Henry Cole & Villa Locura: Buscando La Vida

Henry Cole is a Grammy award winning drummer, composer, and arranger, who after suffering personal tragedy, relocated to his native Puerto Rico and started rebuilding from zero. Cole was awarded a commission from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation through New Jazz Works grant to create the music for Buscando La Vida. Drawing on a number of styles, and using varied instrumentation, Cole decided to get to work, and create music that was about action, and to show that we can overcome under any circumstances.

The opening “No Estamos Solos� employs the world renowned Metropole Orkest to create a very cinematic piece. There are some experimental moments to be found, and Cole took some chances on tracks like “Y En Suenos Te Persigo�. There is quite a bit of percussion, and even gets a bit Avant garde towards the end. I would venture so far as to say there is a bit of Zappa influence to be found in spots. The use of horns throughout much of the disc provides color, and there are some sneaky guitar moments tucked in the background. A nice example of counterpoint is used during “Dime Donde Estas� and the track builds with varying melodies. The rap during “DeFrente� is quite off putting, but the music really grooves underneath, but is difficult to enjoy. The closing track offers more vocals, but they are not well done and again detract from the music.

I enjoyed the mix instrumentation that is used, but overall the music plays it too safe. I like all the options that were at Cole’s disposal, and for those few exciting moments, the music gets intricate and interesting, but it is too few and far between for this CD to find its way back to the player.

Track Listing

1. No Estamos Solos
2. Y En Suenos Te Persigo
3. Dime Donde Estas
4. H.C.S
5. DeFrente
6. Azul Turquesa
7. Shinobi (He Who Hides)
8. Vueltas

Added: January 3rd 2022
Reviewer: Eric Porter
Score:
Related Link: Artist Website
Hits: 740
Language: english

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