Chavez Ravine
Ry Cooder might have been tempted to bill this as the Chavez Ravine Social Club. After generating such popular and critical interest in Cuban music of decades past with theBuena Vista Social Club, Cooder applied a similar approach closer to home, extending his fascination with the Mexican-American culture that flourished in 1940s and '50s Los Angeles. The result is an CD that sounds like it's aspiring to be something far more ambitious: a DVD, a theatrical production, even a time machine. Cooder and a cast of seminal Chicano artists present a song cycle that conjures an era of UFOs, the Red Scare, and political machinations that leveled the Chavez Ravine barrio to lure the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. In his celebration of a vibrant community that doesn't know it's on the verge of displacement, Cooder enlistsThee Midnightersvocalist Little Willie G. (whose songwriting collaboration withLos Lobos's David Hidalgo on "Onda Callejara" highlights the album). and Pachuco patriarchs Don Tosti andLalo Guerrero, with the latter reviving his dancefloor favorite "Los Chucos Suaves." The accordion ofFlaco Jimenezadds conjunto flavor to "Barrio Viejo." Throughout the album, Cooder plays a typically tasteful, understatedly virtuosic guitar, assumes a variety of vocal roles--including a coolChet Bakerhomage in duet with pianist Jacky Terrason on "In My Town"--and provides the provocative social context.--Don McLeeseMore Ry CooderBuena Vista Social Club(producer and performer)Mambo Sinuendo(with Manuel Galbán)A Meeting by the River(with V.M. Bhatt)Paradise and Lunch(solo)Music by Ry Cooder(film music compilation)Into the Purple Valley(solo)