Basin Street Records
1999
Los Hombres Calientes, Volume 2
About This Album
On their second effort, Los Hombres Calientes exchange bassists (David Pulphus for Edwin Livingston), and Ronald Markham shows up on Hammond B-3 and keyboards. The record, a 71-minute, 18-cut musical treatise, features a much larger complement of vocalists and percussionists, and even a string quartet on three selections. Hombres Calientes, Vol. 2 also draws from a larger palette of Latin rhythms. The Yoruban chants on the trio of tunes near the end of the recording are most convincing -- "Alabi Oyo E," "Suite Obatala," and "Vamos a la Cima," all composed by percussionist Bill Summers, burst with emotional discourse. "Cuban Suite," penned by trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, moves from a slow rhumba (featuring cascading piano by Victor Atkins, III) to a classical, church-like montuno figure and, finally, to a much hotter comparsa with rollicking trumpet, piano, and simmering percussion. "A Comer y a Descargar" is an out-and-out jam, with Mayfield leading the charge. "Fongo Sunk," a piece from drummer Jason Marsalis, is a no-frills piano/percussion workout. There's also a hot take on the old Roberta Flack hit "Feel Like Makin' Love.
Track List (try tracks 1,5,8,16 and 18)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.