Search - Pedro Peruchin Justiz :: Piano Con Mona

Worth it even for one tune, and all of them are great!

Zeno Okeanos | Northern California | 08/31/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Now with that out of the way, let me get back to just one of your examples
above: "Pa' Gozar" with Peruchin, Cachao, Tata, Barreto, Yeyito, and Gustavo
Tamayo, basically the same section that Cachao had on his great descargas for
Panart, although admittedly I don't recall exactly where Yeyito is heard
(bongo) although he is (mistakenly?) credited on the Palladium reissue of the
GNP original, which, incidentally, was relatively recently reissued on Egrem
which suggests that Gene Norman merely leased the rights from Panart in the
first place, sending his then resident Cuban star Rene Touzet back to Havana
to bring back a master to put out on his GNP label.
Aside from the incredible tumbadoras by Tata that you mention for that track,
there is the absolutely astounding brief piano solo by Señor Justiz on his very
INCENDIARY PIANO. That solo, now that I think of it, must be the point at which
someone yelled FIRE! and came up with the original album title. I have, for
years, pointed to that solo as a consumate statement of how incredible Cuban
piano could be. I was digging that solo for years before I ran into another
musician who thought that solo must be off. I argued with this person
vehemently. And this was a musician and fan of latin music and a pianist
himself. The point is that Peruchin is SO incredible in that solo, so
on the cutting edge of the creative spontaneous rhythmic universe that he had
this person's musician ear bent out of shape. Check it out, eg. count it, play
clave with it. I have no doubt, especially after listening to that piece for 40
years, that it is nothing but the pinnacle of genius, and I don't care how much
anyone thinks the latest timba montunoeros are what's happening. Peruchin was
just as wacked in his own way as anyone else going outside and displacing the
beats today, and maybe he did it even more beautifully and more subtly and more
personally then. By the way, did I mention how exciting that piano solo is!
Now, combine in your mind what you hear in THAT solo with the subtle way he
torques the montuno under Tata's solo on "La Mulata Rumbera" and "Redencion"
from that same album. This guy is the original master of the mysteries of
montunominimalismo and is really the grandaddy of the impulse to push the piano
montunos into those current trends of rythmic displacement. It is just as
exciting to know he was doing that THEN as it is to hear someone doing whatever
today. See what I mean, look how much excitement can be extracted from a 50
year old recording. It is eternally reborn every time you listen to it and that
is the way it should be for any good music.
Peruchin probably had not heard, say, Bill Evans etc. when he recorded
that. Touzet and Peruchin were the harmonic geniuses of Cuban piano in their
day, and their music moves me in a way that Chucho still cannot. btw Bill Evans
used to get the 'Cocktail' misnomer too.
A lot of little Peruchin gems can be heard from the years he worked with and recorded with
Orq.Riverside and Antobal's All Stars, but if you are going to get one
essential recording it is the one we refer to above. And next year, when you,
whoever you are, have dug this thing, I want to hear about it."

I WISH THERE WERE MORE CD'S OF THIS GUY

Donald Walton | LOS ANGELES CA | 11/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I LOVE IT IT IS THE ORIGINAL OF THE MUSIC OF CUBA AND THE SOUNDS OF THE SON."