Apparently hearing the sax player ‘King Curtis’ pronounced to his reckoning as “Verckys”, the sax player, orchestra leader, Verckys Kiamuangana Mateta, adopted the moniker by which is he known to the world that knows anything about the remarkable music of the Congo. Congolese bandleader who grew from Franco’s famous TPOK Jazz band I’ve been enjoying his textured harmonies irresistibly buoyant bass runs that create a wall of citrus and berries. So consistently upbeat, in almost belies gravity, negativity. What could be that joyous, that consistently? I refer you to Congolese history.
These guys are such dreamy fans of Latin rhumbas, I bet there must have been some interesting exchange during that Rumble in the Jungle concert (Ali vs. Foreman) in Kinshasa in 1974. Rather than the obvious interplay between say Franco and Tabu Ray, and James Brown, which can only have been fascinating, I’d have be particularly interested to know what the exchange was like with the Fania All Stars from the Puerto Rico, via New York. Did Johnny Pacheco and Willie Colon jam out with these Congolese bands, with such complementary orchestral sensibilities? Hmm.
OK. I just got sucked into Youtube candy and watched Hector Lavoe sing “La Canta Mi Gente” there in Zaire in 1974. My goodness, they were all up there. Larry Harlow on the keys, Ishmael Miranda, Cheo Feliciano on backing pipes, and those Bobby Valentine bass lines could be the mirror image of those Verckys’ bass lines, just strip back the cherubic, high-neck repeating delayed guitar-crystal of the Congolese and front end the congas and punchy El Bario, keys and allow for dalliances in the minor modes.
My mom paid us a visit today. I kept my distance. Spoke to her through a mask. She was only dropping things off. A wonderful drop off, actually. Virtual hug. Wave bye, bye. I think it’s best. This virus has a way of mercilessly dethroning blowhards. Best to err on the side of caution. We all know America isn’t really prepared.
Sunday 03/08/20
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