Ry Cooder Mambo Sinuendo CD

MAMBO SINUENDO won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. "Patricia" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Ry Cooder, the guitarist/composer/arranger behind the Buena Vista Social Club and numerous film scores (JOHNNY HANDSOME, PARIS, TEXAS), is back with a suave collection of tunes infused with more of the sinuous rhythms from Cuba. Just as we are comfortably settling into the seductive feel set up on the opening track, "Drume Negrita," enter Mr. Cooder's languorous pedal steel and we are transported beyond the south-of-the-border to a place both exotic and intriguing. On this set, Cooder is teamed with the leader of the popular 60'S and 70's group Los Zafiros, Manuel Galban. Galban and Cooder trade tasty and occasionally quirky riffs that put their distinctive guitars front and center. The mutual admiration these artists have for one another exudes a contagious warmth and wealth of good humor that underlies all the proceedings. The temperature rises on "Monte Adentro," courtesy of a wonderfully lucy-goosey rhythm section and a tres solo by Mr. Cooder and on the title track, a melody in signature style is served up by none other than Herb Albert.

As Cooder has written - ''You can look at this as a road trip through different worldless fantasy landscapes. Sometimes you're in bright daylight, sometimes the streets are dark & empty. You're riding with the Conjunto Sinuendo - drummers Jim Keltner & Joachim Cooder, Conga-player ''Anga'' Diaz, & bassist Cachaito Lopez, to hold you on the road. High performance Twang!'' Slipcase. Nonesuch. 2003.

Recorded at Egram Studios, Havana, Cuba; Capitol Studios and Sound City Studios, Los Angeles, California.

Personnel: Ry Cooder (guitar, slide guitar, steel guitar, electric piano, vibraphone, tres); Manuel Galban (guitar); Herb Alpert (trumpet); Orlando Cachaito Lopez (bass); Jim Keltner, Joachim Cooder (drums); Gregorio Hernandez Rios "Goyo", Maximino Duquesne Martinez, Marcos H. Scull, Yosvani Diaz (bata drums); Miguel "Anga" Diaz (conga); Juliette & Carla Commagere (background vocals).

Rolling Stone (3/6/03, p.69) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Cooder and Galban play dueling guitars, but their skills are even more impressive when they play in unison..."
Uncut (2/03, p.78) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Agile, sexy, witty and lyrical, it's an exquisite album..."
The Wire (4/03, p.70) - "...[A] labour of love....A series of mambo transformations, evoking fusions that arose in Cuba's clubs during the 1950s..."
Mojo (Publisher) (1/03, p.96) - "...When Uncle Ry packs his bags and books that flight, he never comes back without something cool, weird and distinctive..."