Latin-music group expects all ages at its S.A. show

Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 20:04:59 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.music.afro-latin
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Latin-music group expects all ages at its S.A. show
By Jennifer Roolf Laster
San Antonio Express-News
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=710&xlc=981440
Web Posted : 04/16/2003 12:00 AM
The Mambo Kings will join the Fiesta Symphony Pops Orchestra for concerts
Friday and Saturday.
Courtesy Photo
Fiesta Symphony Pops/ Mambo Kings
Where: Majestic Theater, 224 E. Houston St.
When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Tickets: $26-$52 at the symphony box office, Ticketmaster outlets. Call
(210) 554-1010.
When the Mambo Kings look out beyond the footlights from the stage in their
native New York state, they see an audience with a generation gap.
"We have a lot of young fans, high school and college students who are
discovering this music and love it, and then we have the jazz fans, people
in their late 40s and early 50s who just love jazz," pianist and arranger
Richard DeLaney says.
With their blending of jazz, Latin music and modern rhythms, the group
doesn't attract just one type of music groupie; it attracts three or four.
"We're different," DeLaney explains. "It's a different sound."
The Mambo Kings will bring their Latin-inspired sound to San Antonio Friday
and Saturday for two shows with conductor Jeff Tyzik and the San Antonio
Symphony Pops. It's an official Fiesta event.
While the musical line-up has a distinct Latin flair, Delaney warns audience
members not to, well, expect the expected. "We don't do Ricky Martin," he
deadpans.
But that doesn't mean the show will be staid.
"It's a pops concert," DeLaney says. "You don't need a program to follow our
stuff. I think that this concert will appeal not just to orchestra-music
lovers - though they will like it, too - but to Latin-music and rhythm
lovers as well."
This weekend's program ranges from the upbeat "Tres lindas cubanas" to the
classic grooving sounds of "Oye Como Va." There isn't a "sad note in the
whole pile," DeLaney says. "We take off the gloves and let the power and
energy of salsa music come out."
DeLaney describes their sound as Latin jazz, American music with a "Latin
flavor," a "Cuban beat" and an "African element."
"There's a strong Afro-Cuban presence," he says. "(It's the) type of music
you hear in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic."
These particular Mambo Kings (there's more than one band with that name)
came together in Rochester, N.Y., in the early 1990s. Inspired by the likes
of Tito Puente and the Buena Vista Social Club, pianist DeLaney joined
forces with bassist Bob Stata and saxophonist John Viavattine.
Percussionists Freddie Colon (timbales, congas) and David Antonetti (congas,
bongos) round out the quintet, though only four will be in San Antonio. They
have performed with the Erie, Syracuse, Baltimore and Vancouver orchestras,
as well as at music festivals across the country.
This weekend's concerts will hold a special thrill for DeLaney: He'll get to
hear his composition "Marinera: Renacan las sombras" performed by the
symphony.