Search - Roberto Fonseca :: Elengo

A true music find!

Jeffrey Feinman | New York, NY United States | 05/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pianist of the legendary Buena Vista Social ClubBy now anyone even remotely interested in latin music has heard of (and listened to) the legendary Buena Vista Social Club. Their recent grammy award and their well received feature length documentary (now airing on HBO) has catapulted their music from the hispanic community to mainstream America. BVSC has been described as "not exactly a band but rather a gathring of the nineteen most talented living latin musicians" The "headliners" at BVSC has long been pianist Ruben Gonzalez and singer Ibrahim Ferrer. When Gonzalez decided to retire the thought of finding someone to fill his shoes bordered on impossible. After all, Gonzalez had spent more than half a century creating music. In fact he was the pioneer in popularizing Cuban piano jazz (a combination of African beat with american style jazz improv). Most thought he was irreplaceable. Given the Buena Vista honcho Ibrahim Ferrer was approaching the age of 75 he was going to be one tough sell. Anyone chosen was going to be naturally compared to this master (Gonzalez). The music scene was shocked when the individual embraced was only 26 years old! Extraordinarily he fits easily into the mostly senior group and brought a special magic to this already visionary musical crew. That individual was the inspired piano master Roberto Fonseca. The word "Master" (along with creative and genius) tend to be greatly overused by music reviewers. In this case, given his age this might seem even more of an overstatement. However, when you listen to this album you'll understand why he is an extraordinary true talent destined to put his personal mark on the music world.From Amsterdam to Dallas he receives raves. Last month (April 2003) in New York City) I attended the BVSC performance as part of their US tour.
Fonseca stole the show and his solos brought standing ovations.This CD is of Fonseca own group and it illustrates his unique talent. It is a riveting performance that is truly moving. Fonseca's latin flavored music is inspired and is a fusion of unique talent and composition. This young pianist is also an accomplished arranger and composer. Havana is obviously not a hotbed of PR firms, so personal information about Fonseca is very limited. However, the basic bio is that he is a graduate from the famed Cuban Piano School (Castro may not be strong on economics but we Gringos could learn a thing or two from Fidel on the quantitative and qualitative result of supporting the arts). If you are into jazz, piano, latin or simply a unique music experience do not miss this. You will be listening to the early work of someone destined to have a definite impact on jazz and perhaps become one of the giants in the world of music. I promise you an unusual combination of energy, warmth, and creativity resulting in a most inspired work. This CD and Fonseca are true musical finds!"