Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Various Artists: Calle 54

Various Artists: Calle 54

By Jim Santella
July 1, 2001
View read count

This soundtrack comes from a full-length film dedicated to Latin jazz. Solo piano, jazz trios, and larger ensembles carry the tradition to an audience thirsty for knowledge. As the world gets smaller, the audience for this music grows in size. Jazz, with direct ties to Cuba, Brazil, The Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Argentina, Africa and Europe, makes a pleasurable soundtrack. It's new music for a new world. Director Fernando Trueba calls the film "a musical about music."

Dizzy Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra and his earlier big bands made considerable progress as ambassadors who spread the sounds of jazz around the world. From Sony's 54th Street studios in New York, this cross-section of Latin jazz spokesmen gathered to record the music for Trueba's motion picture. The result is a film that allows the music to speak for itself. By meeting with Bebo Valdés in Sweden, Chucho Valdés in Havana, Jerry González in Puerto Rico (the land of his family), Chico O'Farrill in New York, and Chano Domínguez in Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain, Trueba assembled a film that details the origins of Latin jazz and offers insight as to how it's developed in a century. The soundtrack reflects both the myriad cultural traits that remain, and jazz's fresh, improvisational nature.

Track Listing

(1) Panamerica; (2) Samba Triste; (3) Oye C

Personnel

Various Artists

various

(1) Paquito D'Rivera- alto saxophone, clarinet; Diego Urcola- trumpet; Aquiles Baez- guitar; Raul Jaurena- bandone

Album information

Title: Calle 54 | Year Released: 2001 | Record Label: Blue Note Records

About Various Artists

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Meet Duane Eubanks
< Previous

Mats Gustafsson / Paul Lovens Duo & ...
Next >

Become a Sustaining Member

Since 1995, All About Jazz has championed jazz as an art form and supported the musicians who create it. Over three decades, it has grown into one of the world's leading jazz resources, serving hundreds of thousands of readers, musicians, presenters and industry professionals each month.

Help Build the Future of All About Jazz

Your support helps us continue building All About Jazz for the next generation—expanding our editorial coverage, preserving jazz history, developing new community features and creating better ways to discover the music and the people behind it.

Become a sustaining member for as little as $20 per year and you'll immediately enjoy an ad-free experience along with access to subscriber features and future articles for a full year.

Together, we're not simply sustaining All About Jazz—we're building its future. Thank you for being part of the journey.