John Armstrong - NuYorican Funk Experience (2011)

Following on from Andy Smith’s ‘New Orleans Funk Experience’ & Kid Loco’s ‘French Funk Experience’ comes John Armstrong’s ‘Nuyorican Funk Experience’!!!

Nuyorican Funk Experience contains some of the most explosive Latin funk, soul, salsa dura, bomba & plena recorded in 1970s New York for the oft-overlooked Seeco & Coco labels. Whilst the story of Nuyorican music through Fania is well known, Seeco and Coco tell a different story where new influences redefined the boundaries of Latin music. Seeco and Coco can be seen as the bookends to Fania – conceived as a Latin label in the 1940s Seeco was an influential precursor to Fania, whilst Coco was conceived by Harvey Averne in the 70s as an attempt to develop the Nuyorican sound beyond the ‘Fania’ sound. From Seeco we’ve selected the hardest & most authentic Nuyorican grooves from renowned artists Celia Cruz, Cortijo y Su Combo & Rene Grand, Joe Cuba & Chuito Valdez. Having recorded two critically acclaimed Latin soul albums on Fania, Harvey Averne launched Coco to build on the success of Fania’s hard-hitting salsa and Latin-jazz sound. Yet Coco differed from Fania in that Averne allowed his artists more freedom to really push the boundaries of Latin music and to progress Fania’s Latin soul sound. As you can hear from the tracks selected for this CD Averne encouraged legends such as Eddie Palmieri, Chico Alvarez, Cortijo & Charlie Palmieri to extend the parameters of Latin music creating psych rock to jazz fusion all with a Nuyorican twist.

Tracklist:
01. Chico Alvarez - La Confianza (3:39)
02. Eddie Palmieri - Condiciones Que Existen (3:59)
03. Barrio Band - Cucaraca Macara (4:30)
04. La Controversia - Vision Divina (4:01)
05. The Joe Cuba Sextet - Mambo Of The Times (2:09)
06. Orquesta Broadway - A Milo Mismo Me Da (5:56)
07. Joe Quijano & Su Orquesta - Tema De Broadway (4:24)
08. Cortijo - Carnaval (6:53)
09. Machito Orchestra And Lalo Rodriguez - Mi Ritmo Llego (4:56)
10. Ricardo Ray & Bobby Cruz - El Maton (2:17)
11. Chocolate - Gozando El Guaguanco (2:59)
12. Barrio Band - Heavy Duty (5:04)
13. Chuito Velez Con Su Orquesta & Adalberto Santiago - A Kilo Traigo (2:55)
14. Eddie Palmieri & Lalo Rodriguez - Kinkamache (5:41)
15. Cortijo & Su Combo - Maria Teresa (2:39)
16. Rene Granda Con Su Combo New York Y Frankie Rodri - Jugo De Mango (3:05)
17. Coco All Stars - Macho (6:54)
18. Charlie Palmieri - No Esta En Na (4:48)
19. Celia Cruz - Chango (2:52)