Irakere and Trabuco – En Vivo, Poliedro de Caracas, Mayo 14' 81

Irakere & Trabuco - En Vivo, Poliedro de Caracas, Mayo 14' 81 is a Vinyl-LP live album released in 1982.

Contents

• El Trabuco Venezolano
• Irakere
• Other credits
• Songs
• References

The Cuban band Irakere of Chucho Valdés and El Trabuco Venezolano led by Alberto Naranjo shared a stage three times – twice in Venezuela at the Poliedro de Caracas, in 1979 and 1981 (two concerts each year), and once at the Teatro Carlos Marx in Havana, Cuba in 1981. This recording shows the first of the two face-to-face historic encounters between Irakere and Trabuco that were held in Caracas on May 14 and 15 of 1981. The tone is set by Carlos Daniel Palacios singing the opening Tres días, a tune composed by Valdés and arranged by Naranjo for his Trabuco, as a warm greeting to the foreign guests. Highlights include a rejuvenated version of El Cumaco de San Juan, a traditional Venezuelan merengue metido en clave this time by sonero Joe Ruiz, followed by Formas Libres – a cool and spacious mix of free jazz experimentation and simple composed elements conceived by Naranjo. The other side starts with a Valdés arrangement of La Molinaria de Paisello [sic], based in a variation created by Ludwig van Beethoven on La Molinara theme composed by Giovanni Paisiello in 1788. In this track, tenor sax and flautist Carlos Averhoff and guitarist Carlos Emilio Morales combine to provide a touching performance of jazz and academic. The last track A romper el coco, with the energetic vocalization of Oscar Valdés and Morales soloing on guitar, is quite enjoyable from beginning to end. This album has a significant amount of musical variety and finds Irakere and Trabuco in fine form.