Records: The Afro-Cuban All Stars' A Toda Cuba le Gusta

By Jason Heller

Like the memory of a sultry summer in the 1950s, the Afro-Cuban All Stars' music is filled with kinetic images that just make you wanna get up and dance to it all again. Imagine the big wedding scene at the beginning of The Godfather. Now instead of traditional Italian music in the background, imagine a Latin ensemble playing for the throng of dancing guests. If you can imagine that, you've got the vibe of the All Stars. Spanning four generations, the group collects some of Cuba's sharpest musicians, young and old, for a session of Afro-Cuban classics, old and new. The All Stars stretch across the entire history of the Afro-Cuban genre, dating back to the 1930s and 1940s, the time of Dizzy Gillespie, whose bop trumpet played over Latin rhythms shaped the genre.

Though it rarely veers away from the traditional, the music is consistently alluring. Elegantly and tightly directed by bandleader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, this is folk music that you can shake your ass to.

On the nuevo mozambique of "Maria Caracoles," a furious West African conga percussion gives way to the improvised soaring sonero of 70-year-old Ibrahim Ferrer, a singer who doesn't sound a day older than 25. The son montuno ("wild rhythm") of "Alto Songo" perfectly complements its wild arrangement--a cavalcade of vocals and engaging piano solos from legend Ruben Gonzalez, and a spot by American slide guitarist Ry Cooder. The joyous shout at the end of the song, "!Como, Ry Cooder!" sums it all up: these guys love what they do, and they won't stop 'til you stop dancing to it. These guys literally keep the
music alive.

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