Calle Salud

1	Saludo a Changó 5:16
2	Amor Gigante 2:52
3	Una Rosa de Francia 5:20
4	Maria en la Playa 2:49
5	Versos Para Tí 3:56
6	La Engañadora 4:20
7	Viejos Sones de Santiago Potpourri 4:21
8	El Día Que Me Quieras 4:03
9	Se Perdií la Flauta 4:50
10	Morir de Amor 3:29
11	Lagrimas Negras 3:45
12	Balcón de Santiago 5:40
13	Chan Chan 5:30

Barnes & Noble

Buena Vista's most huggable oldster, Compay Segundo, is not resting on his -- or anyone else's -- laurels -- his first American solo album, CALLE SALUD, is readily distinguished from the work of the Social Club. It's a small group affair, with an unusual triple-clarinet consort (Segundo's first instrument as a teen) lending an antique air to a mix of original and classic numbers. A witness to the birth of urban Cuban music, Segundo brings Afro-Cuban rumba ("Saludo a Changó"), a pinch of country guajira styles, and some Dixieland elements to bear on his own compositions, which ring with his virile baritone. The iconoclastic Segundo plays an axe of his own invention, the armonico, which combines the effects of guitar and trés and deploys his foghorn vocals in harmony with Hugo Garzón, and on one track, with French star Charles Aznavour. Departing from the BVSC formula, Segundo's vintage sound brings new/old resonance to these already classic songs, including Maria Teresa Vera's indomitable "Lagrimas Negras." Which is a feat for an artist a quarter of his age. But Compay's learned enough in his 93 years to include a new version of his megahit "Chan Chan" anyway. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

Compay Segundo is one of the legends of Cuban music. When he started playing the clarinet in the municipal band of Santiago de Cuba as a teenager, the world was just recovering from World War I. Segundo is one of the musicians who shaped the Cuban son style. More recently, he was a major contributor to 1999's surprise hit Buena Vista Social Club. Segundo is a well-respected clarinetist and guitarist, and he's probably been even more widely celebrated in Cuba for his bass vocal harmonies. Calle Salud treats listeners to a truly old-world sound. Segundo and his collaborators reprise tunes in the son, bolero-son, merengue, son-afro, and cha cha styles. Within this incredibly mellow and unfailingly romantic music, the listener will notice the dominance of the clarinet and guitars and the absence of brass, which is typical of pre-1940s son, giving the music a gentle, lyrical feel, yet maintaining a beat that's every bit as rhythmic as modern salsa or samba. For the most part, Segundo's music is for slow dancers, though a son number like "Viejos Sones de Santiago" is as rumba-friendly as timba, the currently-happening Cuban dance music. Philip Van Vleck

Downbeat

A few years before anybody heard of Benny Goodman, Segundo himself played clarinet and his youthful experience on the instrument may have contributed to the skillful arrangements on this disc. Aaron Cohen