Ray Vega

I was watching CNN tonight and was blown away to see the great Cuban trumpet master Chocolate appearing and playing beautifully on a TV commercial for Infiniti cars. The commercial was completely in Spanish.....the person speaking during the spot sounded as if he was from Spain. The entire vibe of the spot was very European. Anyway, if you see this commercial please realize that the trumpet player is actually playing and he's one of the great masters of Cuban trumpet playing......Alfredo Armenteros "Chocolate".
Peace-RV

bandman

Ray,

Where can I get CD's of Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros? I went to several online sources but they all say they no longer have this item when you get to check out.

I've never heard more than the few clips I heard looking for him last night, but if you say he's good I'll go out and spend a few dollars on a couple CD's to give him a listen. I love Latin/Cuban jazz and the short clips I heard last night sound exactly like what I love to hear.

I am also curious about what you can tell me about Arsenio Rodríguez and his big band? I know that Chocolate played in that band.

talcito

You may want to check out Descarga.com: Home

If you do a search for Chocolate Armenteros on that site you will find many of his best recordings.

Thru the same same site you could obtain Arsenio's recordings.. This was one of the first bands "Choco" played in professionaly. It featured a 3 man trumpet section and a style that is as "hip" today as it was in the mid-forties.

Chocolate Armenteros style is what made me fall in love with trumpet playing when I was 12 years old. As much as I listen to the greats of trumpet playing in all the genres of music I always end up listening to some Chocolate recording to this day. He just sings thru his horn in such a way that even non-musicians could identify him with just one or two notes out of his horn.

Ray did an excellent interview with him a couple of years ago when he was being honored at the New York Brass Conferance.....Perhaps copies of that Brass Conferance publication are still available?

Oscar