PBS just ran a two-hour special, Latin Music USA, that was very informative but pretty much doomed by the broad topic and brief run-time. In two hours, the most they could do was introduce a few leading characters and offer only the briefest clips of their music. Thus, Dizzy Gillespie gets his rightful mention but we only hear him play a few notes. His Cuban protégé Arturo Sandoval gets considerably more time talking about what a great influence Dizzy was.
Too bad. When he was on, no one could play trumpet like Diz. No one.
Still, it’s a show worth watching if you love Latin music as I do, and I’m sure it will repeat.
And now, coming up tomorrow night (Thursday) also on PBS, a broadcast of the White House concert in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, a “Fiesta Latina.” Marc Anthony headlines, with appearances by Los Lobos, Jose Feliciano, and many more.
I first saw Anthony in a Paul Simon tribute concert when he sang Simon’s Latin-infused hit “Late in the Evening”:
“Then I learned to play some lead guitar, I was underage in this funky bar
And I stepped outside to smoke myself a j.
When I come back to the room, everybody just seemed to move
And I turned my amp up loud and I began to play.
It was late in the evening, and I blew that room away.”
And did he ever. Then I saw him in El Cantante, the Hector Lavoe bio-pic where he proved that he could act as well.
A highlight from the White House concert, previewed on Youtube clips, is the First Family all dancing on stage. I guess they got the idea from Tom Delay doing the cha-cha on Dancing with the Stars. The President has the better moves and looks way less gay.
This should be a terrific concert.
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