Home » Jazz Articles » Multiple Reviews » Celia Cruz: La Reina y Su Corte

Celia Cruz: La Reina y Su Corte

By Richard J Salvucci
April 5, 2025
View read count

However complicated "Latin Jazz" may seem—ethnically, rhythmically, politically, culturally—guess again. It is more so. Even the term "Latin" irritates some players, notably

Arturo Sandoval

trumpet
b.1949

" data-original-title="" title="">Arturo Sandoval, who has the chops, the cred, and the ethnicity to be irritated. Because, Latin, he says, is heard only in Church. Well, Sandoval is at least half right, but for the wrong reason. The term was invented by a French economist, Michel Chevalier, in the 1830s to cement France's claim to have something in common with Spanish and Portuguese America, primarily for political reasons. Confused? Just wait.

Son Con Guanguanc��
Craft Recordings
2025

It is possible that a reader in the United States is unfamiliar with

Celia Cruz

vocals
1925 - 2003

" data-original-title="" title="">Celia Cruz, even though she has appeared on both a United States stamp (2011) and a coin (2024), not to mention having been celebrated by Whoppi Goldberg, presumably as an avatar of Black womanhood? By birth, Cruz was Cuban, but she fell out with the Castro regime (she called Fidel Castro "ese se?or," not exactly terms of endearment) after the Revolution and never returned even though her grave in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx contained soil from Cuba, ironically from a 1990 visit to the U.S. naval base in Guant��namo. Popularly known as the "Queen of Salsa," the start of Cruz's career was in Cuba. Her influence throughout Latin America grew as she became better known. Listening to other singers, for example the Mexican Amparo Ochoa, does leave one to wonder whether Celia Cruz or

Edith Piaf

vocals
1915 - 1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Edith Piaf was not the more influential artistic figure in the region? While Cruz is rightly celebrated for her synthesis of Afro-Cuban culture, listening to her seventy years after her beginnings near Havana provides an even broader perspective

Son Con Guaguanc�� dates from 1966. It was Cruz's debut recording in the United States at the tender age of forty! It is both a period piece and a revelation. "El Cohete" ("The Rocket")recalls the excitement of the United States' involvement in the Space Race of the era. But even more interesting to a student of jazz is "No Hay Manteca." Here the intrigue deepens. "Manteca," of course, is generally known to boppers as a classic

Dizzy Gillespie

trumpet
1917 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Dizzy Gillespie composition (1947), but Gillespie made no bones about the seminal role percussionist

Chano Pozo

congas
1915 - 1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Chano Pozo played in the song's composition. Pozo, in Dizzy's words, "stone African" really brought the melody and rhythm to Gillespie, who then had Gil Fuller orchestrate it. But Cruz's "No Hay Manteca" ("No Lard") opens with the identical riff (Gillespie's iconic "I'll Never Go Back to Georgia") and segues into an identical saxophone chorus. Anyone familiar with Cuba since the 1959 Revolution knows very well about food shortages, down to the Coca Cola for a Cuba Libre. So, naturally, a listener wonders, which came first, "Manteca" or "No Hay Manteca?" Was Pozo teaching Gillespie a popular song that Cruz had learned on the sidewalks of Cuba, or did Cruz pick up the arrangement from Fuller and Gillespie, or what? It will take a Cuban musicologist to sort this, but Cruz does drive home what Cuba (and its strong Afro-Cuban component) meant to Latin jazz.

Whatever the case, the entire recording is full of references that ordinary Cubans or Cuban exiles would understand, especially when the island was in turmoil in the first years of the Revolution. There are complaints about machismo ("Tremendo Guanguanc��"), everyday betrayals ("Es La Humanidad") and the general aggravation of modern life everywhere ("Se Me Perdi�� La Cartera") ("I Lost My Billfold").

But one thing is for sure. There is the band. And plenty of it. Percussion. Trumpets. Reeds. All top-notch players, arrangers (

Bobby Valentin

" data-original-title="" title="">Bobby Valentin,

Charlie Palmieri

piano
1927 - 1988

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Palmieri, Louie Ram��rez,

Tito Puente

drums
1923 - 2000

" data-original-title="" title="">Tito Puente), composers. So much, one might think, that the music almost, but not quite, gives Cruz a run for the listener's attention.

Celia & Johnny
Craft Recordings
2024

Her recording here with Johnny Pacheco is from a different phase of her career. Interestingly, Pacheco, a Dominican percussionist, thought that, if anything, the arrangements and instrumental background to Cruz's previous work were excessive. He said, more or less, let people hear her sing. She does not need all of that. So Celia and Johnny is a marvelous recording on a different label, but of a different kind, made to somewhat different ends, and with contrasting results. It is almost a decade on from Son Con Guaguanc��, and changes were to be expected. But mostly, there is less instrumental background, trademark squealing Latin trumpets aside. Cruz's style has also evolved. Her nearly iconic interjection, ?Az��car!, is now on display. Her penchant for emphatic repeated phrases, somewhere between a riff and a vocal motif is also well developed.

On "Quimbara," Cruz repeats "quimbara" 30 times, at least. Since this often seems excessive, at least for listening, this music was not simply intended for listening. It was especially for dancing, especially salsa dancing, where repeated moves play a prominent role. A sample of the lyrics: "La rumba me est�� llamando...Mi vida es tan solo eso...Si quieres gozar, quieres bailar" ("Rumba is calling me...That is my life...If you want to enjoy life, dance.") The recording was an enormous success. It went gold, and so did tunes like "Lo tuyo es mental." The New York label "Fania" had a monster hit on its hands,

For younger Latinos in the United States, salsa—that you danced, not ate—became a staple of the music diet. Be aware that you are listening to history being made with this recording, not someone trying to cash in on another ethnic buy—before the culture police in Washington DC put it on a new Index of Prohibited Recordings in an attempt to make us all forget that no one owns or creates, much less ranks, a culture, ours included. ?Az��car!

Tracks and Personnel

Son Con Guanguanc��

Tracks: Bemba Colora; Son Con Guanguanc��; Es La Humanidad; Lo Mismo S�� Que No; Oye Mi Consejo; Se Me Perdi�� La Cartera; Tremendo Guanguanc��; Perm��teme; No Hay Manteca; El Cohete; La Adivinanza; Amarra La Yegua.

Personnel: Not Credited (Alegre All Stars)

Celia & Johnny

Tracks: Quimbara; Toro Mata; Vieja Luna; El Paso del Mulo; Tengo El Idde; Lo Tuyo Es Mental; Canto a La Habana; No Mercedes; El Tumba y Celia; El Preg��n del Pescador.

Personnel: Johnny Pacheco, Percussion and Leader; Pappo Luca, Piano; Johnny Rodr��guez; Conga, Ralph Marz��n; H��ctor Zarzuela, Trumpet; Luis Ortiz, Trumpet; V��ctor Venegas, Bass; Charlie Rodr��guez, Tres; Ismael Quintana, Maracas; Johnny Pacheco and Justo Betancourt, Vocal backing.

Celia Cruz �� Bemba Color�� (Remastered 2025)

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Josephine Davies, 3 Cohens, WDR Big ...
< Previous

The Wind
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.