Ritmo Loco Quartet

On Wed. Oct. 12 I saw Ritmo Loco play in Arts 111 as part of the Arts & Lecture Series.  They are a band which combines American Jazz with Salsa and other Latino influences.  They are made up of four musicians, Gunnar Biggs on bass, Mike Holguin on percussion, Danny Green plays piano and Dan Reagan plays the trombone.  They also gave a short lecture about their style of music and answered questions.  One of the things that they talked about that is very important in salsa and tango music is clave which makes up the backbone of this style of music.  Because this style of music is very chaotic and improvised by the musicians they have to have a skeletal structure so that they stay together and there is a rhythm, this is why they need clave because it makes this possible.  It is the backbone, to show us what this really means they had us clap with one of their songs to keep the beat.

I thought that the music was really great.  It made me want to get up and dance.  The rhythm and beats were fun and interesting, never dull.  Some of the songs gave a very romantic vibe.  I really liked that the music was interesting and entertaining without lyrics which to me music without lyrics usually equates to elevator music, so that shows how unique the sounds were.  It is too bad that clubs don’t play this kind of music around here.  I would much prefer to go to a dance club with a band who plays original music than hearing the same hip hop/bump n grind music you always hear at the clubs.  This was a fun and interesting event which has opened me up to other types of music.

 

Advertisement