Salsa Big Band

Panamanian singer Rubén Blades recorded Son de Panamá with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta in 2015; it earned the Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album and the Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album.[1] Salsa Big Band is the second album recorded by Blades with Delgado & Orquesta. It is mainly inspired by the musical work of Puerto Rican performers Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez and Willie Rosario.[2] According to Blades, "I decided to include more instruments to the arrangements, since I want to recover the Big band sound from the 1950s, with Stan Kenton, Machito and Mario Bauzá".[2]

Salsa Big Band includes eleven tracks, nine written by Blades and two by other composers: "Apóyate en Mi Alma" by Luis Demetrio, and "No Te Importe Saber" by René Touzet. "Arayué" was written by Blades but first released by Ray Barretto in 1989, while "El Pescador" was recorded in 1970 by Blades with the Pete Rodríguez band.[3] "Nadie Sabe", includes biographical lyrics by Blades, and was first recorded by Roberto Roena and the Apollo Sound in 1977.[4] "La Marea" was recorded by Blades in 1988 and included on his album Antecedentes, while "Claro Oscuro" is taken from Agua de Luna (1987) and "Lo Pasado No Perdona" from El Que La Hace La Paga (1983).[4] "Contra La Corriente" was previously recorded by Blades and Willie Colón for their album Tras la Tormenta (1995).[5]

The album was recorded at the PTY Studios Panamá from January to April 2017, and was mixed by Ignacio Molino, Pablo Governatori and Roberto Delgado, and mastered by Daniel Ovie in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[5] The songs "Claro Oscuro" and "La Marea" were recorded for this album in salsa, and "Lo Pasado No Perdona" is a bolero/montuno.[3] "Antadilla" is a song about the daily tasks of a fisherman that guarantees his personal and family support that way.[3] “El Pescador" is a montuno, with a flugelhorn solo by Wichy López.[3] Delgado began working on the musical arrangements at the end of 2015, and went to record the album in January 2017.[7] Delgado said of the creative process "Rubén [Blades] always contributes with innovative ideas to the music that is currently being made. This time he thought that it would be a great idea to recover the sound of the big bands, which is no longer done, since it is very difficult to have such a large orchestra and travel with it, then everyone tries to record with the minimum amount of instruments."[7] Seventeen musicians worked on the recording, in addition to the backing singers, and some musicians played two or more instruments.[7] The producers found it necessary to hire local musicians in order to "be faithful to its original sound." Delgado said to CBA24N.[7]

Upon its release, Salsa Big Band received favorable reviews from music critics. Omar Walker of Salsa Power named the album an "excellent recording" even though the singer showed some decline in his vocals. Walker said Blades' "vision as an artist pushes him to try new sounds".[4] For Angel Romero of World Music Central, "Rubén Blades is still at the top of the salsa world", and the album is "a candidate for one of the best albums of the year".[8] Roberto Carlos Lujan of Solar Latin Club was critical about the repertoire: "none of the versions of the songs previously recorded by Blades are enriched with innovative interpretative bets, with the exception of 'El Pescador'".[3]

The album received two nominations for the 18th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, for Album of the Year and Best Salsa Album. Blades said to La Prensa that he took nominations very seriously since his album Siembra (which included his signature songs "Pedro Navaja" and "Plástico") was overlooked, "it is not that the album lost the award, it wasn't even nominated".[9] Salsa Big Band won both accolades, and during his acceptance speech, Blades dedicated the award to his native Panama.[10][11] Salsa Big Band also won for Best Tropical Latin Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.[12]

Notes

• Credits adapted from the album official website.[2]

The following credits are from Salsa Big Band album liner notes.[2]