Willie Colon – Crime Pays

Released 1972

Re-mastered Fania / E-Musica 2006

Available at Amazon, Descarga, etc




1. Che Che Cole 3:29 (Willie Colon)
2. El Malo 4:00 (Willie Colon)
3. Guisando 3:59 (Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe)
4. Jazzy 4:04 (Willie Colon)
5. Juana Pena 5:36 (Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe)
6. Guajiron 5:56 (Mark Dimond)
7. El Titan 5:20 (Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe)
8. Que Lio 4:35 (Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe, Joe Cuba)
9. Eso Se Baila Asi 5:18 (Willie Colon)

This very first compilation album released by the Fania label is also the first compilation album for Willie Colon. The songs were taken from Willie Colon’s first four albums – El Malo (1967 represented by El Malo and Jazzy), The Hustler (1968 represented by Guajiron, Que Lio, Eso Se Baila Asi), Guisando (1969 represented by Guisando and El Titan), and Cosa Nuestra (1970 represented by Che Che Cole and Juana Pena). Juana Pena made salsanewyork.com list recently.

Musicians (incomplete)

El Malo

Dwight Brewster / Piano
James Taylor / Bass

The Hustler

Mark Dimond / Piano

Guisando

Mark Dimond / Piano
Charlie Cotto / Timbales
Santi Gonzalez / Bass
Chucky Lopez / Bongos
Barry Rogers / Trombone
Gilbert ? / Conga
Justo Betancounrt, Johnny Pacheco / Chorus

All albums

Willie Colon / Trombone
Hector Lavoe / Lead Vocals

Lebron Brothers - Criollo

Produced by Angel Lebron

Cotique 1982

Re-mastered Fania / E-Musica 2007

Available at Amazon, Descarga, etc

1. Yo Te Cante (Jose Lebron) 4:07
2. Siempre Sera (Jose Lebron) 5:07
3. Voy A Caminar (Jose Lebron) 4:05
4. Esposa Y Querida (Angel Lebron) 5:07
5. Madre (Angel Lebron) 3:34
6. Son Diez Lagrimas (Angel Lebron) 5:09
7. Sabor A Mi (Alvaro Carillo) 3:14
8. Sin Negro No Hay Guaguanco (Angel Lebron, Aura M. De Velazquez) 3:33
9. Abran Camino (Angel Lebron) 4:18

This album (their 16th) was released after Pablo's stroke in 1981, which led to his retirement and a fairly long lull in new album releases for the band thereafter. I mention this because I originally thought the band stopped recording because their last few albums were no good. This is far from true because Criollo might be the best Lebron Brothers album for Salsa. The classics are Sin Negro No Hay Guaguanco and Diez Lagrimas. Esposa Y Querida is pretty good too.

Musicians

Angel Lebron / Bass and chorus
Jose Lebron / Piano and chorus
Carlos Lebron / Bongos and chorus
Frankie Lebron / Conga
Ruben Lebron / Trombone
Joseph Trapaneses / Trumpet
Willie Rodriguez / Trumpet
Edwin Acevado / Timbales
Osvaldo Acevado / Percussion
Louie Cruz / Percussion
Pablo Lebron / Lead Vocals

Lebron Brothers - Salsa Y Control

Released 1971
Cotique 1049

Remastered Fania / E-Musica 2006

Available at Amazon, Descarga, etc


1. Tu Llegaste A Mi Vida (Pablo Lebron) 2:56
2. Salsa Y Control (Jose Lebron) 3:47
3. Que Pana (Jose Lebron) 3:22
4. Regresa A Mi (Jimmy Webb) 3:32
5. Piensalo Bien (Jose Lebron) 3:46
6. Bongo Loco (Angel Lebron) 3:00
7. Estoy Loco (Javier Vazquez) 4:46
8. Sabor Tipico (Angel Lebron) 2:02

The best-selling album by Lebron Brothers. The best-known hit is Salsa Y Control, which has been re-recorded by many other artists. Another good song for Salsa dancing is Bongo Loco. This album marks the debut of Frankie Lebron.

Musicians

Angel Lebron / Bass and chorus
Pablo Lebron / Lead Vocals and chorus
Jose Lebron / Piano and chorus
Carlos Lebron / Bongos and percussion
Frankie Lebron / Conga
Gabe Gill / Alto Saxophone
Herman Sandana / Tenor Saxophone
Louis Maldonado / 1st Trumpet
Pete Maldonado / 2nd Trumpet
Tito Ocasio / Timbales

Lebron Brothers - Psychedelic Goes Latin / The Brooklyn Bums

Psychedelic Goes Latin 1967
Cotique 1008
The Brooklyn Bums 1969
Cotique 1015

Produced by Barry Goldiner

Re-mastered by Nascente

Out of print - best bet is to hope for Fania / E-Musica to reissue the two albums individually

