This is the first video ever posted to show the amazing Sergio Noroña playing piano with Paulito FG

The Tirso book (BS Piano V. 14) was supposed to go quickly because I’d already done a lot of work on the MIDI I have from him, but as usual, I’ve found a way to make it harder on myself! The gear and efectos structure of Charanga Habanera is so interesting that I’ve made special additional play-along tracks where the percussion and bass cycle through the efectos and gears that go along with each piano tumbao. Fascinating stuff – Orlandito Mengual’s conga inventos are really amazing. There’s also a playalong for a full arrangement with all the efectos and transitions.

If people like this first Tirso book, I’ve got enough material for at least 3 more. And yes, I do realize that I’m behind on Pupy. I’ve done V10 and v11 and have reserved v12 and v13 for his 90s work with Los Van Van and his new stuff with Los Que Son Son. So much to do! Also hoping to get started on Beyond Salsa Bongó with Carlos Caro soon. If you haven’t seen it, Carlos did a great video for LP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dul5QcnoiGw

And here he is soloing in my back yard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNQgO75frw8 –

280,000 views for that one – yikes!

NOTE: Still looking for high res photos of Tirso playing piano.

The first Tirso book is starting to take shape. It’ll have 3 or 4 tumbaos (each with multiple “controlled improvisation” variations) from each of Charanguero mayor, Confianza (both songs written by Tirso when he first joined CH for Michel Maza to sing), and El bla bla bla. El bla bla bla will also have a complete chart – all the way through – for piano and bass. There will be a lead sheet and also a note-for-note chart and two sets of fast and slow audio files: one with the bass in one channel and the piano in the other, and one with the piano left hand in the left channel and the right in the right. In Tirso’s style, like Melón’s, the left hand plays an entirely different rhythm – like the “manoteo” of a conga marcha, so it’s important to be able to solo just the left hand.

REQUEST: If anyone in Europe, South America or the East Coast has high-res photos of Tirso, PLEASE contact me. Tirso hasn’t been to California since November 2000 so I’m really light on photos. I especially need a great cover shot of him playing piano.

Meanwhile, on the bass front, the free audio, eBook and audio download for Beyond Salsa Bass Vol. 1 is finally published at LatinPulseMusic.com.

conf-w-bass

This will be the quickest turnaround time for any book – I think I’ll be done in about a month – maybe less. I already did a lot of the groundwork years ago when Tirso was still in Charanga Habanera. Some of this piano stuff is truly off the hook. This will be BS Piano Vol. 14, since 12 and 13 are reserved for the final two Pupy books that I haven’t even started …

So much to do!

woohoo – thanks Vasik!

Tirso Duarte project beginning – prepárense pianistas!

http://goo.gl/jJxvX

woohoo – finally – should be on amazon and LPM soon.

https://www.createspace.com/4201012

This one was a long time coming. I started it several times, only to switch to another book, but it’s done and it was worth the time. Lots of great stuff on Arsenio and changüí and a cool categorization system for the 16 most common generic tumbaos. It’s uploaded now to LPM, createspace and amazon – just waiting for it to go live. There will be a free download of 28 audio files to get you started. Special thanks to Orlando Fiol, Ian Stewart, Bob Fernández, Emiliano Echeverria and everyone else who helped so much.

On to Tirso Duarte!

The final cover is done (see front page of this site) – audio also complete – still doing a last proofreading pass on the text itself.

It’s coming in at 186 pages, with about 210 audio tracks. The son, danzón and Arsenio sections are the most in-depth of my many attempts to do justice to these genres. Changüí has been interesting. The tres guajeos made wonderful tumbaos for piano, but the marímbula is really more a pitched drum. If you played exactly what the marímbula plays on a bass, it would sound horrible, so I’ve transcribed the rhythms and added notes to match the piano tumbaos. Put all that in an appendix since it doesn’t follow the main approach of basing tumbaos on real historical recordings.