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View Past ArticlesTimba artist Danny Lozada rocks San Francisco!April 12, 2007By Kevin Moore
As
I snatched up the last parking place within miles, the Dodgers were gearing
up to once again humiliate the hapless home team. I took some small solace in
the fact that the owner of the team was a heavy contributor to the Bush campaign,
but that in spite of his best efforts to the contrary, yours truly will be hearing
Los Van Van in San Francisco again before he ever gets a whiff a World Series
ring. La maldición de los timberos
takes its merciless vengeance on all those who dare to defy it. And
if you don't believe me, just ask Abu González.
Danny Lozada in San Francisco The Venue: Jelly's sits on the dock of the
San Francisco Bay, literally in the shadow of the gorgeous and brightly-illuminated
AT&T Park. But enough about beisbol. The adrenaline started pouring into my veins from the very first notes of the soundcheck. It was clear that the band had taken another quantum leap from the Thursday rehearsal and was ready to roll. They reviewed all the Tremendo delirio tracks and put the finishing touches on the infamous Mango song that only survived a single 1997 performance in Cuba before being banned. This is the song referenced in the book Dancing with the Enemy, and it's very interesting musically as well as lyrically, although its arrangement hasn't had the full Juan Carlos González treatment. But it's beginning to look like that little problem may soon be rectified! Danny and JCG are back in communication and if they can be gotten into the same room in the same country for a few weeks, I'm absolutely certain that another classic album will be produced in short order. The Downbeat: The introduction to No estamos locos is not something you can read off of a chart. For an under-rehearsed group it has "train wreck" written all over it. It starts with a very tricky countoff and bloque which jumps directly into a completely unaccompanied 3-part coro, then to another bloque, and then rages into the rest of Juan Carlos González' complex and brilliant arrangement. Had I not seen every minute of every rehearsal with my own eyes, I would never have believed that this band had only played together for a total of 9 hours. They nailed the opening, and from that point on they had the crowd in the palm of their hands.
The Rhythm Section: Led by Paulito alumnus Carlos Caro, the percussionists mastered the bloques and gear structures of Charanga Habanera and added a few touches of their own, including something la CH never used, the bomba gear, which Danny could invoke at will by raising a closed fist.
Batá master and trap drummer Colin Douglas was flawless. The Tremendo delirio arrangements require the conguero to continually switch between marcha, laying out, and a transitional gear consisting of melodic "conversations" with the bongocero's hand bell. I'll have much more on this subject in an upcoming educational article I'm working on (I've been working on it for about 2 years, so don't hold your breath!).
Also indispensable to the success of the gig was La Timba Loca founder Omar Ledezma, who played bongó y campana while singing strong coro and catching all of those little Michel and Sombrilla interjections that are burned into everyone's brains from listening to the album so many times. Omar is a true timbero de corazón who has every note of Tremendo delirio memorized.
In the case of timba.com's Mike Lazarus, the only question is whether he spent more time producing the concert or woodshedding Pedro Pablo's glorious bass tumbaos. It was probably the latter, and he nailed them all while having the time of his life in the process.
Los metales: There were only two horns - but that was more than enough. Julius Meléndez has been a staple of the Bay Area scene for years, but who the hell is Roberto Morris? Sounds like a stockbroker, but this Sacramento Cubano can hold his own with the likes of Alexander Abreu and Carmelo Andrés. His sound is so fat, so in-tune, and so in-the-pocket as to defy belief ... a veritable one-man banda gigante.
Los invitados: Sitting in on the second set were two legends of the Bay Area music scene. Fito Reinoso is a unique cross between a modern timbero and a classic pregonero in the style of Cándido Fabré. Cándido is famous for being able to take any subject and improvise words and music for 20 minutes without stopping or missing a beat. You've probably seen the famous video of his "duel" with the adolescent Paulito FG. Well, Fito, to my ear, is just as fluid as Cándido with language and quite a bit more melodic. He sat in on De músico, poeta y loco from Danny's Lo mejor de mi corazón album, and while Danny took over on congas, Fito, adapting his every word to the lyrical theme of the song, unleashed an astounding series of completely improvised pregones that had everyone in the club grinning from ear to ear, including Danny, who, not to be outdone, followed it with a very solid Cándido tribute of his own. In fact, by the end of the gig, Danny still had Fito's style echoing in his ear and laid down another impromptu set of pregones on Usa condón. He even showed up the next night at the Cigar Bar to sit in at Fito's gig.
If you know you need to pay your dues on folkloric music but just don't know where to start, look no further than Raices africanas, on which Sandy played a pivotal role. Sandy is equally at home with rumba and timba, as was readily apparent from the solo he played near the end of the second set.
La farándula: In addition to Shabnam, who came all the way from New York and called it the best concert of her life, Philip Ross was there from Boogalú Productions, with news of his latest dance video, a Roberto Burrell pedagogic masterpiece on danzón and son. Dancing up a storm as usual was Alisa Frohman, Havana tour guide to so many yumas over the years who have lost their minds on trips with Plazacuba and Caribbean Music & Dance. And of course we can't leave out DJs WaltDigz and Rick Washington of Añejo Productions, who co-produced the event and also spun tunes during the breaks, incorporating the patented audience-interactive technique they've perfected over the last two years as they've made Il Pirata the Bay Area's most happening timba dance venue.
The Man: But the real story of the night was Danny Lozada himself. I knew he was a great writer and singer, but - my God - this guy is a truly electrifying personality. As Juan Carlos González puts it, he has "the angel":
As a bandleader and onstage field general, DL is without equal and watching him in action was a revelation for me. I've been to 250 burning hot timba concerts, but always with a full band from Cuba which had been rehearsing for months or years. This was the first time I saw the milagro come together before my eyes. Having spent years rehearsing and performing Latin music in California, I know only too well how long it takes to get any arrangement together in this environment, so I was positively dumbfounded by the ease and efficiency with which Danny transformed those arrangements, and a group of musicians he'd never met into a tight and explosive performing unit which greatly exceeded Bay Area standards for groups that have been together for years. How can I do justice to describing his bandleading prowess? Imagine Reinier Guerra or Roicel Riverón playing the drums - doing five things at once with effortless perfection -- every movement arcing with rhythmic electricity. Now imagine someone doing that with a whole band. Lozada knows every part of every instrument and seems to be "playing" the band as if it were his instrument, somehow being able to galvanize even a pickup band into a throbbing timba machine. There are many great singers and performers, but I've never seen anyone come close to this level of command over the band, his own voice and movements, and the crowd.
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In the steroid era it would have almost been possible for a long
jonrón to right field to come crashing through north window
and onto the dance floor.
Also
on hand was one of the greatest folkloric musicians of all time, Sandy
Pérez of Grupo Afrocuba de Matanzas. 
