Y Los Piratas del Flamenco

1	Hubo un Lugar 5:17
2	Rosa Para Julia 5:01
3	En el Corazó de Pescaderías 6:31
4	Gitanos de la Cava 5:51
5	Pirata de Lucia 5:08
6	Donnalli 3:48
7	Monk Soniquete 4:10
8	Al Abordaje 8:09
9	Obsesion 9:05

Barnes & Noble

Nuyorican percussionist and flugelhorn player Jerry Gonzalez was a flamenco long before he set foot in Spain. The musical nomad, who has followed his own occasionally self-destructive muse through the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Manny Oquendo, and the famed Fort Apache, washed up in Madrid in 2000. Gonzalez's gaunt mien aptly filled in the blanks supplied by his record of no-shows and erratic performances, and his stock had dwindled in New York -- but in Spain, he was a star, thanks to the electrifying performances in Fernando Trueba's film Calle 54. Falling in with a group of flamencos, Gonzalez established himself as a first-call -- only-call --trumpeter in Gypsy music (and beyond: He appeared on flamenco-pop star Alejandro Sanz's album No Es Lo Mismo). This recording, released in Europe in 2001 but unreasonably held up in the States, shows just how well he's acclimated to la marcha madrileño. Adaptations of Charlie Parker ("Donnali") and Thelonious Monk ("Monk's Soniquete") add crossover weight to some very flamenco percussion jams; the "Soniquete" is a duet between trumpet and cajón, for example. Gonzalez's bass-playing brother Andy appears on "Obsesión," along with the vocalist El Cigala, who would go on to record with Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes on Lágrimas Negras. Gonzalez's cool, Miles-toned sound makes for an interesting foil to the intensity of this music, and the artistic and cultural give-and-take is a pleasure to hear. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

Trumpeter/percussionist Jerry Gonzalez is best known for playing Afro-Cuban jazz and leading the Fort Apache Band. In the early 21st century he lived in Spain and was among the first players to explore fusing together jazz with flamenco music. The innovative new music and his appearance in the film Calle 54 made him a celebrity in Spain and led to a great deal of work. This set was initially released in Europe in 2002 before it came out in the United States two years later. Gonzalez's trumpet teams up with Nino Josele's flamenco guitar on most of the selections and in general, the mixture works. The unusual rhythmic music is fairly accessible, flamenco renditions of Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee" (renamed "Donnali") and "Monk's Soniquete" ("Monk's Dream"), which has Gonzalez overdubbing several trumpets. There are some slow moments (particularly the overlong percussion duet "Al Abordaje"), and Diego El Cigala's two exotic vocals (especially on "Gitanos de la Cava") may take some getting used to, but overall this is intriguing music. Scott Yanow