Viejas Raices - De Las Colonias Del Río De La Plata (1976) [Reissue 2015]

What can one say about legendary bassist Jorge López Ruiz that can do the man justice? He’s a Composer and Director and has made music for more than 60 films, 40 Plays and 400 recitals. He was instrumental in the creation of the successful Argentinean record label TROVA, of which he was the first Director of A&R. During this period they made most of the recordings of artists like Vinicius de Moraes, Astor Piazzola, Dorival Caymmi as well as producer, arranger and director of stars like Sandro, Piero, Leonardo Favio and Sergio Denis.
Doctor of Music (Compostion & Performance) from Columbia Pacific University, Doctorship of The London Institute of Applied Research and Social Sciences Director of the Laboratory of Music Electro-Acoustics as well as recipient of too numerous awards & medals to list here!
In the first half of the 70’s he gained Professorship of the Argentinean Institute Of Cinematography and in 1975 rose to the position of A&R Director of EMI-ODEON in Argentina.
His musical accomplishments are staggering, as well playing acoustic & electric bass on many respected jazz outings he’s a mean cellist and pianist. He played with a legendary quintet led by Lalo Schifrin in 1956-1957 that featured saxophonist Gato Barbieri. López Ruiz had also been Schifrin’s big band bassist along with Gato. He always played with the very best in Argentinean jazz.
The local scene in Argentina in the mid-70’s was extremely conservative, with a majority of musicians, critics and media people dead against avant-garde jazz. Traditional and mainstream jazz seemed to be what most attracted the public; more modern jazz had only a moderate appeal. So the fact that some of the better-known modern jazzmen were ready for the challenge of free and avant-garde jazz, was almost intolerable to the rest of the musicians and the opinion makers. Then the listeners had their say and they responded positively to the challenging music this avant-garde minority was producing, much to the astonishment of everyone involved. This middle-class group of musicians, reacting in their own artistic way to the many challenges of the epoch, opened new ground for music development in Argentina.
The album I present today is musical testament to those troubled times - funky brooding jazz fusion that deserves a wider audience and a re-issue. Along with Matias Pizarro on piano and the great “Pocho” Lapouble on drums we are served up a delicious non-stop asssault on our senses. Again this is a lesser-known ‘sequel’ volume to the more in-demand Viejas Raíce I from the preceding year but is my personal favourite from this period in López Ruiz’s career.
As I have done on many an occasion, accompanied by this record, kick back with a cigar & an espresso and drink in the goodness of this timeless magnum opus.