Tracklist:
1 Franchando - Emilio Morales
2 Pan Con Timba - Aldo Lopez Gavilan
3 Lazara Y Georgina - Rodolfo Argudín
4 Requiem Para Un Pianista - Tony Perez (2)
5 La Flauta Mágica - Lázaro Valdés
6 Dinga Dongo Dunga - Ernán López-Nussa
7 Si Me Comprendieras - Rolando Luna
8 La Mulata Rumbera - Roberto Carcassés
9 Scherezada - Alexis Bosch
10 Pa' Gozar - Miguel Angel De Armas


Frank Emilio - Amor & Piano
Bis Music • Cuba • 2004 • CD, Album • Cat#: CD 298 • EAN: 8500001569787


Frank Emilio made one of his most iconic contributions to music by writing piano manuals in braille. But it is for his pianism for which he is best-known. He brought the mathematical precision of Bach together with the impressionistic brush-strokes of Ravel and the rhythmic mastery of Afro-Cuban and Afro-American jazz into a volcanic mix of music. Frank Emilio is also [along with Peruchín] the proverbial bridge between the old soneros and danzón masters such as Bebo Valdés and the modern musicians such as Chucho Valdés, Emiliano Salvador, Hilario Durán, Ernán López-Nussa, Emilio Morales, Roberto Carcassés and virtually every Cuban pianist who plays today, including the expatriates in the United States of America. In fact Chucho Valdés once said [and he still probably believes] that: “Frank Emilio is a pianist who has influenced every subsequent generation, and those to come, because he’s kept up to date. You can’t talk about Frank Emilio in the past because he’s still very much present.” That was in 1998.

It’s still true today although much of the world may seem to have lost its taste for the eloquent, the poetic and the eternal. Not in Cuba, however, which remains the strongest advocate for Cuban art – especially music. Those wonderful folks at Bis Music in Havana proved this [once again] with a breathtaking tribute to Frank Emilio entitled Amor & Piano. The original idea for this production came from Tony Pinelli, who also wrote booklet notes to the edition, helmed by Emilio Vega as director of music, with Alina Calleja acting as production executive. The genius of this production is quite elusive; none of the songs have been written by Frank Emilio, and yet his spirit seems to hover like a great muse through every rhapsodic phrase; in the harmonic conception and through the rhythmic extravaganza that laces the music of each of the ten songs.


Barcodes & Other Identifiers:
Barcode: 8500001569787