Raúl Planas / Cuba / plus three versions of "Juancito Trucupey"

The above are early recordings of Raúl Planas with his Orq.
Includes three boleros with the Orq. of 'Rolando Aguilo'

Three different versions of "Juancito Trucupey".

All sung by the late great 'Raúl Planas', with 3 different bands.
Which version do you like the best?

#1. Raúl Planas with Orq. De "Niño Rivera"
1957-'59


#2. Raúl Planas with Conjunto Rumbavana
1980's


#3. A version recorded in N.Y.C. in 2002,
before he died.

Raúl Planas - "La Vida Es Un Sueño" - Cuba Leo Castañeda

"La Vida Es Un Sueño"
'Raúl Planas'
Poorly chosen stereotypical cover design.
A photo of Raúl would have been more respectful.

(As MP3's here)

Raúl Planas died in 2001, these were most likely recorded between 1995 and 2001.
I had never heard these recordings by him, the back up band is not listed.

The tresero is excellent, taking numerous solos and playing without any bullshit "tricks" or fancy "embellishments"... his playing is "simple", "incredibly flavorful" and "tasteful"!
The bongocero also plays in a style I like, "incredibly flavorful", "clean" and "tasteful", again without any bullshit "tricks" or fancy "embellishments", like 1,0001 variations of North American drum rolls.

Every song swings with great arrangements, including the boleros. And Raul does two Arsenio Rodriguez tunes that smoke! He also does a nice version of "Gloria a Beny" (Moré), though my favorite version is by 'Leo Castañeda'.
These 12 songs swing , Raul's voice is superb and well aged at this point.
Raul Planas sings on 11 songs, track 12 is sung by an uncredited singer who sounds so familiar, but I have no idea who he is. Track 12 is also misnamed "Tinguiri", the correct title is "Tawiri", originally done by Grupo 'Clave y Guaguanco' on their CD.

6. "Como Pescao En Tarima"

10. "A Quién No Le Gusta El Son"

Raúl Planas y Orq. Kubavana -LP late 50's

"Que Tienes Titina?"
Raúl Planas singing with Carlos Barberias Orq. Kubavana
Panart LP late 1950's

Planas is amazing, at the time of this recording, still a young man.
Barberia's big band "Orq. Kubavana" kills with swinging arrangements! (including the boleros)
The 'Peñalver' brothers in the Sax section.

1. A la quimbamba (Samba-Guaracha)

2. Cosas del alma (Bolero)
3. Nagüe (Rumba-Afro)
4. No lo digas (Bolero)
5. Yo soy cagueiran (Son Montuno)
6. No me pidas (Bolero)
7. Que tienes titina (Guaracha)
8. La cancion de dinero (Bolero)
9. Se acerca la comparsa (Guaracha-Comparsa)
10. Mi corazon tiene derecho (Bolero-Cha-cha-chá)
11. Bayamo y el Cha-cha-chá (Cha-cha-chá)
12. Despierta guajira (Guajiro-Mambo)

The original transfer from vinyl LP was a mess... now it sounds fabulous.
I spent an hour cleaning and trimming this with GoldWave v5.23
Comments? Comentarios? Commentaires? Kommentare? Reacties? Commenti? Комментарии? コメント?

Conjunto Rumbavana - Cuba

"Rumbavana En Santiago"
1983 LP/LD
With Ricardito in the band.

2. Poupourri De Sones


7. Estoy Buscando Un Amor


8. La Bachata De Guido


"Conjunto Rumbavana"
1980 LP/LD
With Ricardito singing.
One of my favorite Rumbavana recordings, the
 band kills with bongocero Tino Alonso "Papa Gofio"
and tumbador Rolando Sigler who both play their cojones off!
Gilberto Azcuy also plays his balls off on trumpet.

8. Arra Rra Rra En Potpourri


"De Nuevo"
1988  
Siboney vinyl LP/LD

5. La China Linda


"Treinta Aniversario"
1986  
Vinyl LP/LD

2. Soy Cubano Con Razón

4. Oye La Rumba Esta Buena

5. Con La Mulata Belén

7. Que Se Fuñan

8. Que Le Pasa A Esa Mujer


"Desengaño De Los Roncos"
A mix of various Rumbavana tunes
on an Egrem CD.

4. Desengaño De Los Roncos


"Reencuentro Entre Soneros"
LP/LD
(El maestro Raúl Planas vocals)

1. Que Ritmo Que Sabor

2. Voy Del Monte Al Llano

4. Malé Malé


Conjunto Rumbavana
1974 LP/LD
(Raúl Planas)

1. Tasca Tasca

2. Lo Que Mi Alma Ansia

3. Ya Ves, No Te Quiero

5. La Mujer De Antonio

6. Baila Francisca


"Son... y Son De Cuba"
LP/LD
Rumbavana only on two tracks,
an 11:00 min. Poutpurri of 7 songs
and a version of Guantanamera.

