Irakere - El Coco (JVC/Milestone, 1982)

This post is by Scott

Chucho Valdés (kybd); Germán Velazco (as); Carlos Averhoff (ts); Arturo Sandoval (tr); Jorge Varona (tr); Carlos Emilio Morales (g); Carlos del Puerto (b); Enrique Plá (d); Jorge Alfonso (perc); Oscar Valdés (perc)

Recorded on August 3 - 5, 1980

In the late 1970s, during a momentary warming of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, Irakere released two LPs on U.S. giant Columbia Records.  The first release, simply titled Irakere (1978), made a huge splash.  After their second release for Columbia, Irakere 2 (1979), Ronald Reagan became president. U.S.-Cuba relations again soured, and Columbia dropped Irakere.  Fortunately for listeners who enjoyed Irakere's amalgamation of jazz, Afro-Cuban, and popular musics, the Japanese Victor Company signed the band.  Milestone Records licensed two of their albums for release in the U.S.: Chekeré Son (1979) and El Coco (1982).  Adding a further political twist, by the time Irakere had recorded El Coco, the outstanding reedman Paquito D'Rivera had defected from Cuba, eventually settling in U.S., where he made a series of outstanding LPs (to be discussed subsequently).  Irakere replaced him with the altoist Germán Velazco.

Like most of Afro-Latin jazz, the music on El Coco will not appeal to jazz purists. But I love the way Irakere blends musical traditions and new-and-old sounds to create something unique and powerful.  Also, Irakere is completely comfortable with the idea of "modern jazz" as dance music; it makes me think of Duke Ellington's quote about all music -- at its root -- addressing "the terpsichorean urge.”