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El Avion de la Salsa - Independant Weekly Review |
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Jimmy Bosch
El Avion de la Salsa
(JRGR, 2004)
El Avion de la Salsa marks Jimmy's long-awaited reemergence since his first two critically hailed and dancefloor approved albums on RykoLatino. Musically it's the biggest, most aggressive sound from Jimmy yet, still brash as hell and reveling in his old-school roots. The SIMS-style graphics of an in-flight dance party in progress are a bit cheesy, yes, but the metaphor is no pretty lie.
Jimmy's trombone powers this jet to mile-high altitudes, with guests in first class like cuatro guitarist Yomo Toro, bassist Andy Gonzalez and electric violinist Alfredo de la Fe. The youthful energy of lead vocalist Rey Bayona, who improvises live with the fire and panache one imagines in a young Hector Lavoe, transfers well to disc. Mimicking the microphone battles in the Palladiums and Cheetahs of old, Bayona goes head to head with fellow soneros Rey de la Paz, Willie Torres, Marco Bermudez and Herman Olivera, all well-known in the New York scene and on recording projects like Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Soneros del Barrio and Eddie Palmieri's La Perfecta II.
Jimmy's sometimes quirky, always confessional lyrics show the grit of a true New Yorker--who else would demand compassion instead of anti-depressants to cope with post-millennial disasters? He's recorded public health messages before, in the form of a safe sex plena ("Impacto Tendremos," calling on personal responsibility to defeat the spread of AIDS), and this time he urges "mi gente" not to avoid the doctor's office, and to know and watch for the early signs of cancer. There are also songs about love, straight up: the whole rocky road from devotion to divorce, the domestic joy of sexual thrall, and love between parents and children amidst the ups and downs of family life. It hasn't exactly been a dry year for salsa (with new music from Bio Ritmo, Ruben Blades with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and the Sonora Poncena), but this is vintage Jimmy Bosch and quite simply the slammin'-est salsa album of 2004.
Originally featured on: http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A23308
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