Esto son Los Calvos, by Los Calvos

Esto son Los Calvos

by Los Calvos

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Few have done as much for salsa in Venezuela as band-leader, composer and pianist Ray Pérez. He burst on to the scene in the mid-60s with his group Los Dementes, creating the blueprint for guaguanco, pachanga and boogaloo in Venezuela. When the name salsa began to be used as something of a catch-all-term he was still at the forefront, recording two hugely-popular salsa albums with Los Dementes in 1967. Remarkably, that very same year, he also recorded two albums with a brand new group, Los Calvos, that showed how as well as being the genre’s most visible band-leader, he was also pushing the nascent genre to its limits. Looking back, revered journalist Alfredo Churion states that Los Calvos were “one of the most innovative experiences in Venezuelan popular music.”

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1.	El Kenya 02:54	buy track
2.	Mi Salsa Llegó 02:17	buy track
3.	Yo El Director 02:32	buy track
4.	Qué Pasará 01:52	buy track
5.	Yo Sin Ti 02:55	buy track
6.	Negrito Calaven 02:52	buy track
7.	Bailemos Kenya 02:26	buy track
8.	Oigan Guasanco 02:51	buy track
9.	Tranquilo, Tranquilo 02:25	buy track
10.	Comiendo Pan 02:54	buy track
11.	Cariñito 02:42	buy track
12.	Te Vieron Con Otro 02:02	buy track

about

Few have done as much for salsa in Venezuela as band-leader, composer and pianist Ray Pérez. He burst on to the scene in the mid-60s with his group Los Dementes, creating the blueprint for guaguanco, pachanga and boogaloo in Venezuela. When the name salsa began to be used as something of a catch-all-term he was still at the forefront, recording two hugely-popular salsa albums with Los Dementes in 1967. Remarkably, that very same year, he also recorded two albums with a brand new group, Los Calvos, that showed how as well as being the genre’s most visible band-leader, he was also pushing the nascent genre to its limits. Looking back, revered journalist Alfredo Churion states that Los Calvos were “one of the most innovative experiences in Venezuelan popular music.”

Estos Son Los Calvos is the first of the two albums he made with Los Calvos. On it, he made a few alterations to the line-up that may seem minor, but created a completely new sound. For the first time, he recruited a drummer (unprecedented at the time for a salsa ensemble, which always used percussionists), he switched from the trombones of Los Dementes to the much harder, direct sound of trumpets, and he recruited Carlos Yanez, best known as El Negrito Calavén, as singer. Whereas Los Dementes had been aligned with the slightly pop sound of tropical orchestras, Los Calvos took an almost-jazz approach, allowing room for the musicians and vocalists to improvise, and they also took inspiration from the sounds of surf rock swirling around Caracas. The group’s drummer El Pavo amusingly once described the group’s sound as like “wearing a dinner suit with flip-flops”.

Opening track “El Kenya” is the clearest example of that surf rock influence; it’s opening lines make clear its intentions: “una linda trigueña que me invitó a bailar el Kenya” (“a beautiful trigueña – tri-ethnic girl – invited me to dance the Kenya”). They are intent on creating their own dance craze, El Kenya. If the group had ever performed live, then maybe it would have taken off, as the song had all the credentials: rollicking montuno piano from Pérez, ingenious scatting and vocal improvs from Calavén, and a middle section where the drums and trumpets battle it out hard, with an audience screaming its appreciation throughout. It’s followed by ‘Mi Salsa Llego’, which Pérez had already recorded with Los Dementes; here, it’s a tougher beast, the sparser hits of the drums and trumpets giving a harder sound evocative of the times, with more and more people moving to the cities, and wanting a grittier, urban soundtrack.

credits

released June 17, 2022

Artwork Georgina Maldera.
Cut at The Carvery
Mastering at Lad Caduceis

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Los Calvos Caracas, Venezuela

En el año 1967 nace en Caracas- producto de la inquieta mente del músico Ray Perez- una
banda con un sonido diferente a todo lo pasado y definitivamente diferente a todo lo que vendría
después. Ellos eran Los Calvos, la agrupación que logró resumir la trayectoria musical de Ray
quien ya había absorbido la musica romantica, el rock, la salsa y algo de jazz. ... more