Joe Torres Latino Con Soul

Latin Beat Magazine, Oct, 2003 by Jesse Varela

(Pacific Jazz)

When Joe Torres recorded Latino Con Soul for Richard Bock's World Pacific label in the 1960s, the timbal playing bandleader was relatively unknown around Los Angeles. The 1966 date came on the heels of the jazz-boogaloo craze fueled by Mongo, Barretto and Tjader. Featuring a seasoned cast of studio musicians like Bill Hood (tenor sax), Gary Barone (trumpet), Steve Huffsteter (trumpet), Max Bennet (bass) and Victor Feldman (piano), along with Latin percussionists Bobby Torres, Orlando "Mazacote" López and Mario Tholmer, the album is a collection of covers and originals (supposedly created on the spot at the session). The opener, Get Out of My Way, introduces us to singer Ric DeSilva, whose gritty delivery la a gas. A cross between Ernie Andrews and Vicentico Valdés, he proves to be an able sonero with scat innuendo. He wails on the smoking jazz mambo Yo Salí and delivers a menacing blue-hazed ode to El Camino Real on Nightwalk. Instrumentally, there are nice ideas throughout, like the rumba take on The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby. Melodically hip solos abound: Huffstetar jamming on In A Greasy Bag, Feldman riffing a la Noro Morales on Yo Salí and the Lester Young-inspired horn of Hood on Sunny. Torres adds a solo or two here and there but it's his leadership, providing cohesion and swing to the grooves, that gives this album its spark. If you enjoyed 1960s old-school tunes like Watermelon Man, El Watusi, and Soul Sauce, don't pass up Joe Torres, an unsung hero of Big Orange boogaloo.