skip navigation

Tiempo Libre

Examiner.com

CD Review: Tiempo Libre's 'Bach in Havana'--Salsa to the classics

Examiner.com

Friday, June 26, 2009

by Ian Ono and Jana Monji

To call Tiempo Libre's version of Bach's D Major Prelude from Well Tempered Klavier, Book 1 an interpretation would not do it justice.  It is rather a reinvention of Bach’s melodies placed in the frame of Afro-Cuban Jazz.  Bach is just the starting point, quickly the fusion of jazz rhythms and structures blend through the music.

While this is Tiempo Libre's first album on the Sony label it is not their debut.  Each of the members of the  two-time Grammy nominated septet (Jorge Gomez, Joaquin "El Kid" Diaz, Leandro Gonzales, Tebeio "Tony" Fonte, Cristobal Ferrer Garcia, Hilario Bell, Luis "Rosca" Belran Castillo) were trained classically trained at La ENA, Cuba’s premiere conservatory and this severs them well.

Their first piece, a conga inspired by The Well-Tempered Clavier’s C Minor Fugue, pulls all their energy together.  The singer announces the album’s intent in praise to Bach.

read the full article: Examiner.com