1. Hotel California
2. My Way
3. Volare
4. As Time Goes By
5. That's the Way
6. I Left My Heart in San Francisco
7. Strangers in the Night
8. Yesterday
9. New York, New York
10. Can't Help Falling in Love
11. O Sole Mio
12. Macarena
Billy Ross - Alto sax, soprano sax
Dan Salmasian - Alto sax
Ed Calle - Tenor sax, soprano sax
Ed Maina - Tenor sax
Mike Brignola - Baritone sax
John Kricker, Steve Sigmund, Jason Pyle - Trombones
Jim Berman - Bass trombone
Adalberto Lara "Trompetica", Jim Hacker, Mario Ortiz, Doug
Michels - Trumpets
Hilario Duran - Piano (tracks 1-5, 7, 9, 11)
Jorge Arronte - Piano (tracks 6, 10)
Raul "Lulo" Perez -Piano (tracks 8, 12)
Lindsey Blair - Electric guitar
José Lozada - Guitar (tracks 1-3, 5, 7, 10, 11)
Paco Aguilera - Guitar, chorus (tracks 1-3, 7, 12)
José Miguel Carmona "Josemi" - Guitar (tracks 4, 9)
Juan Carmona - Guitar (tracks 6, 8)
Ranses Colon - Bass (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 9)
Antonio Ramos Urbano "Maca" - Bass (tracks 3, 5, 7, 8, 10,
11)
Edward Magdariaga - Bass (track 12)
Richard Bravo - Drums, percussion
Anye Bao - Drums (tracks 1-5, 7, 9-11)
José Manuel Ruiz "Bandolero" - Percussion (tracks 1-11)
Carlos Nuno - Chorus (track 12)
The track listing suggests an easy-listening album of popular tunes
but this is something else. The RG Royal Sound Orchestra is the brainchild
of Recaredo Gutierrez, a Miami-based producer who has put together
this intriguing mixture of Latin-American and Spanish-influenced versions
of pop songs. The arrangements are by a number of different people
but they all refresh the big-band sound with hot Latino idioms.
The effect is to breathe new life into what otherwise might be regarded
as hackneyed material. The Eagles' Hotel California, for example,
opens the album with fiery trumpet backed by strumming Spanish guitars
- almost a Mariachi feel. Recaredo Gutierrez aims to give us back
the sound of "real" acoustic instruments as distinct from
the electronic and studio-produced sounds that pervade so much popular
music. And he sees in the Spanish flamenco a tradition "rooted
in emotion, improvisation and rhythm".
It may seem odd to hear songs like My Way and New York,
New York interpreted as Latin-flavoured big band pieces but the
process works surprisingly well. Such tunes have been performed so
often that you might imagine there is nothing new that can be said
through them, but the Royal Sound Orchestra revitalises them. The
rich orchestral sound is augmented by the stimulating rhythms of congas
and bongoes. The multi-layered arrangements avoid the clichés of big-band
writing, and there is so much going on that the listener can hardly
become bored. For instance, Volare starts with a dose of modest
trumpet and guitars but the sound is enriched when more instruments
enter to thicken the harmonies before the whole orchestra bursts out
into an opulent mambo - which for a while moves into swinging four-four.
Another attractive feature is that the music is eminently danceable.
And the band has the benefit of such experienced soloists as trumpeter
Adalberto Lara and saxophonist Ed Calle. Calle plays storming tenor
sax on That's the Way, which also contains some searing guitar
from Lindsey Blair. Most of the tunes are presented in torrid salsa
style, although Yesterday is more restrained, but not without
warmth. New York, New York turns out to make an admirably swaying
Latin piece.
I expected this to be an average Latin-American outing but it proves
to be much more.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
RG Records RG 0201
