El Sentimiento, La Voz, y La Guitarra

Jose Feliciano

The Prehistory of a Master Vocalist

From his earliest performing opportunities, the blind singer and guitarist Jose Feliciano sought crossover success. While attending high school in the Bronx, the Puerto Rico–born musician spent his evenings sitting in at Greenwich Village folk clubs (such as Gerde's Folk City, where he was discovered). He eventually dropped out of school, signed with RCA Records in 1964, and on his first recordings, he sings the gimmicky "Hi-Heeled Sneakers" and "Everybody Do the Click" and other pop songs, in English.

Shortly after that, Feliciano changed course, focusing on the pathos-filled ballads and folk songs he'd heard as a youngster. He made a series of recordings aimed at the Latin market, sung in Spanish, which are not his best-known titles—but in terms of pure vocal expression, works like El sentimiento, la voz, y la guitarra rank among his finest. Where the early novelty hits feel forced (if not totally contrived), these tunes show an exquisite sense of timing. After the slow, shoe-gazing tempo of "Sin luz" settles in, for example, Feliciano uses slight inflections and curlicue turns to conjure an idyllic courtship scene—he's the ardent young man cooing softly to his lover while playing guitar in the park.

Feliciano is obviously comfortable singing in Spanish, but the mastery here goes beyond language: All he has to do is launch a pained line, and the choked-up tone of his voice amplifies the feeling. El sentimiento suggests Feliciano was wise to seek his roots: Once he got control of the unhurried boleros and undulating son montuno rhythms that are the cornerstones of Latin pop, he became the rare singer who could transform any old song of seduction (like the Doors' "Light My Fire," his biggest hit) into a captivating, highly personal plea.

Genre: Vocals
Released: 1967, RCA
Key Tracks: "La copa rota," "Lagrimas negras"
Catalog Choice: Alive Alive O, Vol. 1.
Next Stop: Beny Moré: Y hoy como ayer
After That: Sergio Mendes: Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66
Book Pages: 274–275

Comments:

#1 from Marc, France - 05/09/2009 8:47

El Sentimiento, La Voz, y La Guitarra It’s a 60s album by Jose dedicates to the latin-bolero with his personal blues influence and great guitar techincs, Nice and much popular in latin america in 60s, but Jose is more and more great in his english and live performances, especially I advice his 1969-1970 albums like Fireworks, 10to23 and Alive Alive-o! And some 70s RCA albums like Memphis Menu, And The Feelings Good and Sweet Soul music.
Notable his last instrumental album called “Djangoisms” released in april 2009 only for digital download by his personal WebSite, dedicates to guitar hero Django reinhardt, where Jose shown how great He’s like guitarist, sure the most incredible living guitarist now

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