A Friend's Selling this Killer Painting SALSA LATIN FANIA

Click here to view the painting on eBay

My buddy needs to sell the painting and I'd like to see that he gets a good price for it seeing as he'd prefer not to sell it at all.

Here's some info from the listing on eBay:

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to own a unique original (and very beautiful) painting by Island Records UK in-house artist Tony Wright used for a UK-only release by the Fania All-Stars on Island Records in 1975.

The gorgeous 16" square painting depicts a 70s Spanish Harlem barrio street scene, complete with bodegas, tenement buildings and ghetto residents including the obligatory conguero with a big 'fro playing on a stoop in front of a building!

R.I.P. Joe Cuba - From Radio Rios

Check out a personal and touching tribute to the King of Spanish Harlem, Joe Cuba, from Soul Spectrum contributer Radio Rios.

Tjader Tjams

I'm not gonna spend a lot of time waxing poetic about these set of 1970s Cl Tjader recordings on Fantasy. I've been really working on filling out my Tjader discography as of late and when going through all of his albums, I'm really drawn to this period of his work. After the Skye record label that he founded in partnership with Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabo, he returned to his original record company, Fantasy. I feel like this blog post is a aural response to the wikipedia entry for Tjader that subtitles his 1970s output as the "Lean Years." His early seventies Fantasy output is consistently excellent with his top notch band really stretching out into longer cuts with electric piano, stellar percussion work and some well chosen cover tunes from a wide range of sources, including Tito Puente, The Rolling Stones, Donovan, Joao Donato, as well as revisiting some of his older recordings in this funkier format.

Cal Tjader - Ran Kan Kan
A great take on a classic Tito Puente jam. We already listened to two tracks from this album on a previous Soul Spectrum post.






Cal Tjader - Mambero
This album might just be my favorite Tjader album. He does to awesome Donovan covers (who would have thought?) and this smoking latin jam. I usually avoid anything with a reference to "Mambo", but this track is a monster!

Cal Tjader - La Murga Panameña
A killer take on the Willie Colon classic from around the same time. And while I don't have the album jacket with me now to check, this album features some arrangements or production from none other than Tito Puente. The whole album finds Tjader really embracing the burgeoning New York Salsa sound, and keep in mind this album came out close to the birth of this scene in 1970.

Cal Tjader - Manteca (Live)
Tjader recorded no fewer than three live albums during this period, this being the first. On this cut he reinterprets an older tune of his and really stretches out with his band. Al Zulaica on electric piano, as he is one many of these albums.

Cal Tjader - Never Can Say Goodbye
On this album it seems as if Tjader is trying his best to match the sound and feel of the contemporary CTI recordings. He features a fuller band with guitar, strings and some poppy tunes. This album does sound a bit "lighter" than the others from the same "lean years" era, but I find the arrangements and song selections to be tasteful and really fun to listen to.

Cal Tjader - Amazonas (Live)
I couldn't post Tjader without a nod to his sometimes bandmate, friend and collaborator, João Donato. This is Tjader's extended take on the Donato classic.

Election '08: Musical Shout-Outs, Part 1: To the Voters

Today I'm kicking off a string of posts leading up to the 2008 election next Tuesday. I got inspired the other night and wrote down a list of songs that had vaguely or sometimes explicitly political readings and decided to make a series of posts that touched on various political issues relevant for this election. They will range in content, but most will be old-school soul jams of some sort. I'm gonna try and be pretty regular about them (at least every other day) and the commentary will be minimal as the songs should speak for themselves. That being said, here's the first one:

Election '08: Musical Shout-Outs, Part 1: To the Voters

Marvin Gaye - You're the Man (parts 1 & 2)
This was the lead-off single for a never-to-be recorded or released album. The single "You're the Man" reached #50 pop and #7 R&B during the Spring of 1972. The album was to be the follow-up to his hugely popular and now classic "What's Goin' On", but when this single didn't perform as well on the pop charts, he changed his strategy and started recording "Let's Get It On."

This is the single version, which surprisingly did not get released on the "Deluxe Edition" of "Let's Get It On" that Motown put out a few years back in place of some demo versions that frankly are not as good, in my humble opinion.

