Rick Davies “Salsa Norteña” CD Review

“Salsa Norteña” is Canadian trombonist Rick Davies’ 3rd recording with his band. This is a “Salsa” and Latin Jazz album which contains 8 tracks arranged by Rick.

Davies has an extensive musical career, having collaborated with such greats as Tito Puente, Charlie Palmieri, Wyclef Jean, Arrow, Manny Oquendo’s Libre, Blondie, and many others.

Rick Davies’ “Salsa Norteña” was released in June 2012. The four “Salsa” music tracks where recorded in Montreal, Canada. Also, the four Latin Jazz cuts where recorded in Vermont, with special guests Ray Vega in trumpet. Let me clarify that the four “salsa” tracks include a “bolero”.

What I Like About “Salsa Norteña”

Mix of “Salsa” music with Latin Jazz: I like both genres, and this CD provides a mix of both. The Latin Jazz cuts tend to sound like instrumental “salsa” at some points, but they are true Latin Jazz a la Willie Rosario style.

Nice Salsa Band sound: Rick Davies’ sound for his “Salsa Norteña” is a good thick danceable one. The “salsa” music songs remind me at times of Panamanian Raul Gillmore’s “Orquesta Inmensidad” type of sound. My favorite track of the album is “Requiem por un Amigo”, which to me has the best combination of lyrics and sound.

Wind section brings Life to the Sound: besides Rick Davies’ trombone, the saxophones provide a lot of life to “Salsa Norteña”. Rick’s arrangements bring them in timely and frequently.

“Salsa clasica” arragements: Another element of Rick Davies’ arragements is that they resemble the ’70s “salsa” music, as they frequently introduce short solo opportunities for members of the band to stretch their arms and creative juices. You can hear these solos in the mambos, or between the song intro and the “coros-soneos” parts. This is how old “salsa” music used to be arranged and it defeats the boring “cookie cutter” arrangements we hear so much these days.

What I Didn’t Like About “Salsa Norteña”

Not enough “Salsa” music: for an album titled “Salsa Norteña” to only contain 3 real “salsa” cuts is not enough. If a “bolero” was to be thrown in the mix (which I believe was a good decision), then substitute a Latin Jazz cut for another “salsa” cut or simply add another “salsa” song and make it a 9 track CD. I was left wanting to hear more “salsa” music.

Less Keyboard and More Acoustic Piano: some of the cuts in the album use a keyboard instead of an acoustic piano, and I think the use of an acoustic piano would have benefited the music sound. An example of this is the 1st cut, “Baile de Amor”, which uses keyboard, vs. “Requiem por un Amigo”, which uses a piano.

My Recommendation

Overall “Salsa Norteña” is a very good hybrid album of “Salsa” and Latin Jazz. Doing a hybrid “salsa” music and Latin Jazz album has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage from a band leader perspective is that you can show what the band can do and be able to pursue gigs on both types of Latin music. From a fan perspective, you get more variety and enjoy the band in different modes.

The disadvantage is that you might not completely please fans that prefer more “salsa” music or the fans that prefer more Latin Jazz. I personally believe that an album theme needs to be more targeted to one of those fan audiences (either “Salsa” or Latin Jazz) even if you include cuts of both types in the same album.

I wouldn’t mind if bands focus more on “Salsa” music on one album, and then more on Latin Jazz in the next album. I find 50-50 albums to be risky in trying to please everyone equally. Even if as a fan you like both types of Latin music equally, as a listener is hard to get “in the groove” to appreciate an album if you are constantly switching between “Salsa” and Latin Jazz.

That said, “Salsa Norteña” delivers on both fronts, and now that you know this is a hybrid album, I can tell you that it’s an enjoyable album on both styles of Latin music. What I got out of “Salsa Norteña” is an urge to see this band perform live.