Psychedelic Goes Latin

1. Summertime Blues (Lebron) 4:41
2. Suena (Lebron) 5:51
3. Tall Tale (Lebron) 4:24
4. Mi Mambo (Rivera) 5:01
5. Mary Mary (Lebron) 4:25
6. My Cool Boogaloo (Lebron) 3:54
7. Mala Suerte (Lebron) 3:08
8. Descarga Lebron (Lebron) 5:21

The Brooklyn Bums

9. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (Mann/Weil/Spector) 3:57
10. The Village Chant (Rivera) 3:15
11. Boogaloo Pa Mi San Juan (Lebron) 2:59
12. Vacilon (Lebron) 3:189
13. Let's Get Stoned (Lebron) 2:49
14. Apurate (Lebron) 5:13
15. Son Sabroson (Lebron) 4:24
16. El Cantante (Lebron) 3:29
17. Money Can't Buy Love (Lebron) 2:02

Lebron Brothers originated as Angel Lebron and Orchestra back in 1965 when Angel was 15 with brothers Pablo (then age 29?), Jose (age 17?), and Carlos (age 13?). Nascente does a very sensible job of offering their first two albums in a single CD. These albums are mostly boogaloo with a few tracks good for Salsa dancing such as Descarga Lebron and Vacilon. Descarga Lebron in fact is included in salsanewyork.com list.

Musicians include

Pablo Lebron / Lead Vocals
Jose Lebron / Piano and chorus
Carlos Lebron / Bongos and chorus
Angel Lebron / Bass and chorus
others

Willie Colon - Asalto Navideno Deluxe Edition

Originally released as

Asalto Navideno (1972)
Asalto Navideno Vol 2 (1973)

Deluxe Edition released 2007 Fania / E-Musica

Recording Director: Johnny Pacheco

Available at Amazon, Descarga, etc

Disc 1
1. Introduccion (D.R.)
2. Canta A Borinquen (Flor Morales Ramos)
3. Potpourri Navideno (Public Domain)
- Estrellas De Oriente
- Noche De Paz
- La Virgen Maria
- La Tierra Mia
4. Traigo La Salsa (Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe)
5. Aires De Navidad (Roberto Garcia)
6. La Murga (Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe)
7. Esta Navidad (Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe)
8. Vive Tu Vida Contento (Flor Morales Ramos)

Disc 2
1. Pescao (Potpourri Sambao) (D.R.)
- Si Se Quema El Monte (Etelvina Maldonado)
- Coje El Pandero (D.R.)
- Pescao (Samba) (D.R.)
2. Recomendacion (Hector Lavoe)
3. La Banda (Willie Colon)
4. Dona Santos (Roberto Garcia)
5. Cantemos (Roberto Garcia)
6. Pa' Los Pueblos (Johnny Pacheco, Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe)
7. Arbolito (Jose Barros)
8. Tranquilidad (Johnny Pacheco, Willie Colon)

This album combines two Christmas albums by Willie Colon and featuring Hector Lavoe and Yomo Toro. As far as the content and sound quality, these should be identical to Fania / E-Musica's 2006 remastered versions of Asalto Navideno and Asalto Navideno Volume 2. Production errors led to a confusing listing of songs - two different medleys in each album has components of the medleys listed as individual songs whereas there is no subdivision in the CDs themselves. The best known songs from each are La Murga (which made salsanewyork.com list) and La Banda.

Musicians

Disc 1 (Asalto Navideno)

Willie Colon / Trombone, Leader
Yomo Toro / Cuatro
William "Sweet" Campbell / Trombone
Milton Cardona / Conga, Percussion
Jose Mangual Jr / Bongos, Percussion
Johnny Pacheco / Percussion
Professor Joe Torres / Piano
Louie "Timbalito" Romero / Timbales
Santi "Choflomo" Gonzalez / Bass
Roberto Garcia / Cuatro
Miguel "El Tunel" Matos / "band boy", Minor Percussion
Willie Colon, Johnny Pacheco, Justo Betancourt / Chorus
Hector Lavoe / Lead Vocals

Disc 2 (Asalto Navideno Volume 2)

Willie Colon / Trombone, Leader
Yomo Toro / Cuatro
Milton Cardona / Conga, Percussion
Jose Mangual Jr / Bongos, Percussion
Johnny Pacheco / Percussion
Louie "Timbalito" Romero / Percussion
Professor Joe Torres / Piano
Santi "Choflomo" Gonzalez / Bass
Eric Matos / Trombone
Willie Colon, Johnny Pacheco, Adalberto Santiago / Chorus
Hector Lavoe / Lead Vocals

Cal Tjader - Descarga

Produced by Ed Bogas

Originally released as

Agua Dulce 1971 (Fantasy 8416)

