The Rough Guide to Salsa Dura NYC

Yet another new release in World Music Network’s eclectic, entertaining Rough Guide series, Salsa Dura NYC delivers the horn-and-percussion-driven dura (“hard”) dance music that was born in 1970s New York “of immigrant parents … Cuba and Puerto Rico, with midwives of Dominican, Panamanian and South American origin,” as the liner notes describe. Veteran Latin jazz musician Eddie Palmieri, “El Rumbero del Piano,” with his festive “Lo Que Traigo Es Sabroso II,” is the most widely known name on this catchy disc. Everyone on the CD is popular in the NY salsa dura circuit, including pianist/bandleader Wayne Gorbea (who also has a huge following in pro-salsa-dura Colombia); Los Soneros del Barrio with Puerto Rican-Nuyorican son singer Frankie Vasquez; and salsa dura indie star conguero George Delgado. Notably, Jimmy Bosch, “the Hendrix of the Nuyorican trombone,” contributes the loose and sexy track “El Embajador,” featuring the stellar stick work of timbalero Chino Nuñez.