GIOVANNI HIDALGO & MICHEL CAMILO: HANDS OF RHYTHM

GIOVANNI HIDALGO & MICHEL CAMILO
O percussionista 'boricua' Giovanni Hidalgo - uma lenda viva, é considerado como o "number one", "the best", "el mejor" percussionista do mundo, o que não é coisa pouca, se considerarmos a quantidade enorme de fantásticos percussonistas latino-americanos em atividade. Não me agrada essa coisa de "o melhor" mas Hidalgo é, indubitavelmente, o mais bem preparado, o de maior técnica, talento e cultura musical. Não por acaso foi professor na exigente Berklee School of Music, de Boston.
Quando MICHEL CAMILO saiu de Santo Domingo e foi prá New York, foi como se um furacão tivesse saído do Caribe e varrido a "big apple". Tito Puente e Paquito D´Rivera imediatamente se apossaram do gigantesco talento de Michel, ao mesmo tempo que lhe abriam as portas do mundo.
Hidalgo & Camilo são a mais perfeita conjunção da " fome com a vontade de comer". Dois GIGANTES.
(CB)
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GIOVANNI HIDALGO
El legendario percusionista Giovanni Hidalgo nacíó en Puerto Rico en el 1963 y creció en un hogar rodeado por los tambores, bongos, congas y timbales usados por su padre y abuelo, ambos músicos también. Hidalgo comenzó a tocar en una conga hecha a mano en la casa por su padre de un barril de madera, cuando él apenas tenía ocho años de edad. El practicó también en otros instrumentos de percusión, aplicando su talento magnífico para llegar a ser uno de los primeros percusionistas latinos en el mundo de hoy. Los sonidos que otros percusionistas crean con palos, Hidalgo crea con sus manos. Su precisión rápida como relámpago es particularmente admirada por otros.
Hidalgo inicialmente llegó a ser popular fuera de su Puerto Rico nativo en los tempranos 1980’s. En 1981 él fue a Cuba a trabajar con Batacumbele. Allí conoció a Changuito y la carrera de Hidalgo tomó una vuelta diferente. Los dos artistas estaban perfectamente afinados uno con el otro y esto fue evidente en el primer álbum de Batacumbele. Ese esfuerzo, estelerizando la técnica increíble de percusión de Hidalgo con sus manos, le dió prominencia instantánea entre músicos alrededor del mundo. El futuro llegó en el 1988 cuándo Gillespie reclutó a Hidalgo para que tocara con él en la Orquesta de Jazz de las Naciones Unidas. En 1992 Hidalgo aceptó una posición de enseñanza en el Berklee College of Music en Boston. El permaneció allí por cuatro años de cuál Hidalgo dijo, “enseñaba y aprendía al mismo tiempo.” También dijo “Junté toda clase de ritmos-puertorriqueño, cubano, dominicano, reggae, el africano,
y el jazz”.
(Source:www.musicofpuertorico.com
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MICHEL CAMILO (born April 4, 1954) is a pianist and composer from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is known as a great jazz, latin and classical pianist with superb technical ability, and has played and recorded with many world-famous musicians. Michel lists some of his main influences as Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Art Tatum. The formal system of the music school taught Michel to play in the classical style, and by age 16 he was playing with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic. Michel comments on his first encounter with the sounds of jazz, in an interview with the All About Jazz website:
”The first time I heard jazz was when I was 14 and a half. I heard the great Art Tatum on the radio playing his solo piano rendition of 'Tea for Two.' That immediately caught my ear. I just wanted to soak it in, to learn to play that style. Then I found out it was jazz.” Michel studied for 13 years at the National Conservatory, and whilst developing his strong classical abilities was also heavily influenced by the bop tradition, and by the contemporary jazz of Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. His influences at this time also included Horace Silver, Errol Garner, and the ragtime music of Scott Joplin. When the Harvard University Jazz Band visited the Dominican Republic and heard Michel at a jam session, the bandleader encouraged him, 'You should be in the States', and so the idea was planted. In 1979 Michel moved to New York to study at Mannes College and at The Juilliard School, and broke onto the international stage in 1983 when Tito Puente's pianist was unable to make a concert at the Montreal Jazz Festival. On a recommendation, without hearing him, Tito asked Michel to play. Cuban reedman Paquito D'Rivera was in the audience, and immediately offered him a place in his band. For four years Michel toured internationally with Paquito, and recorded two albums with him. Michel's emergence as a star in his own right began around 1985, the year he debuted with his trio at Carnegie Hall. Other notable musicians he has played with include Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Airto Moreira, Chuck Mangione, Stanley Turrentine, Claudio Roditi, Nancy Alvarez, Mongo Santamaria, George Benson, Eddie Palmieri, Jon Faddis, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Lew Soloff, Tania Maria, Jaco Pastorius, Patato, Randy Brecker, Michael Brecker, Chuck Loeb, Giovanni Hidalgo, Wynton Marsalis, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Dave Valentin, Flora Purim, Delfeayo Marsalis, Chucho Valdés, Joe Lovano, Herbie Hancock, Tomatito, John Patitucci, David Sanchez, Hiromi, Cachao, Marcus Roberts, Steve Gadd, Danilo
Perez, Gary Burton, Billy Taylor, Dave Weckl, Hilton Ruiz, Roy Hargrove, Romero Lubambo, Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen, Lenny Andrade, Bireli Lagrene, Marian McPartland, Leonard Slatkin, Arturo Sandoval.
(Source: Wikipedia, edited by CB)
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ALBUM COMMENTS
In "Hands of Rhythm," Hidalgo teams up with pianist Michel Camilo to create a wonderful showcase for his playing. Using this duo format, one can understand why Hidalgo is considered to be not only the greatest conga player in the world, but also a smart and tasteful musician. Anyone who is interested in hearing Giovanni work his magic, this is the CD for you. Camilo gives Hidalgo a lot of room/space to play, think, create, and burn. Along with laying down very tasteful conga tracks on each song, Giovanni also incorporates a wonderful blend of auxilliary percusion, e.g., timbales, chimes, cowbells, bongoes, panderetas, shakers, and even a plastic bag to create music that feels great! This CD is especially useful for percusion students (of all ages and skill levels) wanting to learn how to be smart and tasteful player.
(By A. Desantis - Lexington, KY USA)
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MINHA OPINIÃO - prefiro deixar a bola com o próprio Giovanni Hidalgo, que declarou:
"Hands of Rhythm is a living example of how two people can encompass different worlds
through the congas and piano. Here we have a spiritual project in which we tried to
express our feelings and musical backgrounds. It is filled with deep love and a humble message for everyone worldwide. Since this is our first time recording together as a duo, everything we played came out spontaneously with lots of emotion. An endeavor, done in five days, it is filled with great love for the present and future generations without ever forgetting the pioneers of the past". (Giovanni Hidalgo) o
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GIOVANNI HIDALGO & MICHEL CAMILO - HANDS OF RHYTHM

TRACKS
1. And Sammy Walked In (5:54)
2. Footprints (5:07)
3. Amo Esta Isla (4:22)
4. Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise (4:15)
5. My Soul Best (4:10)
6. Papa Boco (4:50)
7. Blue Monk (3:48)
8. If You Knew... (5:14)
9. En Mi Viejo San Juan (4:05)
10. Hello and Goodbye (6:18)
11. Hands in Motion (3:03)

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