Search - Mongo Santamaria :: Ole Ola

Maybe this CD is underrated among Mongo Santamaria's body of

Tim Withee | Los Angeles, CA | 03/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a big fan of Mongo Santamaria's for many years and have a number of his sides on vinyl, tape and CD. I bought Ole Ola in vinyl and have since replaced it with the CD and it's always been part of my steady playlist.



The whole album is very, very good, but my favorite tune is a composition by Ray Vega called "Now is Forever," which features a sublime Flugelhorn solo by Mr. Vega, intro'd by another very fine piano solo by Bob Quaranta. Quaranta's left hand chording adds a spacey, dreamy quality to his part as he works the melody. And make sure to listen closely to Bernie Minoso's heartbeat bass on this one, too. It adds a huge amount of soul to this somewhat minimalist, yet very beautiful and haunting number.



The band is one that you're probably familar with if you saw them perform or collected the recordings in the mid to late 80s: Mongo, front and center on congas, Johnny Almendra Andreu, timbales and percussion, Nengue Hernandez, percussion, Minoso, bass, Quaranta, piano, Vega, trumpet and flugelhorn, Bobby Porcelli, saxes and flute, Mitch Frohman, saxes and flute, Marty Sheller, conductor. This is a great group of musicians, that played with real passion and it comes out in every tune.



Quaranta's "El Campesino" is terrific as is Mitch Frohman's "Jeanie's Tune." And don't overlook the Afro-Cuban style tune featuring Mongo himself, "La Tumba."



I've just covered a few personal favorites, but the whole album is something you'll like from beginning to end. 5 stars."