Album Review: Blues for Ochún from Benjamin Lapidus

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Album:  Blues for Ochún
Artist:  Benjamin Lapidus
Label:  Tresero Productions
Website:  https://benjaminlapidus.com

Blues for Ochún from multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Lapidus explores the fusion of jazz-inspired grooves with Latin rhythms and tribal spirituals soaked in Aftro-Cuban accents.  Comprised of an assortment of duos, trios, and quartets, Lapidus takes listeners across uplifting vistas and exotic soundscapes.

The chanting sonorous of vocalist Jadele McPherson echoes hypnotically across the title track and the subsequent track "3 for Ochún," stoking the soothing swells formed by Lapidus' guitar strings.   Lapidus tells in the liner notes that the two tracks "are meant to be heard one after the other, as one long piece."  He goes on to describe, "In 1997, I first traveled to the shrine of Cuba's patron saint La Virgin de la Caridad del Cobre, who is syncretized with the orisha, [the] Yoruba ancestry/spirit [of] Ochún."

"Cachita" is characterized as a Cuban guaracha in the liner notes, written by Rafael Hernandez.  The cha-cha shimmy promotes a joyful mood as Hector Torres' bongo sails eloquently across the mosaic patterns of Lapidus' guitar chords.  "I Finally Realized" combines Cuban rhumba, son cubano, changüí, and jazz, and features Lapidus on vocals telling the tale of the heartache when a relationship breaks up, admitting, "I finally realized that you'll never love me, I saw the pictures of you both online, having such a good time... I guess you got just what you wanted, and now we're really through, I finally realized that you'll never love me."

Blues for Ochún celebrates the various styles of Latin music from guaracha to rhumba, featuring a variety of traditional Latin instruments such as congas, bongo, guagua, quinto, timbales, maracas, campana, cajón, monte, guayo, güira, and güiro.  The authenticity in Lapidus' music is ageless.

Musicians:
Benjamin Lapidus - vocals, guitar, Cuban Tres
Jorges Bringas - bass
Paul Carlon - tenor and baritone sax, flute
Manuel Alejandro Carro - congas, bongo, guagua, quinto, timbales, maracas, campana, and güiro
Ray "Chino" Diaz - conga, güira, tambora
Mauricio Herrera - batá and chekere, bongo, campana, cajón, güiro, maracas, congas, monte, guayo, and vocals
Willie Martinez - drums
Jadele McPherson - vocals
Hector Torres - bongo solo on "Cachita"

 

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