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SALSWING!
Studio album by
Rubén Blades and Roberto Delgado & Orquesta
ReleasedApril 16, 2021 (2021-04-16)
Studio
  • Editoris Studios
  • Pty Studios
    ( Panamá)
Genre
Length44:53
Language
  • Spanish
  • English
LabelRuben Blades Productions
Producer
  • Roberto Delgado
Rubén Blades with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta chronology
Medoro Madera
(2018) 		SALSWING!
(2021) 		SALSA PLUS!
(2021)
Rubén Blades chronology
Paraíso Road Gang
(2019) 		SALSWING!
(2021) 		Pasieros
(2022)

SALSWING! is the sixth studio album by the Panamian singer Rubén Blades and Roberto Delgado & Orquesta, released on April 16, 2021, through Rubén Blades Productions. [1] It was produced by Roberto Delgado and features songs by Blades like "Paula C" as well as salsa songs and jazz standards such as " Pennies from Heaven" and " The Way You Look Tonight".

In addition to the album, two companion albums were released, SALSA PLUS! on April 23, 2021, and SWING! on April 30, 2021, the former features mostly salsa songs with a few swing songs, while the latter contains jazz songs with some salsa songs, both albums are composed by songs from SALSWING! with each of the albums focusing on the songs from its respective genre. [2] [3]

At the 22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, the album won Album of the Year, being the second time Blades and Delgado & Orquestra win the award after Salsa Big Band in 2017, it was also their third nomination for in the category together, additionally, SALSA PLUS! won Best Salsa Album. [4] [5] SALSWING! also won Best Tropical Latin Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. [6]

Background

The project followed the previous collaborations of Blades with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta in the Grammy-winning album Salsa Big Band (2017) and Medoro Madera (2018), SALSWING! features songs in Spanish and English combining the genres of salsa and swing, Blades explained in the album notes that with the album he wanted to further the connections between the two genres, citing as example of connections the numerous collaborations between American and Latin American musicians throughout the years like Mario Bauzá with Dizzy Gillespie and Machito with Charlie Parker, he wrote that "with this album I try to continue this relationship, proving that art does not have nationality but represents a spirit that transcends races, geographies and languages", he continued by saying that one of his goals with the album was to "eliminate the stereotype that affirms that we are conditioned to only exist artistically within specific boundaries according to our nationality", hence the collaboration with a Panamanian band as a Panamanian himself to explore genres from different parts of Latin America and United States. [7] [8]

Prior to the release of the album, Carlos Pérez Bidó, a member of the orchestra who features in the album playing the timbales and drums, passed away, the album was dedicated to him. [7]

Repertoire and recording

The album is composed by eleven tracks ranging from compositions by Blades to jazz and salsa standards, the album starts with "Paula C" and ends with "Tambó", both written by Blades, the former was released in 1978 while the latter was written in 1977 and recorded alongside Willie Colón the following year. [8] The other songs in the album written by Blades are "Ya No Me Duele", written by Jeremy Bosch and later modified by Blades, "Canto Niche", recorded in the seventees with Ray Barretto and originally released under the title "Canto Abacuá", and "Contrabando", recorded in the eightees with the band Son del Solar and also featured in his 1988 album Antecedente. [7] [9] The album contains the instrumental jazz "Do I Hear Four?", composed by Tom Kubis alongside the swing standards " Pennies from Heaven", written in 1936 by Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke and first popularized by Bing Crosby, "Watch What Happens", originally composed by Jacques Demy, Michel Legrand and Norman Gimbel for the 1964 french musical film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and " The Way You Look Tonight", written by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern and first performed by Fred Astaire in the 1936 film Swing Time. [7] [10] The salsa songs include the instrumental mambo "Mambo Gil", written by Gilberto López and recorded by Tito Puente, and "Cobarde" by Ray Heredia. [7] The Venezuela Strings Recording Ensemble features in the songs "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Paula C".

All of songs from the album were recorded at Editoris Studios in Panamá with the exception of "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Cobarde", which were recorded at Pty Studios by Ignacio Molino and Pablo Governatori, also in Panamá, the strings sections by the Venezuela Strings Recording Ensemble were recording at Caña Loca Recording Studios at San Cristóbal, Venezuela, the vocals were recorded at Flux Studios in New York City by Molino, Daniel Sanint and Pablo Morales, the album was mixed by Roberto Delgado and Oscar Marín at Prim Valls in Paso Ancho-Chiriquí, Panamá and Arenas Music Studios in San José, Costa Rica, and was mastered by Daniel Ovie in Buenos Aires, Argentina. [7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
PopMatters8/10 [10]
All About Jazz [9]

Marty Lipp from PopMatters rated the album an eight out of ten writing that "instead of doing a greatest hits album or issuing a political call to arms in our turbulent times, Blades has released a celebratory album whose aim is to get listeners moving and put smiles on their faces (with an ancillary goal of shaking up preconceptions about the separation between genres)", he also commented that "as it does throughout the album, the orchestra proves itself inventive and constantly interesting". [10] Writing for All About Jazz, Jim Trageser gave the album four and a half stars out of five calling the album "one of the best big band swing albums in recent memory", adding that "on Salswing! Blades and Delgado capture about as broad a swath of Big Band Era music as any band yet assembled". [9] Elias Leight from Rolling Stone highlighted the song "Tambó", the last track of the album, calling it "ferocious" as well as the best in the album. [3]

Track listing

All tracks were produced by Roberto Delgado.

