Luis Frank Soneros

Luis is a sweet voiced singer completely at home in any style of Cuban music who brings his distinctive style to over half the numbers here. My favourites are possibly La Sitiera, a superbly sung bolero which accelerates into a cha cha cha son and the introspective Longina, a lovely vocal duet between Luis and Juan de Marcos that features sensitive tres playing from the latter. But really many of the best loved styles are presented by singers and musicians who actually contributed to their creation….people like Pio Leyva who kicks up the dust on Maracaibo Oriental, Afro-Cuban All Stars alumnus Manuel ‘Puntillita’ Licea on the well-worn Bilongo or master pianist Guillermo Rubalcaba Gonzalez who contributes two lush Afro-Cuban instrumentals.

One of the prime movers in the New York salsa scene was Cuban singer Rudy Calzado who was the voice on many of Johnny Pacheco’s early hits. He was invited to Havana for this session and penned two numbers here, the guajira Linda Alborada and the aptly titled bolero La Mas Bella Cancion. In fact Rudy was reunited with some musicians whom he had not seen since the revolution. Varied, with excellent sound, a cast of some of Cuba’s greatest musicians, very informative liner note booklet and an attitude that breathes warmth into the tradition, this is a worthy follow-up to the Buena Vista sessions.