New York, NY, April 7, 2010: Fania announced today the release of three deluxe 2-CD sets of key recordings by three superstar founding masters of the musical movement called salsa.
Weighing in with 30 tracks accompanied by a 32-page liner note booklet that includes photos, Johnny Pacheco: El Maestro, follows the career of the Dominican-born bandleader who was Fania Records’s music director and first hit recording artist. The compilation, by Ernesto Lechner, features Pacheco’s hits like «El GÃ 1/4iro de Macorina,» «La Esencia del Guaguancó,» «Quimbara,» and «El Paso de Encarnación,» and includes collaborations with Pete «El Conde» Rodríguez, Celia Cruz, Daniel Santos, José Fajardo, and Rolando Laserie. In doing so, it travels from Pacheco’s days with a charanga (flute-and-violins dance band) to his signature two-trumpet Cuban-style conjunto.
RAY BARRETTO: Que Viva La Música follows the trajectory of the New York conguero and bandleader who hit it big right out of the box with 1963’s «El Watusi,» the first hit from this new world of Latin music to make the Billboard pop charts. Barretto was all about the music. His uncompromising insistence on musical quality, firm discipline, and rock-solid rhythm pushed the crowds to dance harder, and his band of aces playing sharp arrangements was a salsa mainstay. Among the many career standouts in this deluxe 2-CD package are Barretto’s big hits including «Soul Drummers,» «Hard Hands,» «Acid,» and «Cocinando,» as well as «Que Viva La Música,» «Indestructible,» «El Hijo de Obatalá,» and Catalino «Tite» Curet Alonso’s «Vale Más un Guaguancó,» on which Barretto’s then-new singer Rubén Blades is heard. The 32-page liner notes were written by Robert Padilla and includes several photos.
WILLIE COLûN: The Player showcases the innovative, massively popular work of the Bronx-born trombonist / bandleader / producer Colón, who remade salsa not once (with Héctor Lavoe on vocals) but twice (with Rubén Blades, who cut his classic tracks with Colón).
From precedent-shattering, trend-setting tracks like «El Malo,» «Che Che Colé,» «La Murga,» «Calle Luna, Calle Sol,» and «Juanita Alimaña» with Héctor Lavoe, to the all-time classics «Pedro Navaja» and «Siembra» with Rubén Blades, to Willie Colón’s collaborations with Celia Cruz, Mon Rivera, and Ismael Miranda, these tracks are as contemporary and as timely now as when they were recorded.
These tracks were well-recorded to begin with, and we’re remastered from the original master tape recordings. All three packages have extensive liner notes in English and Spanish by Ernesto Lechner (Pacheco), and by Thomas Muriel, John Child, and Ernesto Lechner (Barretto and Colón), along with classic period photos. The A Man and His Music series, originated by Fania features artists including Tito Rodríguez, Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe, Rubén Blades, and Joe Cuba.
In the last year, Código Music has acquired both the West Side Latino and Fania catalogs, giving it the greatest repertoire in tropical music, comprising more than four thousand albums by the masters of the genre.
