Danzon by Six
This Disk is marvelous! It fills me with great nostalgia and
emotion. Under the genial direction and sonorous violin of Maestro
Federico Britos, the Cuban Danzon swings in all its glory!
Andy Garcia
Los Angeles, Ca.
Forever Danzon by Nat Chediak
Havana is a long way from Montevideo, but at the beginning of
the
sixties, violinist Federico Britos left home for one of the
most vibrant
music capitals on the American Continent There, he fell in love
with
Vivian (his wife of 35 years) and Cuban music. I'm happy to
report that both affairs continue, uninterrupted, to this day
More recently, Federico has been Concertmaster for the Miami
Symphony in South Florida, where he now makes his home. He
founded, with guitarist Frank Vignola, the Hot Club USA, a
homegrown descendant of France's fabled Grappelli & Reinhardt
jazz
quintet. He's a featured artist in Cachao's Cuba Linda album,
and a
major revelation in Nocturne, Charlie Haden's sparkling collection
of
boleros.
For his present undertaking, the mutifaceted Britos has chosen
to
update one of Cuba's most enduring musical genres, the danzon,
a
direct descendant of the French contredanse and itself the forerunner
of the mambo. Tho vehicie is The First Danzon, debut album of
Danzon by 6, Federico's working charanga The charanga, of course,
is the traditionai violin & flute ensemble that perorms
danzones.
The music this charanga plays points towards the future without
betraying the past This is most evident in" LBs Alluras
de Simpson",
where Britos adds a baroque touch with the use of a harpsichord
in
the intro to this danzon -the first ever -that harks beck to
1879. At
the same time, Federico contributes a third part, grounded in
Miguel
Failde's original composition but harmonically advanced, as
though
the piece had just been conceived.
"Osiris" is a 1956 danzon with Vocals that bursts
into a cha.cha-cha at
the finale As wall it should, since the tune belongs to Enrique
Jorrin,
creator of the infectious rhythm, with whose orchestra Federico
performed for many yaars "Linda Melodia" is a nod
to its composer,
Rubeun Jiminez, Son of the traditional trombone in Cuban music.
In the fifties, Generoso Jimenez
was arranger and musical di9Ctor for betoved singer Bony More.
In
this composition, timbalara Ruben "Tutti" Jimenez
cuts loose on his
tune with a spirited solo
Danzonas are also Cuba's most flexible musicai genre Consisting
of
three to five parts (with an introduction), occasional Vocals
and/or
chorus, the natural state of the danzon is constant flux. For
a spell,
danzones adopted melodies fmm sources as varied as American
standards and other Cuben genres Cheo Belen Puig's mystical
"Meditacion de Thais" takes its title from the classic
violin
piece by Massenet
Part 2 |
|