Try to imagine a song coming out today by a mainstream artist at the peak of his powers with even one verse as politically relevant as these lyrics must have been:

Talkin', talkin' to the people
Tryin' to get them to go your way
Tellin' lies, not to worry
That we won't be led astray
So blind, unsignified
Your opponents always lying
Think about the mistakes you make
I believe America's at stake
You know, busin', busin' is the issue
If you have a plan with you
Do you have a plan?
If you've got a master plan
Got to vote for you
Hey hey, got to vote for you
You're the man

We don't wanna hear no more lies
About how you plan to economize
We want our dollar value increased
Employment to rise
The nation's taxation
Is causin' all, all this inflation
Don't give us no peace sign
Turn around and rob the people blind
Economics is the issue
Do you have a plan with you?
'Cause if you've got a master plan
Got to vote for you
You're the man

[8 times, over scat singing:]
Don't you understand?
There's misery in the land

[Fade out . . . Fade in Part 2]

People marching on Washington
Better hear what they have to say
'Cause the tables just might turn against you, brother
Set around Election Day
Politics and hypocrites
Is turning us all into lunatics
Can you take the guns from our sons?
Right all the wrongs this administration has done?
Peace and freedom is the issue
Do you have a plan with you?
'Cause if you've got a plan
If you've got a master plan
Got to vote for you
Hey hey, got to vote for you
'Cause you're the man

[Repeat and fade:]
Got to vote for you

Thank you, Marvin. Remember to vote next week!

Top 4 favorite things about moving to SF:

1. Mexican Food
2. Availability & Affordability of Produce*
3. Aguas Frescas

I can't get enough of the delicious juices that you can get at virtually every Mexican joint in town, be they cantelope, watermelon, strawberry or whatever. So refreshing! I try to kid myself that they're not loaded with sugar, because the presence of actual fruit chunks makes me wanna believe that they're 100% natural and 100% good for you. For the reason that will soon become obvious to you, Agua de Fresca made me think of my #4 favorite thing about SF . . .

4. Cal Tjader (he called the Bay Area home for most of his life)

And with that I give you two songs from his fantastic early seventies album on Fantasy, called "Agua Dulce"

Cal Tjader - Agua Dulce (Cool-Aid)
Cal Tjader - Gimme Shelter








* edible, medicinal, etc

Spotlight on.... Joe Bataan

No one walks the line like Joe Bataan. His street cred could not be more impeccable - born in nyc, raised in spanish harlem, ex-gang member, and self taught on the piano, Joe was instrumental in forming the latin soul sound. After signing with Fania in 1966, he released eight albums including Gypsy Women, Subway Joe, Riot!, (which went gold) and Saint Latin's Day Massacre. After leaving Fania due to money disagreements he helped coin the phrase "Salsoul," lending that name to his first post Fania release and later co-founding the influential disco label with the Cayre brothers. Always a man with his ear to the street, Bataan sensed disco's impending arrival and this album represented a sonic shift towards groovier, more dance oriented sounds. This was evidenced even more so on his next album, Afro-Filipino, his first on Salsoul. Although not making much noise on the national charts, Bataan's instrumental cover of Gil Scott-Heron's "The Bottle" went on to be come a club hit and is considered an essential pre-disco track. Always searching for the new thing, Joe hit the charts a few years later with the minor disco-rap hit, "Rap-o-Clap-o" which is remembered as rap's debut in the european market. After gracefully bowing out of the game in the early eighties Bataan went on to become a youth counselor in one of the prisons he himself had been incarcerated in prior to his recording career. He began performing again in the nineties and released a new album "Call My Name" in 2005.

Joe Bataan - Subway Joe The title track from my favorite of his on Fania. I love his lyrics and loose delivery.






Joe Bataan - The Bottle (instrumental) An instrumental cover of Gil Scott-Heron. Really nice pre-disco.







Joe Bataan - Latin Strut The Brazilian-Bataan link! Excellent cover of Eumir Deodato's "Super Strut." Check the breakdown!









Joe Bataan - Rap-O-Clap-O (12" version) Speaking of breakdowns, Here's the 12" version of his super-catchy foray into hip hop.