Larry Harlow- Paso de Encarnacion

I am in the process of reviewing all of my salsa. I have to take time away from old favorites and exciting new things so that I can explore some of the good things hidden away in the vaults.

Today I finally got to Larry Harlow and Paso de Encarnacion. Now, I will be honest, I am not normally a fan of anything that is “charanga-ey”. If a song is too “charanga-esque”, I don’t want to hear it. I dislike too much of that chirpy flute stuff, I don’t want my salsa to sound like Peter And the Wolf. I confess though, it has grown on me and often I find the flutes a nice accent and not some intrusive piping little noise.

When this track came on, I figured it was going to be good. Songs that start slowly and acapella and then ramp up, step by step usually have a great payoff in the end. The musicians push and push and push the song until it soars. I wasn’t disappointed with this one. It took about a minute to get there, and I was a bit puzzled as the violins (is that a violin I hear?) and trombones did unexpected things. I found it all a tad bit tinny, but good. Then when the rhythm section got going- wow. Talk about phenomenal. They laid it down and locked the groove in and dint let up at all.

THIS is the kind of song I love to dance to. You get a little bit of variety in the beginning and then its nonstop salsa. Some people like songs with a lot of breaks and stops and pauses, those have their place. But a song with a good long hard groove is perfect for getting into that flow and dancing some mean street salsa. Where one move, one turn, one spin flows into the other and the dance is 4 minutes of so of nonstop motion.

I can’t tell you what the words were or who was singing, this is one of those songs where the vocals, even though good, weren’t really needed. The rhythm and the ORCHESTRATION are what makes this a masterpiece. As each instrument, each player joined in and added their part to the song, it just got Perfect. Really, thats all I can say. It was perfect. Everything just fell into place without anyone missing a beat, no pun intended.

Definitely,if you love salsa you GOTTA check this one out!!!

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Larry Harlow- El Paso de Encarnacion

I am in the process of reviewing all of my salsa. I have to take time away from old favorites and exciting new things so that I can explore some of the good things hidden away in the vaults.

Today I finally got to Larry Harlow and Paso de Encarnacion. Now, I will be honest, I am not normally a fan of anything that is “charanga-ey”. If a song is too “charanga-esque”, I don’t want to hear it. I dislike too much of that chirpy flute stuff, I don’t want my salsa to sound like Peter And the Wolf. I confess though, it has grown on me and often I find the flutes a nice accent and not some intrusive piping little noise.

When this track came on, I figured it was going to be good. Songs that start slowly and acapella and then ramp up, step by step usually have a great payoff in the end. The musicians push and push and push the song until it soars. I wasn’t disappointed with this one. It took about a minute to get there, and I was a bit puzzled as the violins (is that a violin I hear? it sure is!) and trombones did unexpected things. I found it all a tad bit tinny, but good. Then when the rhythm section got going- wow. Talk about phenomenal. They laid it down and locked the groove in and didn’t let up at all.

THIS is the kind of song I love to dance to. You get a little bit of variety in the beginning and then its nonstop salsa. Some people like songs with a lot of breaks and stops and pauses, those have their place. But a song with a good long hard groove is perfect for getting into that flow and dancing some mean street salsa. Where one move, one turn, one spin flows into the other and the dance is 4 minutes of so of nonstop motion.

I can’t tell you what the words were or who was singing, this is one of those songs where the vocals, even though good, weren’t really needed. The rhythm and the ORCHESTRATION are what makes this a masterpiece. As each instrument, each player joined in and added their part to the song, it just got Perfect. Really, that’s all I can say. It was perfect. Everything just fell into place without anyone missing a beat, no pun intended.

Definitely,if you love salsa you GOTTA check this one out!!!

(UPDATED 15 April 2009. I have since learned the words and this is one of my favorite tracks EVER. I now call it “musical perfection”; even my 16 year old son loves it.)

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