***1/2 Celia Cruz
100% AZÚCAR! THE BEST OF CELIA CRUZ CON LA SONORA
MATANCERA
(Rhino)
Havana and
Kennedy-era New York, Celia Cruz was a hugely popular developer of that
omnipotent Latin melange later named salsa. But then as now, her style of
showmanship also had wide appeal beyond the confines of her chosen genre.
Whereas Rhino's companion anthology of her contemporary Tito Puente is
characterized by the broad and manic gestures of salsa's big-band sound --
massive horn lines and feverish polyrhythms -- this collection features a
variety of supple settings designed for an international diva. It starts in the
early-'50s with tracks that carry hints of classic American pop and blues,
moves through a mix of light cha-cha-chas, novelty mambos, and sultry, midtempo
sones, and then culminates in a series of complex, full-blown rumbas,
with the kind of extended scat codas that you still hear in modern salsa. But
none of these is sweeter than the numbers in which she extols her native
country's sweets -- including the only song ever to make me choke up about
buying mangos.
-- Franklin Soults
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