Sue Miller enjoys the flavour of LA-33, the twelve piece from Bogota and their second album, 'Gozalo'(Enjoy!). Bursting with fast Salsa tracks brimming with lightning-fast sax lines, sharp high brass stabs and riffing trombone mambos, its energetic Colombian Salsa to get your Latin Fiesta cooking - la rumba buena.
A joyous opening offering a youthful descarga with an exciting solo on the timables and one from the sax, quoting 'Manteca'. Similar fare follows with the rousing 'Gozalo' featuring ripping trombone riffs, fluid sax runs, a low down and dirty trombone solo and a Cuban-style high trumpet solo from Roland Nieto against a tight, busy rhythm section.
"Energetic Colombian Salsa to get your Latin Fiesta cooking - la rumba buena"
Whilst the style in the main is Salsa, the cumbia 'Plinio Guzman' and the 'Bomba Colombiana' are real party tracks and the bomba 'two feel' with its high bright piano sound from Santiago Mejía provides a welcome contrast to all the surrounding full on Salsa tracks (give or take the odd bolero). 'La Rumba Buena' really cooks and features a great conga solo from Cipriano Rojas and a climatic brass and sax mambo. 'La Tormenta' (Sand Storm) is a little different as the saxophone solo from Juan Felipe Cardenas twists and turns tornado-like into an Afro-Cuban breakdown and grooving montuno.
To finish off we are treated to an original rendition of the Sound of Music's 'Favourite Things' neatly arranged to fit 2-3 clave as the trombones take the theme.
Excellent musicianship and high energy Salsa Colombiana, gozalo if you dare!
