I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Federico Britos, a
musician so versatile and charismatic that he’ll get called for a dance, an
operetta, a cocktail party or simply to have a drink in his endearing company;
to chat in some Miami café. It’s that the legendary Uruguayan violinist speaks
like he plays, and plays with the same ease and freedom as when he’s
fascinating us one of his many anecdotes from his long and varied musical
career........ I met Federico in that problematic and feverish Habana of the
60’s, where apart from his work with the Opera and Ballet orchestras led by
Felix Guerrero, he organized a trio with his compatriot bassist Federico Garcia
Vigil, who in that particular group played the guitar and sang in Portuguese.
On bass they had an American mulato, enigmatic and painteresque, named Mario
Lagarde who had arrived in Cuba around the same time as Chicago saxophonist
Eddie Torriente. People called the trio “Los Federicos”, and in an era of confusion
and absolute disinformation, where our country did not have access to
recordings of any kind, it was through this band that Cuban musicians, who only
knew of the Bossa Nova through references, heard for the first time the
marvelous composistions of Bonfá, Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, João Gilberto and
Roberto Menescal. It can be said that in some way, “Los Federicos” played a
significant role in the unconditional love that some of my contemporaries have
felt for brazilian music since then.
As Bebo Valdés would have had said: “De allá pa’cá mucho ha
llovido” (heretofore there’s been much rain) and from those days to now, that
popular Montevidean musician has been performing chamber music, commercial
sessions and international tours with the great Cachao, even playing in Jazz
clubs, symphonic concerts and recordings with Charlie Haden amongst other
artists of the most diverce musical styles. But above all of these activities,
Federico the Uruguayan (as we’ve always affectionately called him) felt a
particular devotion to Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and The Hot Club of
France. This CD is an original form of tribute to the music of that era and
it’s most significant composers. I say “an original form of tribute,” due to
the fact that the art of the sounds isn’t just notes, but how those notes are
played, and obviously, in this project, this extremely well known music,
frequently revisited throughout the world, is treated in a very particular and
unique way. Duke Ellington, on many occasions, spoke of how a good arrangement
is like a re-composition, and this is precisely the case concerning Hugo
Sánchez and Jaui Schneider, as their arrangements, coupled with the exquisite
interpretation of the participating musicians, gives the impression that
Grappelli was Cuban, Reinhardt Brazilian, and that the Hot Club of France could
very well have been based in Miami’s own Coconut Grove. Bravo Federico!
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