From kanker@earthlink.net Tue Aug 03 00:57:42 2004
Subject:Re: 1999 B3 Summit now Chucho love fest!

--- In CloneWheel@yahoogroups.com, tonysounds wrote:
> Irakere was a phenomenal group, and definitely an influence on Santana. On the
Supernatural tour, one of the instrumental highlights of the show was this song Bacalo
Con Pon. I only have one disc by them and I actually bought it to find this one song! If the
"greatest hits" disc I have is any indication, they wrote more ballad-y things (or are at least
known for them) than harder faster stuff, but there are quite a few gorgeous songs on this
album. It's worth having just for Chucho alone.

They're a group that's real hard to pin down. Pretty much anything can find its way into an
Irakere tune, rock, blues, rnb, salsa, bebop, funk. They take just about any style out there,
and will play it with a real understanding of the style, and then give you a Cuban take on
it. If any of you are looking to learn some serious Salsa stuff, check out their album
Babalu Aye, mot sure if it's listed under Chucho's name, Irakere's, or both, but it's a
serious clinic in Salsa, each tune starts off groovin insanely hard, and keeps getting more
and more nasty. The first 6 tunes on the record are their take on modern Salsa. The last
tune on the record is a wonderful Bata piece. They have a nearly 30 year catalog of
recordings, so there's a ton of great stuff to check out. Chucho was definitely a big
influence on Gonzalo Rubalcaba (perhaps the sickest player on the planet), and Gonzalo
actually did a stint with Irakere in his youth.