Lo ultimo en la avenida

Rivera, Ismael con Kako y Su Orquesta

album cover

A Peak of Vocal Percussion

On this blistering date from 1971, Puerto Rican sonero Ismael Rivera sings like a drummer. That's a good thing. Though he tells his share of stories about good times in the neighborhood, Rivera spends just as much energy tossing out percussive vocal lines—on several of these songs, including the catcalling "El cumbanchero," he transforms his voice into an extra drum. His crisp, crackling attack recalls the hard slap of the bongo, and his perfectly placed accents propel the music in exactly the same way a great conguero (like Potato Valdes here) does. Parts of "La cumbita" find Rivera playfully imitating the rhythm players behind him, improvising as he goes along, thinking like a percussionist the whole time.

Rivera did play ancillary percussion on many of his recordings, and of all the great vocalists to emerge from Puerto Rico, he's the one with the strongest connection to rhythm. That is partly attributable to his background: Rivera grew up in Santurce, and among his neighbors was a percussionist and future bandleader, Rafael Cortijo. The two learned the island's traditional bomba and plena rhythms together, and later collaborated in one of the hottest Latin bands of the early '60s, Cortijo y Su Combo. This release shows that Rivera's exacting sense of timing got better over the years: In front of timbale master Francisco Bastar's hardworking New York band, Rivera tears through these infectious tunes like the Charlie Parker of salsa—his ad-libs sound almost too inventive, and too relentless, to have been made up on the fly. But spontaneous they are—the handiwork of a singer who sends tricky polyrhythms flying through the music at odd angles, just like a drummer.

Genre: World, Puerto Rico
Released: 1971, Fania
Key Tracks: "El cumbanchero," "La cumbita," "El truquito."
F.Y.I.: The legendary Cuban singer Beny Moré named Rivera one of his all-time favorites.
Catalog Choice: Cortijo y Su Combo (featuring Ismael Rivera): Baile con Cortijo y Su Combo
Next Stop: Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez: El conde
After That: Roberto Roena y Su Apollo Sound: 4
Book Pages: 646–647