Colons & Trombones

Johnnny Colon Y Su Orchestra : Mira Ven Aca
taken from the album "Boogaloo Blues" on Cotique (1967)

Willie Colon : Che Che Cole
taken from the album "Cosa Nuestra" on Fania (1971)

The big bash was all gravy. Word to everyone who showed up. No line around the corner or nuthin, but folks were having a good time, sweating and dancing were abundant, and I sold my first copies of the E.P. - woohoo! I'll get sound clips up here soon. I spun a really fun and lengthy tag team set with Tito Rock and got to go back and forth on funk sides for a minute with Pandamonium Jones. The only bummer was discovering a raging snowstorm in Bar Eleven. But it's New York City, so what should I expect? I got to see friends, drink sparks (ehhh...), and started putting my budding CDJ skills to work- don't worry, vinyl will never be forgotten. These two unrelated Colons (pronounced to rhyme with "trombone", not like the organ at the top of your rectum) have absolutely no connection to the party. Some combination of high temperatures, the stickiness of my body (even 5 minutes post-cold-shower), and the laziness of a sleep-in sunday spent laying in the grass has put me in the mood to hear horns.

Despite what Allmusic says, I still think this album from Johhny is hot. He makes a sparse version of the "New York Sound" that still hits solidly to me. It's sharp where it has to be and loose around the edges. The claps are crisp, the piano has jump in it, and I love the syncopated vocals. Simple and spacious. It would be cool to do a dubbed out version of this tune, maybe that's just me though.

Anyone with their first foot in the door on latin music knows of Willie Colon. A staple of the 70's scene, he made the trombone about as gansta as it ever will be. On some of his other LP covers he's depicted in a police wanted poster, as a Wild West villian, and chilling on a Rolls Royce like Al Capone. "Che Che Cole" is a traditional West African rhythm that's been arranged, tweaked, and remixed in funky ways a bunch of times by African and Latin cats alike. Most recently (already a couple years old), Antibalas did a version available on 12" that's highly recommended.