ORCHESTRA GITANOS - SALSA MUSIC

Orchestra Gitano is a 12-piece Salsa band from Santa Cruz, California that has recently released its second CD entitled, Salsa Gitana. The album adheres to a traditional Cuban sound while including Meringue, Plena, Bolero, Mozambique, and blending elements of Jazz, Rock, and even Funk into the mix.

This California band plays an astonishing variety of styles, and what's more astonishing, plays them all well. Their second album opens and closes with spoken incantations, and in between they play meringue, plena, bolero, son, cumbia and rock - but they're so busy swinging they never seem self-congratulatory. Nearly all the tunes are originals, and a number of band members created the writing: guitarist Phillip Retamoza's "Gracias Carlos" is, yes, a Santana tribute, but it's also a tender bolero; trombonist Alicia Rodríguez wrote the clever "El Manzanero" in addition to "Meringue Hollywood"; percussionist Edwin Morales wrote the driving title tune. Violinist and co-producer Kevin Moore wrote the lion's share of the material, however, and it's unerringly catchy and dance worthy ("Poeta," "Buscando La Gen"). And all these different styles by different writers are effectively welded into a coherent whole, most notably on the 15 minute closing suite. The only downside is that there's such a strong focus on the ensemble that the individual musicians don't get enough of a chance to shine, aside from Retamoza, leader/percussionist Bosco El Gitano, and the two husky-voiced, traditional singers, Mario Perez and Eduardo Herrera. The rest of the band is Joey Borrero, percussion; Ken Woodward, Louis Fasman and Tom Daly, horns; Ramon Lazo and Daniel Filip, keyboards. Guests include Rebeca Mauleón-Santana, Luana Pedota, Will Puckett, Wendy Black and Antonio Morrero, keys; Ron Coolidge, Jeff Cressman and Marty Wehner, horns; Steve Cervantes, flute.