1. Poutpurri 11:00

5. Lluvia De Alfires - Annia Linares


"Con Un Besito Mi Amor"
1972 LP/LD

5. Que Buenas Son

9. Asi Quiero Corazon
Comp: Juan Formell

10. Te Invento Un Momento

12. Quiereme Amorcito

"Orq. Rumbavana"
A CD that was released in 1999,
all live/en vivo from radio broadcasts.
Very nice, with Planas, Macias y Guido singing.
still available @ .99 each on most MP3 download sites
and free on the "usual" file sharing sites.

"Mi Son Por El Mundo Va"

1. Muchacha Ponte Pa Esto 5:36
2. Mi Son Por El Mundo Va 5:06
3. Mucho Me Alegro 5:06
4. El Desengaño De Los Roncos 5:40
5. Dame Soga 4:51
6. Asi Se Perdio Esa Muchacha 5:09

Conjunto Rumbavana
1964
Egrem vinyl LP.

3. Oiga Compay

 6. Yo Soy Del Campo

"A Gozar! La Zandunga"
1960 LP/LD
A bootleg of songs from various other LP's

Conjunto Rumbavana con 'Rolito' Soto,
singers Felo martinez, Orestes Macias y Guido Soto.
   Rolando 'Rolito' Soto

With legendary bongocero Roloando 'Rolito' Soto (in the band at this time) who had a very "distinctive" sounding Martillo, in that he tuned his Macho (small) bongo head very high giving his "index finger" when playing "beat 1" and "beat 3" sounding like someone snapping their fingers.
He also used a larger sized 9½ Hembra (large head).

5. Marcolina

6. Ahora Todos Bailan

7. Soy Caguairan

8. Tu Nada Mas

 Rolando 'Rolito' Soto in Los Angeles California


"Rumbavana Con Orestes Macias"
CD reissue of the "Vanidad" LP below

"Vanidad"
(Canta Orestes Macias)
1959-'60 LP

8. Que Nadie Sepa Mi Sufrir

10. El Carapacho

12. Ahi Na' Ma'

"Cumbanchando"
1955
Vinyl LP/LD

Their first LP.
Yo Soy La Rumba

"Conjunto Rumbavana"
CD compilation by EGREM,
part of their "Agrupaciones Bailables" series.
18 songs remastered.
Excellent compilation and sound.

Homage de Richard Egües

Homage de Richard Egües.

Featuring:
Ibrahim Ferrer (the late)
Chucho Valdes
Coco Freeman
Pedrito Calvo
Mayito
Beatriz Marques
Raúl Planas (the late)
Maraca

1. Mi Suegra
2. Mama Ines
3. Extrano Padecer
4. Por Que Tienes Asi?
5. Corazon De Cristal
6. Aguardiente De Cana
7. Locura En Cha-cha-cha
8. El Platanal De Bartolo
9. Conversacion Con Raul Planas
10. A Ti Na' Ma'
11. El Bodeguero
12. Yo Quiero Caramelo
13. Hay Cosas
14. Los Caravales De Oriente

Orq. Kubavana De Carlos Barberia "Ritmo Y Metales" 1958-'59 and "Congas y Comparsas"

The "original" Cuban vinyl LP cover on Panart.

Carlos Barberia

The CD "semi" reissue on the Caney label from Spain.(missing 3 songs from the original LP)

Orq. Kubavana under the direction of the great Cuban arranger 'Carlos Barberia'.
Above is the original LP on the Cuban Panart label titled "Ritmo Y Metales" front and back cover.
The 'Caney' label from Spain reissued it on a remastered CD, but left out 3 songs from the original LP. What they did on the CD was "add" several songs from Carlos Barberia LP.

Killer sessions featuring the arrangements of 'Carlos Barberia' and the best studio session players in Havana at that time. (1958-1959)

Trumpets: Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, Alejandro "El Negro" Vivar, Miguel Hernández.
Trombone: Tomás Hernández.
Saxofones: Wilfrido "Mosquito" Gelaver, Tomas Vazquez, Homero Bentancourt, Geraldo Maldonado, Pedro Ruiz.
Piano: Raul Reyes.
Acoustic Bass: Reinaldo Mereier.
Timbales & Drum set: Guillermo "Barretico" Barreto & Ana Gomez.
Tumbadoras: Oliveiro Valdez.
Bongoes: Clemente "Chicho" Piquero (bongocero for the Benny Moré Orchestra)
Vocals by Raul Planas, Carlos Embale, Rudy Calzado & "El Fantasmita".
1958-1959

Yo soy Cagueiran

Vocal: Raúl Planas

Ven pa' la loma
Vocal: Carlos Embale

 A toda Cuba le gusta
Vocal: El Fantasmita

No Me Niegues Tu Cariño

Vocal: Rudy Calzado

Everything including the 3 songs from the LP that were missing from the remastered CD.
Ripped@320

"Congas y Comparsas"
Orq. Kubavana De Carlos Barberia
CD reissue