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The enfants terribles of salsa are back!
For more than two decades Bio Ritmo has been reviving the style and elegance of the great 70s Salsa. Able to perfectly recreate the sound of the masters of the genre, the band based out of Richmond, Virginia, however makes the bet to integrate a rich diversity of influences - just like its mixed bag of musicans, be they Puerto Ricans or Americans, coming from the jazz, rock, reggae or funk scenes. The band plays an original and retrofuturist sauce, with true-to-life intensity, in which it's not surprising to hear a vintage organ playing an Eastern melody, a cuica reverbarating between two Afrobeat breaks or some Rock energy, all restoring Salsa with contemporary colors.
As a foretaste of their new album expected for the end of the year, Bio Ritmo cranks up the summer heat on this first instrumental single, 'Picaresca', a high voltage descarga combining the best spirit of tradition between Salsa and Latin jazz, with these funky spices, trademark of the band. Led by a pyrotechnical horn section, the track is a party anthem bouncing like a cartoon character between lead trumpet parts (Mark Ingraham), timbales (Giustino Riccio) and trombone (Toby Whitaker), galvanized by Marlysse Simmons' groove that climbs back and forth between piano and Farfisa.
The original idea and the choice of the track title comes from Giustino Riccio, who explains: "A while ago a Colombian friend of mine told me that I have the eyes of a pícaro. I believe that she meant this as a compliment! I had heard the word and it's descendants (picaroon etc) before but out of curiosity I researched it's derivation. I read about the old Spanish "picaresque" novels such as La Celestina and others and immediately fell in love with the characters involved. I've always been a big fan of classic samurai and american cowboy movies so the similarities to many Toshiro Mifune and Clint Eastwood anti-heroes were obvious. When I had the first ideas of this new song in my head I felt like it should have a raucous and untamed (albeit en clave) sound. I felt like the title was appropriate."
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Les enfants terribles de la salsa sont de retour !
Voici plus de deux décennies que Bio Ritmo s’attache à raviver la plus belle flamme de la salsa des années 1970. Capable de reproduire à la perfection le son des maîtres du genre, ce groupe originaire de Richmond, Virginie, fait pourtant le pari d’intégrer une diversité d’influences à l’image de celle de ses dix musiciens, qu’ils soient Portoricains ou Américains, issus du jazz, du rock, du reggae ou du funk. Un sauce originale et rétrofuturiste plus vraie que nature, où il ne faut pas s’étonner d’entendre un orgue vintage entamer une mélodie orientale, une cuica résonner entre deux breaks afrobeat et une énergie rock’n’roll redonner ses couleurs contemporaines à la salsa.
En avant-goût de son nouvel album attendu d’ici la fin de l’année, Bio Ritmo fait monter la température estivale sur ce premier single instrumental intitulé « PICARESCA ». Une descarga de haute voltige, qui allie le meilleur esprit de cette tradition entre salsa et latin jazz et ces épices funk qui sont la marque de Bio Ritmo. Emmené par une section de cuivres pyrotechniques, le morceau est un hymne à la fête qui rebondit comme un cartoon entre solos de trompette (Mark Ingraham), timbales (Giustino Riccio) et trombone (Toby Whitaker), attisés par le groove de Marlysse Simmons qui alterne piano et clavier Farfisa.
L’idée originale et le choix du titre du morceau revient à Giustino Riccio…
credits
released July 9, 2013
Marlysse Simmons : Piano, Farfisa VIP 600
Rei Alvarez : Guiro
Giustino Riccio : Timbales
Hector Barez : Congas
Mike Montanez : Bongos
Toby Whitaker : Trombone
John Lilley : Tenor Sax
Mark Ingraham : Trumpet
Bob Miller : Trumpet
Edward Prendergast : Electric Bass
Paris-based production team (Djouls, Grant Phabao, Loik Dury & Ben Hito) featuring worldwide guest vocalists, musicians, deejays, graphic/web designers and writers. Reggae, Afro, Funk, Soul, Jazz, Latin, Hip Hop and more audio goodness.