Music

I played with ex-pat keyboard player/singer Jimmy & my rasta friend/conga player Lenny at Salza Brava the other night. Tonight I'm going to sit in at El Parquecito with Calypso master "Junior" Emilio Alvarez. It's a little intimidating, I've played with him several times before on previous trips, but I've also seen him tell people to sit down when he wasn't happy with what they were doing. It's an honor to play with him. I am not aware of any young people doing what he does. He's approaching 70 and tells me he has 24 children. (There's a picture of him with his youngest on a blog entry from last August.) I told him I try to steal some of his chops. He said to me "Keep trying, you'll get it!" When he gets going he seemingly throws in notes randomly in the middle of a solo playing rythm & melody at the same time. It's good & amazing, & he makes it work. He always plays with Rani--a quilongo player (sort of a wash tub bass, but with a wooden box instead of a wash tub). Rani's rythm & intonation are impeccable. I told him, I don't know how he does it. He said, "Mahn it jus' like de' trombone you see!" Tonight's percussionist will be bongo player, Carlos. The three of them are going to tour Spain this October. Last month they were in Mexico & reportedly made it on U.S. television.