The Latin Real Book: Salsa, Brazilian Music, Latin Jazz

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 1997

Sher Music Co./Chuck Sher Petaluma, CA. 1997 580 pages ISBN 1-8832117-05-9

The latest addition to Sher Music's excellent catalog of music books is The Latin Real Book. This 580 page book is the first professional-level Latin fakebook ever published. Fakebooks are compilations of musical charts (sheet music), normally available as collections of the so-called standards in most musical genres like Pop, Rock, Classical, and Jazz music. Previously, very few fakebooks were available in the field of Latin music, especially any including true and worthy Salsa, Latin jazz and Brazilian music charts. This new book features over 550 pages of some of the best charts in those genres. Many of the charts include detailed arrangements, exactly as recorded by the original interpreters of the tunes as well as bass lines for each section, piano montunos, horn counter-lines, percussion charts and of course lyrics in Spanish, Portuguese and/or English. A partial listing of some of the jewels in this book are salsa classics like Arsenio Rodríguez's Dile a Catalina, Dame un cachito pa'huele and La vida es un sueño, Benny More's Y hoy como ayer, Celia Cruz's Soy Antillana, Bemba colora and Yerbero moderno, Johnny Pacheco's La esencia del guaguancó and El agua del clavelito, Pérez Prado's Mambo #5 and Mambo #8. Under contemporary salsa you can find Ray Barretto's Guarare, Indestructible, Arallue and Vive y vacila, Eddie Palmieri's Palo pa'rumba, La Malanga and Bomba de corazón, Ruben Blades' Pablo Pueblo, Camaleon and Siembra, Los Van Van's Sandunguera, Que sorpresa and Muevete, Issac Delgado's Son de Cuba a Puerto Rico and Dime tu que lo sabes. Brazilian favorites include Ivan Lins' Lua soberana, Sambadouro, Amorand Aparecida, Tom Jobim's Outra vez, Look to the Sky and So danco Samba, Joao Bosco's A nivel de and Coisa feita, Djavan's Flor de lis and Jogral and, Tania Maria's Come with Me and Yatra-ta. From the world of Latin jazz the book contains Tito Puente's Linda Chicana, Maria Cervantes, and Second Wind, among others. Cal Tjader's Sabor, Alonzo and Mamblues, Dizzy Gillespie's Manteca and Tin Tin Deo, Azymuth's Club Morocco and Cascade of the Seven Waterfalls, Dave Valentín's Danzón for My Father, and Seis del Solar's Entregate and Decision. If you are looking for Latin standards, the book has dozens of titles such as Capullito de Aleli, Compadre Pedro Juan, Lamento Borincano, Frenesi, Solamente una vez, El manisero, Aquarela do Brasil, Baia, Ponteio, Mas que nada, and more. The Latin Real Book also has excellent publisher's and editors forewords, alphabetical index, notes on rhythmic styles as well as important clave information, and a basic vocabulary listing of terms familiar to Latin music. By the way, all this information is printed in both English and Spanish. This book is without a doubt the best tool any musician can have for playing salsa, Brazilian, and Latin jazz music. Also available separately is a sampler CD (same title as book) featuring twelve of the tunes charted in the book and played by the original artists. Atrue handpicked intro to some of the best in Latin music.