album rating: ★★★★★
a) Genre
Salsa / Salsa brava / Latin jazz. Beethoven's V is one of the most celebrated and collectible salsa albums of the 1970s, combining the harmonic sophistication of pianist Mark 'Markolino' Dimond's arrangements with the vocal swagger of frontman Frankie Dante Cerda and the incomparable chorus and lead work of guest star Chivirico Dávila. The Fania Records liner essay by Aaron Levinson describes Dimond's piano style as 'impregnated with a punishing montuno, courtesy of Eddie Palmieri (his idol) and Cuban keyboard masters like Peruchin, fused with an innovative chordal and chromatic solo approach coming in part from Coltrane alumnus McCoy Tyner.' The album is a representative example of salsa brava at its peak: hard, rhythmically driven, and harmonically sophisticated, with a powerful brass sound built on two alternating trumpet-trombone ensembles.
b) Release
Original US release: Cotique Records (1975; catalogue CS-1075), a Fania Records subsidiary acquired by Jerry Masucci, phonographic copyright ℗ & © 1975 Cotique Records / MCMLXXV. The album was released at the height of Fania's dominance of the New York salsa market. A Venezuelan pressing exists (Cotique Records; 'Hecho en Venezuela'), probably from the 1980s. A 2010 CD reissue was released by Fania Records (barcode: 846395090031), making the album widely available for the first time in digital format. Craft Recordings (a Concord Music Group imprint, successor to the Fania catalogue) holds the current phonographic copyright (℗ 1975 Craft Recordings, a division of Concord Music Group, Inc.) and has made the album available on streaming platforms. The tracklist (8 tracks, 40 minutes): 'Sabrosón', 'Los Rumberos', 'Ahora Sí', 'El Quinto de Beethoven', 'Maraquero', 'Yo No Tengo Amigo', 'Camarones', 'Por Qué Adoré'. Original cover art and design by Ron Levine; photography by Lee Marshall.
c) Production
Produced by Larry Harlow. Executive producers: Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco (Fania Records co-founders). Larry Harlow (born Lawrence Ira Kahn, 20 March 1939, Brooklyn, New York; died 10 June 2021) was an American-Jewish pianist and bandleader of Ashkenazi descent who led the Orquesta Harlow, one of the most musically adventurous ensembles in the Fania catalogue, and produced numerous landmark salsa albums. As he told the Fania liner essay author: 'Frankie Dante was a security guard at Macy's but really wanted to be John Lennon.' Arranged by Mark Dimond (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8) and Marty Sheller (track 6: 'Yo No Tengo Amigo'). Marty Sheller was one of the greatest arrangers in salsa history and an original member of the Sabu Martínez Latin jazz ensemble. The album's detailed session musicians: piano — Mark 'Markolino' Dimond; timbales — Nicky Marrero (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8) and Mike Collazo (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7); congas — Frank Malabé; bongos — Pablito Rosario (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8) and Nicky Marrero (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7); trumpet — Randy Brecker (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7) and Lew Soloff (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8); trombone — Reynaldo Jorge and Lewis Voirabh Kahn (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7) and Barry Rogers (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8); bass — Eddie 'Guagua' Rivera; maracas — Junior Vázquez; chorus — Yayo el Indio, Pete 'El Conde' Rodríguez, and Ismael Quintana; lead vocals — Frankie Dante; guest star vocals — Chivirico Dávila (on 'Sabrosón', 'Ahora Sí', 'Yo No Tengo Amigo', and 'Camarones').
d) Recording
Recorded at Good Vibrations Sound Studios, New York City, New York, USA. Sound designed by Jon Fausty. Good Vibrations was one of the principal studios used by the Fania Records network for its New York sessions during the 1970s. The album is an original studio recording.
e) Reception
Beethoven's V is today considered one of the finest and most collectible salsa albums of the decade — described by Radio Gladys Palmera as a genuine 'incónable' (incunabulum: a rare and precious first printing). The Fania Records online liner essay by Aaron Levinson describes it as a 'historic recording', noting that the three-voice chorus of Chivirico, Yayo, and Pete 'El Conde' Rodríguez is 'pure magic.' The essay singles out 'Sabrosón' — in which Chivirico Dávila unexpectedly takes the lead vocal — as 'the dance favourite of many hardcore cocolos', while praising the composition of 'Por Qué Adoré' by the 'phenomenally prolific' Tite Curet Alonso. The album is described by Radio Gladys Palmera as becoming a cult object partly because of 'the carisma of those two figures, or perhaps the tragic destiny of both' (Dimond and Dante died relatively young). Discogs collectors have maintained steady demand for original pressings. The Fania CD reissue (2010) has ratings of 4.5 out of 5 from Discogs users. No major contemporary chart data is documented.
Markolino Dimond / Frankie Dante / Chivirico Dávila
Mark 'Markolino' Dimond (born c. 1940s, New York; died c. 1980s) was a New York-born pianist of mixed heritage whose keyboard style combined the mambo and montuno of Cuban jazz masters with the avant-garde harmonic vocabulary of McCoy Tyner and the rhythmic ferocity of Eddie Palmieri. He composed five of the album's eight tracks and arranged seven. His playing style is described by Levinson as 'one of the few cats who straddled both worlds effortlessly', meaning both the African-American jazz avant-garde and the Afro-Caribbean salsa tradition. He led his own subsequent recordings on Fania's Cotique label.
Francisco 'Frankie' Dante Cerda (born c. 1940s, New York; died c. 1990s) was a Puerto Rican-American singer and maraca player who is described by his acquaintances, including Larry Harlow, as having 'really wanted to be John Lennon' — a security guard at Macy's who became a salsa vocalist under Harlow's auspices. He was strongly influenced by Ismael Quintana's vocal style and even his physical movements and stage manner.
Carlos 'Chivirico' Dávila (born 1926, Pinar del Río, Cuba — died 1983, New York City) was a Cuban-born vocalist and chorus singer who had settled in New York and became one of the most celebrated background and lead voices in the Fania catalogue. As a chorus singer he was described as 'imparable' (unstoppable), and the three-voice combination with Yayo el Indio and Pete El Conde Rodríguez on this album is cited by specialists as one of the finest chorus performances in New York salsa history.
This text was generated by Claude (Anthropic). It may contain errors or inaccuracies.