Volume 5 - Timba - Now Available March 1, 2010

This is the behemoth - the longest of the series - a summary of 11 years of timba obsession.

2010-03-01 Update!
Volume 5 audio and eBook is now available on Lainpulsemusic.com.

Chapter 1: What is Timba? - well, you guys already know that answer.

Chapter 2: History and Listening Tour - this picks up where the online book, The Roots of Timba, left off: with Revé's Suave suave, Van Van's Aquí el que baila gana, and of course NG La Banda's En la calle. It tells the stories of all the major bands, highlighting the best material.

Chapter 3: Ten Timba Piano Innovations - here, we isolate the ten important ways that timba piano differs from its predecessors.

Chapter 4: Estudios - these are 32 tumbaos, all on the same chord progression, created to demonstrate the innovations in various combinations.

Chapter 5: Timba Gears - at last, the explanation of why you can learn Paulito's gear system and still be confused about Charanga Habanera - it's the "general theory of timba gears", explaining how everything fits together into one nice, logical, and endlessly creative and flexible combinación perfecta!

Then, after the FAQ and Glossary, we get to the craziest part, the Timba Harmony Appendix, which takes hundreds of timba coros and analyzes their chord progressions in Roman numerals.

After this ... the deluge ... note-for-note Melón transcriptions in large quantities in Volumes 6, 7, 8 and 9. I haven't actually written Volume 9, I have to admit, but 6, 7 and 8 are done and will be out soon, and if anyone can play all the tumbaos in those 3 before I finish Volume 9, you'll be ready for the big time.

Finally - get ready for Beyond Salsa Percussion - that's all I'll say about that for now, but expect something in first half of 2010 (knock on wood).

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viernes, 26 febrero 2010, 06:59 pm

If you're in the Bay Area, this is a rare opportunity. A free clinic with the great John Santos and Raúl Rekow. We can thank drum manufacturers, LP, Remo and Sabian for making this free to the public.

Saturday, February 27th, 2010 from 4:30 to 6:00 PM
The Jazz School - 2087 Addison Street - Berkeley, CA 94704
FREE
www.jazzschool.com - (510) 845-5373

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jueves, 25 febrero 2010, 11:33 am

The Oakland Symphony will give the premiere performance of Rebeca Mauleón's first Symphony, Suite Afro-Cubano tomorrow, Friday. She was one of four composers selected from 160 nominees for a grant to write the piece, which has four movements:

I. Aboriginal Sunrise (imagine Taínos gathering at sunrise to play flutes and drums)

II. Espíritu Gitano (a juerga flamenca -- like a Spanish rumba)

III. Ancestral Voyage (a toque for Yemayá with echoes of modern jazz)

IV. Danzón-Mambo (Cuba meets Leonard Bernstein meets Pérez Prado)

For tickets and more info, click here

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lunes, 22 febrero 2010, 12:24 pm

UPDATE: Tom's new Issac Gallery is Up

This is like watching the actual ballet performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring after hearing the music alone for years. Rueda con Ritmo have started with Issac's December 1997 El Palacio version of La vida sin esperanza -- in my humble opinion the greatest single live timba performance of all time -- carefully edited it down to 5 minutes and choreographed an elaborate rueda routine that does justice to all the incredible gear changes.

Behold!