Jazz Articles about Rubén Blades

About Rubén Blades

Album Review

Craft Recordings have been on a roll of late, following 2021's excellently presented Ornette Coleman boxset, Genesis of Genius, with 2023's Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series and imminent Sonny Rollins set Go West!: The Contemporary Records Albums. So it is only natural that jazz-inclined audiophiles will start turning their attention to what other treasures the LA-based reissue specialists are digging out of the vaults. And so we arrive at Craft's new “special reissue" of salsa star ...

Live Review

Rubén Blades at the Oakland Paramount Theater

by Roy Strassman
December 1, 2021

Rubén Blades Paramount Theater Oakland, CA November 20, 2021 The November night was brisk, and the expectant crowd gradually swelled. Sausage vendors were selling onion-and pepper-laden sandwiches right alongside the scalpers. The queues were long—for checking vaccine cards and gaining entry or even just to partake of a juicy pre-show sausage. Excitement was in the air. The 3,000-plus-seater Oakland Paramount Theater soon filled. Rubén Blades' 21-piece Panamanian band—courteously waiting for the arriving ...

Album Review

Rubén Blades: Salswing!

Read "Salswing!" reviewed by Jim Trageser

by Jim Trageser
May 23, 2021

In the liner notes to this recording, veteran Latin pop singer Rubén Blades explains that Salswing! is meant as a demonstrative statement: About his own ability to grow beyond being a Panamanian singer, to show that musicians can speak to an audience beyond their own nationality, and to celebrate the stellar chops of the Roberto Delgado Orquesta backing him. Regardless of the purpose behind these sessions, the reality is that this is one of the best big band ...

Album Review

Rubén Blades: Salswing!

Read "Salswing!" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
May 4, 2021

Se amate il jazz delle orchestre latine e avete adorato lo swingante incontro di Frank Sinatra con Count Basie non perdetevi quest'album appena pubblicato da Ruben Blades con l'orchestra di Roberto Delgado. Come indica il titolo è una fusione tra Salsa e Swing e si sviluppa in undici brani del songbook jazzistico (due di essi presenti nel primo Sinatra/Basie), del repertorio latino e degli stessi Blades e Delgado. Tutte le varianti della salsa sono un connubio tra ...