Willie Colon

w/ Hector Lavoe "El Juicio." w/ Hector Valoe "Comedia" (I only like about half of this--some good songs marred by excessive use of string section) w/ Ruben Blades "Siembra." w/ Ruben Blades "Fania All-Stars with Willie Colon and Ruben Blades" (I only like last three tracks) w/ Mon Rivera "There Goes the Neighborhood." Hector Lavoe had a rough sort of sound, not a good singer technically speaking, I think, but he's fun to listen to. Good delivery. Ruben Blades is good all around, technically and as a stylist. Mon Rivera has a quirky, very rhythmic style. (Most of this his work is not strictly salsa in the narrow sense, but plena, and I guess bomba too?, traditional Puerto Rican genres.)

You're making me want to buy more Willie Colon CDs.

Singing has been "technical" for thousands of years. Where have u been? I agree w/ Deraymi that Anthony's voice is better trained, with better range etc. But Lavoe brought to his singing a certain quality of emotion and feeling that I think came from his experiences. Anthony, despite his quality of delivery IMO lacks this. I think a lot of people also like the slight roughness of Lavoe's voice.

It's not about dissing. It's about recognising differences and WHY you like something. You can like different things for different reasons.

I think I probably like him more for his arranging (and composing? does he write much of this music?), and for his general creative direction of projects, than for his playing per se. Trombones usually sound slilghtly comic to me. Somehow he manages to use the humor of the trombone sound without its becoming tiresome to me.

Thinking more about Lavoe: he had some really great people writing songs for him. Again, I can't comment on the lyrics, but musically (and perhaps particularly, melodically), some of these songs have very quickly made an impression on me. They are covered so often that they almost have the status of folk songs.

"Juanito Alimana" is another great Lavoe song with an unforgetable melody. There' something about a lot of these songs that conjures up an almost immediate nostalgia. Maybe I have just heard them enough while surrounded by mostly Latin audiences who grew up with them, but I think there's something in the music itself.

For the newbs:
Start out with Cosa Nuestra.
Then Siembra.
Then there's Solo, Lo Mato, Good Bad And The Ugly, The Big Break, La Fuga, the collabo w/Celia Cruz, Altos Secretos, the various Lavoe and Blades offshoots, and so on.

(The last Ruben Blades CD was okay, I thought. I borrowed it from the library. I didn't like it enough to want to buy it, though if I saw it for a low price I would pick it up. "Danny Boy" worked surprisingly well with Congas beneath it.)

I'd also recommend El Juicio (with Hector Lavoe). Also, I like Colon's collaboration with Mon Rivera There Goes the Neighborhood (but that's pretty focused on Mon Rivera's singing).

But you might be better off taking FW's advice, above, since he knows this stuff more than I do.

I had to check what that is (since I'm not too familiar with this album which I just obtained recently), and yes, "Que Bien te Vez" is really good. Another option, if you especially like Lavoe, is to go for the two 2-CD compilations I've mentioned before: Fania "Legends of Salsa Collection" (where I first heard this song); although, Colon & Co. did put out some albums that work well as albums.

like Lavoe
I like him. I like that nasal, crying sound in his voice. Does Willie C. have anything to do with El Sabio?

Not sure if something was lost during the black-out. You may be right.

I don't know El Sabio. (Again, not to discourage discussion here, by any means, but http://www.descarga.com carries most of this stuff and provides credits for many titles, so it's a partial discography.)

I grabbed Vigilante out of a dollar bin last weekend. 1983, so out of both Colon's and Lavoe's sweet spot.

Pretty odd record, but not a bad one. Hard to recommend as essential or canonical. Also curious that it was from a movie of the same title starring Colon as a gangster. Anyone seen it?

Did the movie ever come out?
See below: "intended"

http://www.fania.com/content/vigilante

Recorded in 1982, “Vigilante” is released at the verge of Fania’s meltdown the following year. Intended as the soundtrack for the movie with the same name where Willie plays a ruthless gang member named Rico Meléndez, this project pairs him again with his compadre and former singer Héctor Lavoe. In fact, it was put on hold by Fania Records because of the label’s pushing of yet another movie involving Colón: Fania’s own The Last Fight, Masucci’s last daring gambit and the one that almost cost him the salsa empire they built during the 1970s.

IMDB indicates that it did: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084867/

Great poster, too.

I remember that movie. I wanted to go see it but my parents wouldn't take me (I was 11).

great album cover too

Triste Y Vacia and Juanito Alimana are both essential songs, imo. The latter is surprisingly great to dance to. It's a bit uncanny how much implied rhythm there is in it. Don't know if that's technically a valid way of putting it but that's how I experience it. I can't remember the other two that clearly, but I think they're less essential.

Ugh to some of my earlier comments on this thread. Lavoe is a lot more than just "fun to listen to," but this thread is old enough that I really wasn't moved much by his singing back when I was originally posting on it.

Great musician but alas now a right wing Maga extremist on twitter

oh no!
that is unfortunate. i just checked for worms and unfortunately, his account was indeed roiling with them. :(

Ugh

"last famous person you were surprised to discover is actually still alive"

Apparently he's only 70, he started recording so young

He’s been on my interview bucket list for years, but no more...

Guess this is the kind of thing Alfred was talking about on the other thread.

He and his band were good when I saw him in 2006. Don’t recall him saying anything political back then.