Ismael Rivera Y Sus Cachimbos Esto Es Lo Mio Tico Records (JMTS-1428) When Ismael Rivera (also known as Maelo) first got the guide tracks from Fania, he immediately put them into his portable recorder & began listening intently, nodding his head & then softly mouthing the lyrics he had already mastered for this recording. For the next few weeks, he was completely concentrated, captivated & in the zone. His companera, Gladiola, would complain you couldnt talk to him while he was working. He wouldnt even watch Saturday Night Live, one of his favorite shows, with us. Hed just have the tape rolling, his mind & soul going over every note, while figuring out how & where to weave his rhythms of lyrics around the sound. We were at his upper West Side, New York apartment that summer when he started to play around vocally with Mario Hernandezs tres solo. Rivera had already made every word that Tite Curet Alonso wrote on Las Caras Lindas his own & was vacilanco with savvy quips to punctuate the black pride he felt in expressing this particular number. Rafa Cortijo also was with us that afternoon as we all listened & talked about what El Sonero Major was about to do. This time, he played the tape in stereo, rewinding it over & over at the solo. As the music would start up again, hed lean into the recording as if caressing it with his face, listening & snapping his fingers in clave before suddenly picking his head up sheepishly & saying, Oyeme, & then humming the notes from the tres in a semi-scat form before coming up with the words that would syllabically conform to the rhythmic melody of instrument & voice. At this time, Rivera was the highest paid Fania artist second to Celia Cruz. And they hired the best musicians for this production. For the chorus, they brought on board Ruben Blades, Hector Lavoe, Nestor Sanchez, & Adalberto Santiago. Rivera wanted to represent who he was & where he came from; the song La Perla did it for him. Another Curet Alonzo composition, this son-guaguanco transports the listener to the costal shanty town in the shadow of Puerto Ricos La Fortaleza. The recordings cover depicts a very humble looking Maelo (Rivera) squatting in front of one of the houses built on the waters of Puerto Rico. The back cover has a hard working Rivera taking a gulp of mavi, featuring open doors that invite you into a world of struggling simplicity & humility - a chance to glance at his roots, which he was very proud of, & where those roots had taken him. Hernandezs montunos on the tres gives De Medio Lao (by Javier Vazquez) a swaying, funky feel. For that recording, Maelo took along Gladys her relatives, Iraida & Freddy, to the studio. They drove with him to midtowns La Tierra Sound Recording Studios. Maelo took along his own pair of clave sticks he had made out of two pieces of wood. He then went into the studio booth, looked up & made a sign if the cross before taking off the wooden cross-carved with the face of the Black Christ from around his neck. He dangled it over the music stand, put on the cans (head sets), picked up his clave, y pancima. A career-defining production, Esto Es Lo Mio brings out the best from a seasoned yet still tasty sonero of the 20th century. From Bobby Capos bomba Ella No Menece Un Llanto to Placido Acevedos Comedia, Maelo keeps it real, from its unorthodox cover to the last note of the song Angelica. While in the studio during the final stages of this production, he was talking to Louie Ramirez when a reporter walked in & asked Maelo what he thought about the first Latin Grammy. He answered; Grammy, hammy. In this business, you have to sell records. Hes still selling today. Enjoy! Side A 1. Las Caras Lindas 2. Comedia 3. Da Medio Lao 4. A Medias No Side B 1. La Perla 2. Ella No Merece Un Llanto 3. Angelica Personnel: Ismael Rivera: Leader, Clave, Maracas, Guiro, (A3, B2) Carlos Rigo Malcon: Timbales, Quinto (A3, B2, B3) Hector Bomberito Zarzuela: Trumpet Tony Cofresi: Trumpet Sam Burtis: Trombone Manolin Gonzalez: Alto Saxophone Victor Venegas: Ampeg Baby Bass Javier Vazquez: Acoustic Piano Mario Hernandez: Tres Jose Luis Gonzalez: Conga Vitin Gonzalez: Bongo, Cowbell Lead Vocals: Ismael Rivera Coro: Ruben Blades Hector Lavoe Nestor Sanchez Adalberto Santiago Musical Arrangements by: Javier Vazquez Produced by: Louie Ramirez & Ismael Rivera Executive Producer: Jerry Masucci Recording Director: Ismael Rivera Musical Director: Javier Vazquez Album Cover & Liner Photos: Candido Ortiz Album Cover Design: Zina Torres Recording Engineer: Irv Greenbaum Mixed by: Irv Greenbaum & Ismael Rivera Recorded @: La Tierra Sound Studios, NYC TICO RECORDS, 1978 A FANIA RECORDS PRODUCTION
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 03:12:43 +0000
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