This is an extraordinary record for an extraordinary price
07/07/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album includes most of the work of this extraordinary figure of cuban music. Not only was Bola de Nieve a virtuoso jazz piano player and a flawleess and very creative singer, he was also a black openly gay man courageously singing in a time when nobody even dared to do such a thing. But it is his true muscicianship that really stands out. His harmonic vocabulary is astaunding. He creates beautiful atmospheres sometimes romantic, sometimes nostalgic, and always touching. His versions of african lullabies are legendary; nobody could sing to childrenn like he did. Unique, absolutely unique. He also spans the range from the most yorubAN tribal arragements as in "Babalu" to very advanced jazz approaches that still ring daring and avan garde after decades of his death. But the best thing about this set is the price two unfrogettables CD's for less than $15; a statement of how understimated this incredible man was and still is."