Reissued as part of the
Mr. Bongo label's Cuban Classics series,
Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital is
Irakere's mind-blowing 1974 debut album. Led by pianist
Chucho Valdés, son of legendary Cuban pianist and bandleader
Bebo Valdés,
Grupo Irakere, as they were first known, were a seminal Cuban ensemble whose sound fused Afro-Cuban traditions, modern jazz, funk, and psych rock into its own wildly dynamic and influential style. Most of the members had studied at the Havana Conservatory of Music and gone on to found the classical ensemble
Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, out of which
Irakere was born. Featured were such rising stars as saxophonist
Paquito D'Rivera, percussionist
Oscar Valdes, trumpeter
Jorge Varona, guitarist
Carlos Emilio Morales, and others; also a member was trumpet star
Arturo Sandoval who joined a few years after this album. While a deeply talented and skilled group of musicians,
Irakere were sophisticated but never subtle. On the contrary, they pushed each other musically, writing songs where each tradition elbowed the other for room on the dancefloor. When they went for acid-soaked wah-wah guitar, as on the sizzling opener "Bacalao con Pan," they went full force, crafting an Afro-Cuban psych-anthem that sounds like
Santana on the edge of a volcano. This sweaty, take-no-prisoners aesthetic is pushed throughout the album as
Irakere dive into a heady mix of club-ready groovers. Many of the songs were written by tumba player and vocalist
Oscar Valdes, including the horn-driven Latin soul number "La Verdad," the salsa burnout of "Quindiambo," and "Luisa," which sounds improbably like a collaboration between '70s brass group
Chicago and
the Muppets. We also get the romantic afterglow cruise ship vibes of "Valle Picadura" and the crazed cover of
Paco Paco's 1972 novelty hit "Taka Taka Ta."
Irakere's legend only grew following the release of this album, culminating in the group winning a Grammy for their eponymous 1979
Columbia Records debut;
Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital is the inception of that legend. ~ Matt Collar