SALSWING! track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Paula C."
5:36
2." Pennies from Heaven"
3:39
3."Mambo Gil"
  • Gilbert Lopez
3:12
4."Ya No Me Duele"
  • Blades
  • Jeremy Bosch
4:32
5."Watch What Happens"
2:13
6."Cobarde"
  • Ray Heredia
3:50
7."Do I Hear Four?"
3:42
8."Canto Niche"
  • Blades
4:32
9." The Way You Look Tonight"
3:37
10."Contrabando"
  • Blades
5:42
11."Tambó"
  • Blades
4:14
Total length:44:53
SALSA PLUS! track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Paula C."
5:36
2."Contrabando"
  • Blades
5:42
3."Mambo Gil"
  • Gilbert Lopez
3:12
4."Tambó"
  • Blades
4:14
5."Ya No Me Duele"
  • Blades
  • Jeremy Bosch
4:32
6."Canto Niche"
  • Blades
4:32
7."Do I Hear Four?"
3:42
8."Cobarde"
  • Ray Heredia
3:50
Total length:35:23
SWING! track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1." Pennies from Heaven"
3:39
2."Ya No Me Duele"
4:32
3."Do I Hear Four?"
3:42
4."Paula C."
  • Blades
5:36
5."Watch What Happens"
2:13
6."Mambo Gil"
  • Gilbert Lopez
3:12
7." The Way You Look Tonight"
3:37
8."Cobarde"
  • Ray Heredia
3:50
Total length:30:35

Credits and personnel

Rubén Blades and Roberto Delgado & Orquesta

Venezuela Strings Recording Ensemble

  • Raniero Palm – conductor
  • Jesús David Medina – conductor, violin, viola
  • Ornella Hernández – violin, viola
  • Daniela Valentina Pérez – violin
  • Alejandra Carrillo – violin
  • Lina Cáceres – viola
  • Atamaica Ruiz – cello
  • Yosmari Rodríguez – cello
  • Adelis Gudiño – cello
  • Maycol Chacón – cello
  • Gabriel Delgado – cello
  • Jhovanna Acosta – cello

Technical

  • Rubén Blades – executive producer
  • Roberto Delgado – producer, arranger, mixer
  • Oscar Marín – recording engineer, mixer
  • Ignacio Molino – recording engineer (tracks 6, 9)
  • Pablo Governatori – recording engineer (tracks 6, 9)
  • Marcos Marín – assistant engineer
  • Juan Carlos García De Paredes – assistant engineer
  • Álvaro Chávez – assistant engineer
  • Daniel Sanint – assistant engineer
  • Pablo Morales – assistant engineer
  • Daniel Ovie – mastering
  • Luis Carlos Garcia – photography
  • Orosmán de la Guardia – graphic design

References

  1. ^ "SALSWING!". Apple Music. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  2. ^ "Rubén Blades: Salswing!". Distrito Jazz (in Spanish). Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Leight, Elias (April 16, 2021). "Song You Need to Know: Rubén Blades, 'Tambó'". Rolling Stone (in Spanish). Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  4. ^ Aguila, Justino (November 16, 2016). "Latin Grammys Early Wins: 'Despacito' Reigns, Eduardo Cabrera Takes Producer of the Year & Residente Wins Best Urban Music Album". Billboard. Eldridge Industries. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
  5. ^ "Los 2021 Latin GRAMMYs: Complete Winners List". GRAMMY.com. September 28, 2021. Archived from the original on November 13, 2021. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  6. ^ Horton, Adrian (April 3, 2022). "Grammy awards 2022: list of winners". The Guardian. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Aranda, Diego. "Álbum del mes: Salswing! by Rubén Blades". Latinastereo.com (in Spanish). Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Varga, Geroge (June 20, 2021). "Ruben Blades sings salsa and jazz on 'Salswing!', while The Aristocrats burn bright on new live album". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Trageser, Jim (May 23, 2021). "Rubén Blades: Salswing!". All About Jazz. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c Lipp, Marty (April 26, 2021). "RUBEN BLADES MELDS SALSA AND SWING ON 'SALSWING'". PopMatters. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
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