| Salswing! | ||||
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| Released | April 16, 2021 (2021-04-16) | |||
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| Length | 44:53 | |||
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| Label | Ruben Blades Productions | |||
| Producer | Roberto Delgado | |||
| Rubén Blades withRoberto Delgado & Orquesta chronology | ||||
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Salswing! (stylized asSALSWING!) is the sixthstudio album by thePanamian singerRubén Blades andRoberto Delgado & Orquesta, released on April 16, 2021, through Rubén Blades Productions.[1] It was produced by Roberto Delgado and features songs by Blades like "Paula C" as well as salsa songs and jazz standards such as "Pennies from Heaven" and "The Way You Look Tonight".
In addition to the album, two companion albums were released,Salsa Plus! on April 23, 2021, andSwing! on April 30, 2021, the former features mostlysalsa songs with a fewswing songs, while the latter contains jazz songs with some salsa songs, both albums are composed by songs fromSalswing! with each of the albums focusing on the songs from its respective genre.[2][3]
At the22nd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, the album wonAlbum of the Year, being the second time Blades and Delgado & Orquestra win the award afterSalsa Big Band in2017, it was also their third nomination for in the category together, additionally,Salsa Plus! wonBest Salsa Album.[4][5]Salswing! also wonBest Tropical Latin Album at the64th Annual Grammy Awards.[6]
The project followed the previous collaborations of Blades withRoberto Delgado & Orquesta in theGrammy-winning albumSalsa Big Band (2017) andMedoro Madera (2018),Salswing! features songs in Spanish and English combining the genres ofsalsa andswing, Blades explained in the album notes that with the album he wanted to further the connections between the two genres, citing as example of connections the numerous collaborations between American and Latin American musicians throughout the years likeMario Bauzá withDizzy Gillespie andMachito withCharlie Parker, he wrote that "with this album I try to continue this relationship, proving that art does not have nationality but represents a spirit that transcends races, geographies and languages", he continued by saying that one of his goals with the album was to "eliminate the stereotype that affirms that we are conditioned to only exist artistically within specific boundaries according to our nationality", hence the collaboration with a Panamanian band as a Panamanian himself to explore genres from different parts of Latin America and United States.[7][8]
Prior to the release of the album, Carlos Pérez Bidó, a member of the orchestra who features in the album playing thetimbales and drums, died, the album was dedicated to him.[7]
The album is composed by eleven tracks ranging from compositions by Blades to jazz and salsa standards, the album starts with "Paula C" and ends with "Tambó", both written by Blades, the former was released in 1978 while the latter was written in 1977 and recorded alongsideWillie Colón the following year.[8] The other songs in the album written by Blades are "Ya No Me Duele", written by Jeremy Bosch and later modified by Blades, "Canto Niche", recorded in the seventees withRay Barretto and originally released under the title "Canto Abacuá", and "Contrabando", recorded in the eightees with the band Son del Solar and also featured in his 1988 albumAntecedente.[7][9] The album contains the instrumental jazz "Do I Hear Four?", composed byTom Kubis alongside theswing standards "Pennies from Heaven", written in 1936 byArthur Johnston andJohnny Burke and first popularized byBing Crosby, "Watch What Happens", originally composed byJacques Demy,Michel Legrand andNorman Gimbel for the 1964 French musical filmThe Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and "The Way You Look Tonight", written byDorothy Fields andJerome Kern and first performed byFred Astaire in the 1936 filmSwing Time.[7][10] Thesalsa songs include the instrumentalmambo "Mambo Gil", written by Gilberto López and recorded byTito Puente, and "Cobarde" by Ray Heredia.[7] The Venezuela Strings Recording Ensemble features in the songs "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Paula C".
All of songs from the album were recorded at Editoris Studios inPanama with the exception of "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Cobarde", which were recorded at Pty Studios by Ignacio Molino and Pablo Governatori, also in Panama, the strings sections by the Venezuela Strings Recording Ensemble were recording at Caña Loca Recording Studios atSan Cristóbal, Venezuela, the vocals were recorded at Flux Studios inNew York City by Molino, Daniel Sanint and Pablo Morales, the album was mixed by Roberto Delgado and Oscar Marín at Prim Valls in Paso Ancho-Chiriquí, Panama and Arenas Music Studios inSan José, Costa Rica, and was mastered by Daniel Ovie inBuenos Aires, Argentina.[7]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| All About Jazz |   [9] |
| PopMatters | 8/10[10] |
Marty Lipp fromPopMatters rated the album an eight out of ten writing that "instead of doing a greatest hits album or issuing a political call to arms in our turbulent times, Blades has released a celebratory album whose aim is to get listeners moving and put smiles on their faces (with an ancillary goal of shaking up preconceptions about the separation between genres)", he also commented that "as it does throughout the album, the orchestra proves itself inventive and constantly interesting".[10] Writing forAll About Jazz, Jim Trageser gave the album four and a half stars out of five calling the album "one of the best big band swing albums in recent memory", adding that "onSalswing! Blades and Delgado capture about as broad a swath of Big Band Era music as any band yet assembled".[9] Elias Leight fromRolling Stone highlighted the song "Tambó", the last track of the album, calling it "ferocious" as well as the best in the album.[3]
All tracks were produced by Roberto Delgado.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Paula C." | Rubén Blades | 5:36 |
| 2. | "Pennies from Heaven" | 3:39 | |
| 3. | "Mambo Gil" | Gilbert Lopez | 3:12 |
| 4. | "Ya No Me Duele" |
| 4:32 |
| 5. | "Watch What Happens" | 2:13 | |
| 6. | "Cobarde" | Ray Heredia | 3:50 |
| 7. | "Do I Hear Four?" | Tom Kubis | 3:42 |
| 8. | "Canto Niche" | Blades | 4:32 |
| 9. | "The Way You Look Tonight" | 3:37 | |
| 10. | "Contrabando" | Blades | 5:42 |
| 11. | "Tambó" | Blades | 4:14 |
| Total length: | 44:53 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Paula C." | Rubén Blades | 5:36 |
| 2. | "Contrabando" | Blades | 5:42 |
| 3. | "Mambo Gil" | Gilbert Lopez | 3:12 |
| 4. | "Tambó" | Blades | 4:14 |
| 5. | "Ya No Me Duele" |
| 4:32 |
| 6. | "Canto Niche" | Blades | 4:32 |
| 7. | "Do I Hear Four?" | Tom Kubis | 3:42 |
| 8. | "Cobarde" | Ray Heredia | 3:50 |
| Total length: | 35:23 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Pennies from Heaven" | 3:39 | |
| 2. | "Ya No Me Duele" |
| 4:32 |
| 3. | "Do I Hear Four?" | Tom Kubis | 3:42 |
| 4. | "Paula C." | Blades | 5:36 |
| 5. | "Watch What Happens" | 2:13 | |
| 6. | "Mambo Gil" | Gilbert Lopez | 3:12 |
| 7. | "The Way You Look Tonight" | 3:37 | |
| 8. | "Cobarde" | Ray Heredia | 3:50 |
| Total length: | 30:35 | ||