MONGO SANTAMARIA - Live at Jazz Alley (1990-2003) SACD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

This is as close to Latin purist Mongo as we have heard in recent years, an eight-piece salsa band -- including several members of the 1997 Tito Puente ensemble, like trumpeter Ray Vega, altoist Bobby Porcelli and tenorman Mitch Frohman -- playing a brace of Mongo classics and Latin jazz pieces live before a hushed crowd in Seattle's Jazz Alley. There are no pop covers, one electric instrument (a bass), lots of extended jazz solos (Porcelli and Frohman really burn on the pioneering Afro-Cuban classic "Manteca"), and an unusual (for Mongo) emphasis on the timbales on many tracks, which shoves the rhythms closer to the salsified Puente manner.

However, tracks like "Juan Jose," "Home" and "Bonita" do have the smooth Mongo cha-cha and guajira grooves, and elsewhere, Mongo lifts himself out of the background often enough to deliver some stirring polyrhythmic conga salvos. For a specific jolt from Mongo's own past, there is "Para Ti" and 10 1/2 stimulating minutes of "Afro Blue." Though the general electricity level of the gig could be higher, Mongo's ageless spirit triumphs again. by Richard S. Ginell  
Tracklist :
1    Home 6:15
Bob Quaranta
2    Bonita 4:55
Mongo Santamaria
3    Philadelphia 6:13
Marty Sheller
4    Para Ti 6:07
Mongo Santamaria
5    Manteca 7:06
Walter Fuller / Dizzy Gillespie / Chano Pozo
6    Ponce 7:06
Ray Vega
7    Come Candela 5:34
Mongo Santamaria
8    Ibiano 5:04
William Allen
9    Juan José 5:38
Niño Rivera
10    Afro Blue 10:44
Mongo Santamaria
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Flute – Bobby Porcelli
Bass – Bernie Minoso
Congas – Mongo Santamaria
Coro – Bernie Minoso (tracks: 2, 4, 7, 9, 10), Eddie Rodriguez (tracks: 2, 4, 7, 9, 10), John Andreu Almendra (tracks: 2, 4, 7, 9, 10), Ray Vega (tracks: 2, 4, 7, 9, 10)
Drums, Timbales – John Andreu Almendra
Percussion, Vocals – Eddie Rodriguez (tracks: 10)
Piano, Music Director [Musical Director] – Bob Quaranta
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute – Mitch Frohman
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Ray Vega