It's My Time

CD Review: Elena Fe Walker.

http://www.louiecruzbeltran.com

"What a trip.

What a trip to finally take a snapshot

of the music that you've always enjoyed."

Louie Cruz Beltran.

WARNING! ALERT!

Louie's many fans should continue reading ONLY if they agree not to lynch the reviewer. Their continued participation in this process shall be interpreted as signing on the dotted line.

A self-produced CD, where the musician has almost total control over both content and arrangements. They can be either dynamite or a bomb, largely depending on the size of the artist's ego. In Louie's case, this CD is neither dynamic nor a disaster: It's a little more like firecrackers. I suspect the problem here has been too little ego. Louie restricting himself and not allowing the room he needs to explore the depth of what he can do and what his fans travel to hear when he works live.

The problem with this sort of self-promotion is that the creator doesn't have to be particularly concerned about whether or not they are satisfying a market. The CD is "vanity". It's going to be sold mostly to the converted: Family, friends and the faithful fans who make up an act's regular audience. Numbers are calculated according to funds available and the need to sell enough so few are left over to gather dust in someone's garage! That's the reality of most of the music business and nowhere more so than in the hallowed echelons of jazz: Especially the smaller cliques.

"This is my first solo CD and it was a learning process. When I first entered the studio I was constantly asking myself, "Which songs do I want to include?" I was trying to balance the influences of the music industry, my heritage, my family, my finances and my own human frailties. But those elements are ever-changing and trying to focus on them brought mostly frustration and confusion."

Louie Cruz Beltran

It's a sad observation but when reading his notes and listening to the CD, I get the feeling that Louie has tried to satisfy everyone but himself. If I have a criticism of the finished product, it's that it's too generalized. Too much of the same. It's like eating rice pudding when you know the host usually serves Black Forest Torte and Chocolate Eclairs.

Louie live is exuberant! Contrast, color, energy, fire! Life in all its fullness is explored and listeners are treated to a cornucopia of sound. Louie live is a kaleidoscope! Louie on CD is a blander, "safer" version. Where is the rumbrero flashing out a risky too long break before the bridge? Or taking Sancho Pancho's version of "Watermelon Man" to task with his own arrangement? Too worried about the acceptance of a general market or trying to get airplay from middle-of-the-road radio stations? Try to please everyone and you end up not pleasing yourself.

Every track on the CD is Louie's own material. Easier to organize copyrights, of course, but we lose the chance to taste more of Louie's formidable skills as an arranger. Even the smooth jazz crowd misses out here. The tracks are too Latin for Kenny G. attuned palettes, too easy listening for the Latin crowd and too careful for the jazz stations.

When I first heard Louie play in Pasadena (March 2001), I was disappointed. I'd checked out his web site and throughout the evening, I kept looking for the brilliant musicianship I'd discovered in his sound bites. But although it was a good concert and the audience had a great time, the music was missing a certain joy I'd been expecting. The pleasure of playing with other musicians: Bouncing off each other, enjoying the moment and their mutual creation. The reasons musicians play. By the time we came to "Mustang Sally", I had to suspect that these were the same motions Louie and his band had to carry out every time they played to a bar or restaurant audience. It sounded tired: Louie didn't even break a sweat. And the sound guys had the band cranked up so high I'm amazed the singers could even hear each other through the fold-backs! What's the point of singing if you can't hear each other? Who are you taking your lead from if you're screaming into the mikes but have no idea what you sound like because the backing is drowning you out? No interaction possible there: It just becomes a wall of sound. A cacophony that loses any sense of subtlety or intricacy: The musician's intimate payback.

But at the Galaxy Ball 2001, this was a different man! It was a new line-up and although they hadn't worked together much before, the act benefited from this taste of the unknown. The uncertainty of knowing whether or not everything was going to be picture perfect. When we leave room for mistakes, we leave room for creative answers and responses. This time, we got the man playing the music he loves! And it was a joy, pleasure and wonder to behold! (And yes, I'll concede that he played one of my favorite jazz standards, "Song For My Father". So I'll admit I'm probably a tad biased).

The challenge was back! Some risks, some improvisations, some good long breaks: Was it my imagination or do I remember a little "trading fours" going on? More of what makes music worth playing! I want to see this guy sweating so hard it bleeds through his shirt every time he plays!

And I want to hear it on his next CD! Not just Roman candles fizzing prettily in the backyard but an entire Bakersfield 4th of July, thank-you very much!

Let's have another CD Louie: One where we get to hear you focusing on the music you love to do! Choose to produce for a market worthy of your gifts and talents.

"It was my spiritual relationship with God that enabled me to find peace with this project. Through him I realized that what you are about to hear need not be the completed novel for my life, but simply the beginnings of the soundtrack of my experiences."

Louie Cruz Beltran

Only the first chapter, dearhearts! Beltran fans are longing for the next installment. Maybe even a reaching into hitherto unexplored markets, such as the Christian, mainstream jazz or a more definite attack on the Latin. More opportunities for airplay, a wider audience and building a broader fan base, if that's what's needed. And then give us one straight from Louie's heart. For nobody else but those who want to hear his music: What he wants to do just to satisfy himself and God.

"It's My Time" showcases only a modicum of this man's abilities. May he soon give us further opportunities to discover much more!