Oasis

Rate It! Avg: 3.5 (7 ratings)
ALBUM INFORMATION

Total Tracks: 10   Total Length: 54:23

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Oasisby Ricky Gonzales

chumedina

The song 'Mi Rumba Es Candela" is woth 5 stars.

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Ricky can do better!

irvin

One more in the thousands of DOA (Dead On Arrival) salsa recordings coming out of New York in the last 20 years. Like many before him, Ricky commits the cardinal sin of inviting "big" (at least in salsa musicians' circles!) names with the hope that their mere presence will bring quality to a bad selection of tunes and an even worse series of arrangements. Ricky is an excellent side musician, but not very good at producing records, so I'd advise people to listen carefully to the samples on this album before downloading the songs. There is nothing but "formula salsa" in Ricky's album. I give it one star, with the hope that, next time, Ricky will forget about the names and concentrate on the music. There is no other road to success. Irvin

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They Say All Media Guide

For his debut record, New York pianist/bandleader Ricky Gonzalez put together a who’s who list of musicians, including Dave Valentin, José “El Canario” Alberto, Orestes Vilato, and the beyond famous Ray Barretto. Even the supporting musicians are of top-drawer “first-call” status, like Jimmy Sabater, Luis Quintero, Marc Quiñones, Johnny Pacheco, and more. A consummate musician himself, Gonzalez has backed industry greats like Ray Barretto, Tito Nieves, and “El Canario” for years before. The arrangements and selections on the disc are unfortunately not nearly as all-star as the cast. The majority of the record feels like salsa as usual. The performances are consistently fantastic, but one might think that with players as proficient as those that Gonzalez assembled, he might try some things that a lesser band could not handle. Unfortunately, he stuck to standard-issue club-style salsa. Ricky Gonzalez’s Oasis brings to mind an age-old adage that is applicable to many different situations (when slightly modified): “It’s not the band that counts, it’s how you use it.” – Evan C. Gutierrez

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