With Billboard, The Miami Herald & More Now Adding To The Praise For New Album United We Swing, GRAMMY Winners Spanish Harlem Orchestra Continue To Spearhead A Renaissance of The Classic Salsa Sound

Bandleader Oscar Hernández & His Razor-Sharp Orchestra Of Veterans From New York’s Most Legendary Salsa Outfits Will Perform At Summer Stage in New York On August 4th

“In the late ’60s and early ’70s, before there were a half-dozen Latin charts and twice as many subgenres, the essence of Latin music, at least on the East Coast, was salsa. With musicians and ideas traveling back and forth on a kind of San Juan/New York shuttle, the heart of salsa was Spanish Harlem, where Afro-Caribbean rhythms blended with the beat of the streets and the call of the dancehall. Oscar Hernandez brings that sound and spirit back without kneeling to nostalgia or compromising with current trends. The fundamentals are all here: clearly enunciated piano vamps, chant-and-response vocals, trumpets and trombones blazing upfront and the rhythms of congas, bongos, timbales and maracas. The SHO’s elegant yet muscular ensemble playing makes this classic style sound as vivid and magnetic as ever.”- Billboard – 06/02/07 – album review

“In New York, the genre’s birthplace, classic salsa has been making a comeback with increasingly popular salsa nights at several clubs and a cadre of fine musicians sworn to old school musical values, led by the Grammy winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra”¦ when Spanish Harlem Orchestra, with veteran session musicians playing classic, old school salsa, beat out longtime commercial stars [Marc] Anthony, [Victor] Manuelle and [Gilberto] Santa Rosa in 2004 to win the Grammy for Best Salsa Album, it stunned the Latin music world. There are raves for their recently released third CD, United We Swing, with mostly original songs boasting classic salsa style, ferocious musicianship, sophisticated arrangements and exuberant danceability”¦Spanish Harlem Orchestra’s recreation of music from that special time is wowing audiences from Prague to Memphis” – Miami Herald, “Weekend” COVER STORY – June 1 200

“When the musical term “salsa” comes up, the name Paul Simon doesn’t usually follow. But that’s just one of the delights of Spanish Harlem Orchestra’s irresistible “United We Swing’, a CD that features a brassy Latin take on Simon’s “Late in the Evening’ with the singer himself on vocals. But it’s not just a matter of stunt casting. Featuring some of the best salsa players around, the Grammy-winning 13-piece outfit also lives up to the disc’s title on such percussive, horn-driven numbers as Ahora Si, Soy Candela and Plena con Sabor. In an era when reggaeton too often defines Latin music, it’s good to hear these guys flying the flag for old-school East Coast salsa. Baile!”-Ft. Worth Star-Telegram- Top Critic Pick (“Fab Five’) of the week

- – - – - -

Here is a Sample of Other Recent Reviews of United We Swing, Calling The Album:

“a non-stop volley of salsa dura that couldn’t possibly be improved upon”

“they’re the virtuosic journeymen who are one of New York’s great musical resources”¦ This salsa big band was formed by musicians who backed up salsa’s big names – Tito Puente, Hector Lavoe, Ruben Blades, Celia Cruz”¦ [holds] on to all the joys of salsa’s 1960’s and 70’s heyday… The music that the orchestra’s members helped create merges ferocious Afro-Caribbean rhythms, arrangements that rev up hard-riffing horns and modern jazz harmonies, vocals that can be suavely romantic or flamboyantly improvisatory, and lyrics that encompass both the pleasures of the dance floor and the pride and aspirations of the barrio ”¦For the Spanish Harlem Orchestra classic salsa is still here and now”¦on “United We Swing”¦This band reminds you of the excitement that is central to the salsa orchestra”¦ in intricacies of percussion and the breadth of Oscar Hernandez’s arrangements”¦ the record is all righteous pleasure” – New York Times

“double-dares you not to move. In “United We Swing,” the Grammy-winning group brings back “salsa dura” – that exciting fusion of Caribbean rhythms and big-band sound that blared out of Big Apple barrios in the 1970s. The album is a throwback to that intoxicating time of Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz, Ruben Blades and others: blasting brass, outbursts of “wepa!” and, above all, music that moved the audience. Although the feel is old-school, most of the tracks on the album are, in fact, originals played by veteran musicians who worked with the great salseros of the 70s. The songs are arranged wonderfully by bandleader and keyboardist Oscar Hernandez”¦ “United We Swing,” is instant joy, a delirious good time”¦ man does it sound good.” – Associated Press

“”¦ with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra’s new album, “United We Swing” all of the elements of the New York Afro-Caribbean sound come together in a blockbuster album that will please serious listeners and dancers alike”¦the Spanish Harlem Orchestra has evolved into the leading light of the salsa reconstruction movement”¦. “United We Swing” is a celebration of the different musical and cultural motifs that make big-band mambo/ salsa so exhilarating to dedicated and casual followers”¦ The celebratory mood continues with the nostalgic “En el Tiempo del Palladium (In the Times of the Palladium),” a tune that explains SHO’s dedication to the versatility and swing of the bands that played the Latin club that ruled 1950s and ’60s New York. ”¦If you came here to dance, then “Sácala Bailar (Take Her Out to Dance)” and “Salsa Pa’l Bailador (Salsa for the Dancer)” are sensual and tightly choreographed, although just listening to Hernández’s steady lyricism on the piano is a cerebral experience. The album has a strong Puerto Rican/Nuyorican feel as well, a tribute to the hybrid identity alluded to by the group’s affiliation with the Spanish Harlem neighborhood”¦ “Late in the Evening’ featuring Paul Simon, is”¦ bluesy, fun, and tells a story, succeeding where many bilingual salsa songs have not” – Newsday