Live At The Funky Quarters 1972 (Fantasy 9409)

Digital Remastering 1995 Fantasy

Available at Amazon, etc

1. Agua Dulce (Cool-Ade) 4:08 (Otis, Otis, Love)
2. Curacao 5:38 (Cal Tjader)
3. Somewhere In The Night 4:23 (May, Raskin)
4. Gimme Shelter 2:52 (Jagger, Richards)
5. Ran Kan Kan 3:00 (Tito Puente)
6. Descarga Cubana 3:05 (Osvaldo Estivill)
7. Invitation 3:01 (Bronislau Kaper)
8. Now 5:25 (Dave MacKay)
9. Morning 3:29 (Clare Fischer)
10. Leyte 6:25 (Tjader, Hewitt)
11. Mother And Child 5:57 (John Heard)
12. Cubano Chant 4:50 (Ray Bryant)
13. Soul Sauce III 5:56 (Gillespie, Pozo)
14. Philly Mambo 6:36 (Tito Puente)
15. Davito 4:22 (Tjader)
16. Manteca 8:09 (Gillespie, Fuller)

The first part of the album - Agua Dulce (1971) - is fairly laid back. The only track inviting for dancing is Descarga Cubana, but it's good one. The arrangement of Ran Kan Kan by the Escovedo brothers on the other hand is good for listening only, and much of the rest is as much Jazz as Latin. The second half - Live at the Funky Quarters (1972) - is more intense. It is a live recording and with authentic crowd noise throughout but still with excellent sound quality. Philly Mambo made salsanewyork.com list - minimal background noise for this song. One song from Funky Quarters "Theme" was deleted because a single CD could not accommodate the length of both albums.

Musicians

#1-9 (Agua Dulce)
Cal Tjader / Vibes, Bongos, Guiro
Luis Gasca, Pat Houston, Frank Snow / Trumpet
Bill Perkins / Saxophone
Gerry Gilmore, Mel Martin / Saxophones and Flutes
Rita Dowling / Moog Synthesizer
Al Zulaica / Fender-Rhodes Electric Piano
Jim McCabe, Ron McClure or Phil Escovedo / Bass
Dick Berk or Lee Charton / Drums
Pete Escovedo / Bongos, Conga, Guiro, Percussion, Vocals
Michael Smithe / Bongos, Conga, Guiro, Percussion
Coke Escovedo / Timbales, Vocals

#10-16 (Live at the Funky Quarters)
Cal Tjader / Vibes and Percussion
Al Zulaica / Fender-Rhodes Electric Piano
John Heard / Bass
Dick Berk / Drums
Michael Smithe / Conga

Joe Cuba Sextet – Bang! Bang! Push, Push, Push

subtitled Wanted Dead Or Alive

Produced by Pancho Cristal

Released 1966 Tico

Fania / E-Musica Re-mastered 2006

Available at Amazon, Descarga, etc

1. Bang Bang 4:04 (Joe Cuba, Jimmy Sabater)
2. Mujer Divina 4:32 (Jimmy Sabater)
3. Oh Yeah 3:20 (Jimmy Sabater)
4. La Malanga Brava 3:05 (Jimmy Sabater)
5. Que Son Uno 4:15 (Joe Cuba, Jimmy Sabater)
6. Sock It To Me 2:20 (Jimmy Sabater, Hector Rivera)
7. Asi Soy 3:04 (Joe Cuba, Jimmy Sabater)
8. Triste 2:27 (Nick Jimenez)
9. Alafia 3:25 (Jimmy Sabater)
10. Push, Push, Push 2:15 (Joe Cuba, Jimmy Sabater)
11. Cocinando 9:00 (Joe Cuba, Hector Rivera, Henny Alvarez)

Follow-up to Estamos Haciendo Algo Bien (We Must Be Doing Something Right). Bang Bang is one of the best-known boogaloo of 1960’s. My favorite tracks from this album are Mujer Divina, Que Son Uno and Push Push Push – all three of them can be considered Cha Cha (or boogaloo).

The line-up for this album is not clear to me, and I don't know all the members by their face on the album cover. The original Joe Cuba Sextet line up circa 1954 is Joe Cuba (Sonny Calderon), Jimmy Sabater (Jaime Sabater), Willie Torres, Nick Jimenez, Ray Rosa and Tommy Berrios. Jules Cordero replaced Ray Rosa very early. Cheo Feliciano, who was with the band from 1957-1966, left to pursue a solo career before this recording was made. Willie Torres the original lead vocalist replaced Feliciano for this album.

Musicians (best guess)

Joe Cuba / Conga
Jimmy Sabater / Timbales, Lead Vocals
Nick Jimenez / Piano
Jules Cordero / Bass
Tommy Berrios / Vibraphone
Willie Torres / Lead Vocals