Spanish
Harlem Orchestra
Spanish
Harlem Orchestra Symphony Center Friday, November
18, 2005
The
venue WAS Symphony Center, after all, so when
the Grammy winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra
(SHO), one of the hottest salsa bands performing
today blew in, they started on the dot and
never quit being phenomenal for the better
part of two hours. SHO even skipped the scheduled
intermission (after all there were programs)
and had the audience in the palm of their
hand from the first note. It was a treat to
hear a salsa band in a hall with such superb
sound and the band itself raved about the
Center.
While
the three delightful singers Ray De La Paz,
Marco Bermudez, and Willie Torres traded off
lead duties, they continued their wonderful
choreography throughout, contributing all
the more to the high energy and, boy, could
they dance. This is Showmanship with a capital
S. This was also straight ahead "salsa dura"
in its purest form. The driving brass section,
consisting of two trombones (Jimmy Bosch and
Dan Reagan), two trumpets (Hector Colon and
John Walsh) along with Enrique Fernandez on
saxophone and flute, was over the top. Despite
the fact that Jimmy Bosch and his trombone
were probably the best known feature of this
band, there was equal time for all in this
13 piece ensemble, although legendary musical
director and keyboard man, Oscar Hernandez,
heads it up. "Chino" Nunez on timbales
is another favorite. Each wonderful musician
had their day in the sun providing solo after
solo, but these were still well interspersed
within each piece without losing momentum.
Even when Hernandez "gave the singers
a break" for two songs to delve into
SHO's Latin jazz side, the music was still
danceable. And when the vocalists returned,
it was with a heart-rending bolero, "Esperame
En El Cielo", filled with magnificent
harmony and each vocalist shared the lead.
Spanish
Harlem Orchestra was only recently formed
in 2000 by Oscar Hernandez and producer Aaron
Levinson and yet already they were the surprise
winner of a 2005 Grammy for Best Salsa/Merengue
Album for their second CD, Across 110th Street.
Hernandez has worked with many world-renowned
artists such as Tito Puente and Celia Cruz,
along with, most recently, Ruben Blades and
he also writes some of SHO's music. The ensemble
performed some beautiful selections from their
first CD, Un Grand Dia En El Barrio (2002),
such as "Pa' Gozar", an extremely
popular cha cha cha, sung by Willie Torres.
They previewed some of their newer material
as they plan to go into the studio in January.
Of course, an encore was demanded and SHO
did not disappoint.
As
I watched salsa virtuoso trombone artist,
Jimmy Bosch, slide in through the main entrance
almost unnoticed just before the show started,
I did not recognize too many "salseros"
amongst the attendees, but instead viewed
what appeared to be a mix of curious Symphony
Center regulars along with other members of
the Latin community. This was an unusual venue
for a band who by the very virtue of their
fabulous salsa, makes it impossible to sit
still, so of course a few couples somehow
managed to dance anyway between the seats.
Here's to hoping we hear more of the same
in such great halls and more in Chicago in
any case.
