Classic Celia Cruz Album Returns To Vinyl
There’s a rest stop in Forked River (Ocean County) on the Garden State Parkway in honor of New Jersey Hall of Famer Celia Cruz. When “The Queen Of Salsa” escaped Castro in 1961, she ultimately—after brief stops in New York City and Miami—wound up in Fort Lee (Bergen County) where she lived out the rest of her life. Now her Tremendo Trio (Craft Recordings Latino), with percussionist Ray Barretto and vocalist Adalberto Santiago, long out-of-print, returns to glorious life as Craft will re-release it on vinyl October 3 in honor of the centennial of the birth of Celia Cruz. (She died of cancer in 2003 at 77.)
Producer Barretto’s conga solos spice up the proceedings while a four-piece trumpet section adds heft. Pianist Oscar Hernandez sparkles as does trombone man Joe De Jesus. And what salsa album worth its salt doesn’t have the kind of constantly percolating percussion peppered throughout via an array of timbales and bongos. It positively sizzles, and won the 1984 “Salsa Album Of The Year” honor at the Latin ACE Awards.