CD REVIEW: Zemog gives Latin rhythms an avant-garde jazz spin

By Diana Nollen

Which came first - Latin beats or avant-garde jazz. Doesn't matter. What matters is what happens when Zemog, El Gallo Bueno scrambles them together.

The band whose name means “The Good Rooster” puts a fiery spin on leader Abraham Gomez-Delgado's Puerto Rican roots and his love for jazz experimentations. It's an interesting mix of rumbas, salsas and squawks.

Latin lovers will hear lots of music to embrace on the band's latest CD, “Nueva York Sessions,” but they'll also hear the occasional cacophony of blistering horns and reeds over primal percussion.

Layered with raucous vocals, the overall tone is raw and riveting. Touches of humor are tossed in, as well, beginning with Zemog, which is Gomez spelled backward.

When the instrumentalists join Zemog/Gomez in singing, they create a street-corner sound where the unison isn't quite unison, but is joyous and free. It's very Caribbean and sunny - the perfect antidote to a gloomy April showers day.

The first track, “El Gordo Rojo,” begins with nice horn and unison vocals before the sax tears off on an improv streak, putting the modern spin on the Latin traditions. The sound then moves smoothly from tonal to atonal before drifting off to silence.

I like a little melody with my jazz, which “El Limon” delivers through a beautiful trumpet improv and wind syncopation layered over salsa percussion.

“Come” breaks out the party saxes before “Assimilate/Asimilar” revs up the tempo to fast and furious, with a sort of breathless urgency in the spoken line before the trumpet cuts loose.

The most interesting track of the dozen is also the shortest, at just over 1 minute. The instruments join voices on “Matteo El Limonero” to sound like a solemn church organ, with tight horn harmonies before breaking into birdlike trills, then back to the organ, leading into an exotic light lilt before the horns kick up the heat on “Madita Cancion.”

The disc weaves seductively through various Latin styles before ending with an animated experiment in honks, crashes and clashes, including a few rooster squawks on the appropriately titled “Animate.”

Experience the band live Friday night (4/9/10) at CSPS in Cedar Rapids. The concert will no doubt give you something to crow about.

FAST TAKEInformation: www.legionarts.org/music/Zemog.htm, (319) 364-1580 or www.myspace.com/zemogelgallobueno

Title: “Nueva York Sessions”

Artist: Zemog, El Gallo Bueno

Label: Mr. Bongo Records

Performance: 8 p.m. Friday, April 9, 2010, at CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids

Admission: $14 in advance at www.midwestix.com or $18 at the door