“[On United We Swing], the 13-piece collective delivers a non-stop volley of pure neo-retro salsa dura that couldn’t possibly be improved upon. Led by pianist Oscar Hernández, SHO takes its cues from the heyday of Tito Puente, Machito and the other revered Latino bandleaders of the mid- to late-20th century. The coordinated horn blasts snap in and out with regularity, the percussion is ceaselessly dizzying, the nuanced solos impressive and the vocalists all engaging. Most of the tunes here are originals, and the arrangements, by Hernández, vocalists Willie Tórres, Ray de la Paz and others, are polished to perfection”¦this is Latin dance music the likes of which is rarely heard anymore, and that is worthy of celebration.” – All Music Guide

“’United We Swing’ brims with 13 songs tailor-made for the dance floor. Listen to “En el tiempo del Palladium” and move those hips like it’s 1957 and you’re at the famed New York City nightclub” – New York Post

“”¦good ol salsa is back”¦ city readies for a rumbero summer”¦ a year in which “salsa dura’ is making its big comeback. Next week, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the New York Grammy-winning 13-piece salsa dura group is releasing its enthralling new cd” – New York Daily News

“Tired of the same old salsa grooves? Take heart. There’s a new CD that captures the magic of the New York salsa scene of the 1970s when Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe, Willie Colon, Ruben Blades and others lured dancers onto the floor with innovative arrangements and impressive musicianship. The Spanish Harlem Orchestra’s new recording, United We Swing, is a superbly done album that puts salsa back on the right beat.

Acclaimed pianist, arranger and producer Oscar Hernandez directs a band of top musicians who worked during the heyday of the New York salsa scene with such greats as Puente, Cruz, Lavoe, Colon, Blades & Ray Barretto. The recording, to be released May 16, features 13 songs that celebrate the Afro-Cuban, Puerto Rican and other Latin American rhythms at the root of salsa. En El Tiempo Del Palladium (In the Time of the Palladium) is an ode to the famous New York club and the rhythms played there. Plena Con Sabor (Plena With Flavor) celebrates the Puerto Rican genre people carried from the island to New York neighborhoods. The recording ends with Late in the Evening/Tarde En La Noche, a bilingual number featuring its composer, singer/songwriter Paul Simon. Like most of the other songs on the album, it has Hernandez’s classy and brassy arrangement. Accessible and danceable, this great salsa ensemble’s music really swings. No se lo pierda. Don’t miss it.” – Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“EditorsPick / Very Highly Recommended: The highly anticipated new Spanish Harlem Orchestra release is here, and it’s a salsa blitzkrieg. This is the real deal, folks – the fire that burns in the heart of Latin dance music. Get it *now*”¦ Oscar Hernandez’s beautiful creation cruises into its third album, United We Swing. And while there’s a sense of mission in the orchestra ”” to preserve the glories of what happened in New York and Puerto Rico in the late “60s and 70s ”” the music is so strong and so alive, that it hardly feels like a preservation project”. – The Descarga Review

• Ricardo Salinas Breaks Ground for What Will Be the Most Modern Television Studio in Latin America – Mexico City
• Brazil replaces Mexico as China’s top market in Latin America and boosts its surplus as well.
• Ana Isabelle de Puerto Rico is chosen ¡Viva el Sueño! Latin music superstar
• Bilingual ballots may be coming to Hall – Growing Latino population could require voting material be available in Spanish – Gainesville, Georgia
• It is Better to “Spic”? When Were Ricans Ever the Model Minority?
• When Fidel Castro Dictated to the Old U.S. Media
• LatAm Immigrants Are Changing Spain, Sociologist Says
• Pro-Castro mob attacks spouse of top Cuban blogger – Yoani Sánchez
• Efrain’s Corner: A Response to….”Puerto Ricans in New York Struggling…Still” Comment
• Puerto Ricans in New York Struggling…Still – Puerto Ricans are some of the most prominent figures in New York politics and culture, so some people are surprised when they hear that, overall, Puerto Ricans are among the poorest and least educated New Yorkers. Almost a third in New York are living in poverty.
• Democrats and Republicans deployed their heavy artillery Thursday in a heated congressional hearing to debate a bill seeking to end the travel ban to Cuba.
• The current global crisis will cause the number of poor people in Latin America to rise by 9 million to 189 million this year, the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said in a report presented on Thursday.
• Part of a Cuban blogger’s essay that advocates lifting the ban on U.S. travel to Cuba was read aloud at a House Foreign Affairs committee hearing. – Yoani Sánchez
• Celebrate Puerto Rican Heritage at the Comité Noviembre Puerto Rican Artisans & Health Fair – Saturday, Nov. 23 – Bronx, NYC
• Obama answers top Cuban blogger – Yoani Sanchez
• The leader of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Latin American division, Vicente Trius, is leaving the company after having served less than five months in the position.
• Beginning with the 2009-2010 season, Terra will stream select games live throughout Latin America, in both Spanish and Portuguese
• The Cuban band Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro can legitimately claim to be inventors of salsa. But it last played in the United States when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, and there was no telling when it might be able to return — until the very slightest hint of a thaw in cultural relations between the United States and Cuba quietly brought the band to New York early this month.
• Puerto Rican, Latino Clergy, Theology Professors, Community Members To Condemn Brutal Hate Killing of Gay Puerto Rican Man
• 70% of Cuba’s Farmland Threatened by Erosion