Afro-Cuban All Stars: Revival Party

The Afro-Cuban All Stars' debut, A Toda Cuba Le Gusta (Nonesuch), got a bit lost in the shuffle last year. Nonesuch released it along with two other Afro-Cuban albums -- Ry Cooder's Buena Vista Social Club and Introducing Rubén González. Cooder's star power attracted most of the media attention, and what was left went to the debut by septuagenarian pianist González, which had the human-interest angle. The All Stars, a crack multigenerational ensemble assembled by Juan de Marcos González to play the classic conjunto tunes of the '40s and '50s, were even overshadowed by another revivalist band, José Almedy's Cubanismo. But last Sunday at the Roxy, the Afro-Cuban All Stars made a lasting impression.

Pianist Guillermo González and the group's five brass players and four percussionists established a high energy level for the four vocalists -- Mañuel "Puntillito" Licea, Ibrahim Ferrar, Félix Valoy, and Teresa García Caturia. Ferrar's miraculously boyish voice (he's 71) shone on an ornate arrangement of the haunting son classic "Chan Chan." Licea's improvisations on "Amor Verdadero," a guajira-son, were some of the most melodic and assured of the night. Ferrar returned for an ardent rendition of another chestnut, the bolero "Dos Gardenias," which was performed in a traditional rural sexteto setting that featured trumpeter Alejandro Pichardo.

A long descarga (jam session) featured a tres (Cuban guitar) solo full of chromatic embellishments plus lead trumpeter Daniel Ramos Alayo, who peppered his muted solo with quotes in a leisurely improvisation over slow, velvety percussion. That brought the energy level down until Caturia swept into action on a cha cha cha and won over the audience with her ebullient singing. She also played catch with the audience using a chekere (a gourd covered in a beaded net that's used as a percussion instrument), which distracted some listeners from one of Alayo's best solos. A funky medium-tempo arrangement of an Arsenio Rodríguez song and an up-tempo "María Caracoles" ended the concert in the same high-spiritedness with which it started.

-- Ed Hazell