[Sidebar] The Worcester Phoenix
December 26, 1997 - January 2, 1998
[Music Reviews]
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***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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