THE LATIN JAZZ CREW PERFORMS AT THE JVC JAZZ FESTIVAL By Linda Novit

Thanks to sponsors such as JVC, The NATIONAL HOTEL, BLOCKBUSTERS, and WDNA, your station for JAZZ in MIAMI, on May 12, 2001 we finally had a JAZZ FESTIVAL on SOUTH BEACH! AND with TOP OF THE LINE performers, the band PAYE, HILTON RUIZ, GATO BARBIERI and THE LATIN JAZZ CREW! I'm gonna tell you about THE LATIN JAZZ CREW.

The band is led by "old timer" EDDIE 'GUA GUA" RIVERA on bass whom I was surprised to see lookin 10 years younger than when I saw him last (which was 10 years ago so make that 20!). He was playing electric bass. As he usually plays the upright which he dominates completely, the electric is a cinch for
him, though as the show wore on I understood why he had chosen to play it. There are certain things that an upright just won't do.

The first tune was a tune pianist JORGE LUIS SOSA had written while on a Mexican adventure. It was called "HAVANA JOSECHO" JORGE took off on that piano from the start. His whole body moved as if he actually was going to fly. Then FERNANDO DIEZ on tenor joined the flight along with drummer LUDWIG ALFONSO (a kid with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but also knowing when to practice restraint) and percussionist EDUARDITO RODRIGUEZ doing an excellent job replacing regular prcussionist EDWIN BONILLA for the day.

The next tune was a composition by EDDIE called T.J. It was a song for his ex piano player Tony. The bass cried. Eduardito started playing bongos. His face expressed his soul as much as the music. He went to congas and progressed to timbales as the rhythm rose to a crescendo. After a sax solo by FERNANDO followed an interplay between congas and drums accompanied by a sax and bass riff. All the music THE LATIN JAZZ CREW played was written by the band.

The next tune was a written by FERNANDO DIEZ. It was called "AFRO SHEIK" and was in 7/4, a challenging rhythm. Fernando grabbed the soprano. We were in Egypt, I think. Percussion, piano and bass backed him wonderfully. All their music was so very well arranged! Hey, I love this tune! A little reminiscent of early WEATHER REPORT except for piano player JORGE LUIS who is decidedly rooted in his Cuban culture ,though full of surprises, sometimes floating, and I detect some Chick Corea influence but otherwise very much his own, very adventurous on this tune.

The next tune was by JORGE LUIS SOSA called "FOURPLAY" . The band really cooked! Jorge let loose! His latin soul was all over the place. There were some interesting breaks, not overcomplicated as I think some of Chick Corea's tend to be, but close.

Next they played one of EDDIE'S compositions for his daughter LLUVIA. It was called "BARRIADA ROSA". It was a beautiful tune that showed a lot of tenderness. Headed by the tenor of FERNANDO, JORGE added sweet melody and at times heavy harminies, EDDIE'S bass held it all together. The rhythm was "BOMBA" a Puerto Rican rhythm brought there from Africa by the slaves. Eduardito played a conga solo while Fernando played chekere, then he picked up his soprano and played a very tender melody till the end'

After this "lighter" number they played a tune that EDDIE wrote in SPAIN with all it's influences. You could hear the gypsies, the arabs, the moors.. I've lived in Spain and I know it's wild spirit and it's culture. Eddie had certainly captured it. I really enjoyed this. The band went what some musicians call "outside" for a while, wild!

They ende the set with another JORGE LUIS SOSA tune, "ARROLLANDO", a song from their CD. IT was heavy LATIN JAZZ. From start to finish THE LATIN JAZZ CREW just blew everyone away!