Words by Justin Turford

I’ve been having a crash course in Venezuelan music over the last year or two, due nearly entirely to the output from the guys from the UK’s Olindo Records and from El Palmas Music out of Madrid. Drowning in the infinitely varied sounds of Brazil for so long clouded my eyes and ears to the cultures further north but I am now finally able to join a few Venezuelan dots together and when we are talking about Venezuelan salsa, one name keeps popping up loud and bright - Ray Perez. The pianist, composer and bandleader released seven albums with his band Los Dementes alone between 1967-68 and were the most popular salsa outfit at the time in the country. He also released some seriously scorched earth salsa records with Los Calvos around the same time surely making him one of the most outrageously prolific musicians of his time!

One of his innovations was bringing in a drumkit rather than just percussionists to beef up the sound, something unheard of in Venezuela at the time and this groundbreaking move gave him the space to have a more stripped down unit rather than the more common big band salsa orchestras that was the norm.

After a very short visit to New York, Perez returned to Venezuela in 1968 and set up Los Kenya alongside Luis Arias, Alfredo Naranjo, Calaven and Carlin Rodriguez, knocking out this killer record that we are holding right now. Stripped to the bone, the outfit contained only two trumpets, piano, bass, three drummers and two ace male vocalists, Perez’s piano bringing the jazzy tumble of Eddie Palmieri, a taste of the Nu Yorican metropolitan sound to the already heavy Afro-Latino sound of Venezuela of the period. Mainly composed and arranged by Perez, the production and general vibe of their debut LP is dramatically different from his work with Los Dementes and Los Calvos, a fresh sexy swagger dominates the sound, ‘Santa Elena’ and ‘Record en TV’ sound remarkably like the barrio hip of Brooklyn, a stark reminder of just how hot the ‘golden age’ of Venezuelan music really was.

Beyond the swagger, lies recognisably hard, uncompromising dancefloor salsa as good as any. The final descarga ‘Descargan los Timbales’ is an absolute monster, the percussionists moving at hyperspeed, smoking timbales and congas alongside Perez’s driving piano and screeching trumpet solos, you’re going to need to lie down afterwards!

With gorgeous new artwork by Bestialo Culapsus A+E, and remastered by the don Frank Merritt at The Carvery, Música Infinita / Olindo Records have slayed it with this release!

Bravo Oli and Miguel, a record we needed, done in exactly the right way. 9/10

OUT NOW!

BUY HERE! https://olindorecords.bandcamp.com/album/inf002-siempre-afro-latino