Gonzalez, who established himself in Spain, is the main soloist and has definitely found the musicians he needed to express his broad vision of music. Indeed he has assembled a magnificent orchestra of international quality only by calling on instrumentalists who mostly live within a few miles of his new Barcelona home. This is added evidence that the level of European musicians – and Spain is not a country with a huge jazz tradition, at that – has risen notably in the last few decades.
Reviewer: Thierry Quénum
Tags: 2000s jazz · big band · latin jazz
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