The Fania All Stars: Live
Live Review by Miles, NME, January 1976
A TERRIBLE HANGOVER and a record comes under the front door. I pluck up the courage to put it on (the cover has such loud clashing ...

The Noise From Brazil
Overview by Carol Cooper, Elle, August 1989
MARCO AURELIO DA SILVA, known as Mazola, sits hunched over the console in one of Rio’s top recording studios, waiting for a live horn section to ...

Gloria Estefan: Treasure Island Ahoy!
Profile and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, Q, October 1989
BASKING IN FLORIDA'S almost blood temperature waters, with the ice cream-coloured Miami Beach architecture in the background, the 50-acre, man-made haven of Star Island is among ...

David Byrne: Rei Momo
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1989
DESPITE DAVID Byrne's beaver-like activities over the last few years, his persona and his work have gradually been losing much of their old allure. Perhaps his ...

David Byrne: Music, Maestro!
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, February 1990
Although embarrassed at being hailed a "cultural ambassador", David Byrne has temporarily put Talking Heads on hold to step out with his 14-piece Latin big band. ...

Gloria Estefan: Into The Light
Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, March 1991
GLORIA ESTEFAN'S FIRST new album since a coach crash last March left her with, among other things, a broken ...

Caetano Veloso: Town Hall, New York City
Live Review by Richard Gehr, Newsday, August 1991
Brazil's most respected singer-songwriter is a velvet-voiced visionary with a surreal sense of humor. Richard Gehr at Town Hall, Saturday night. ...

AUDIO: Jeff Buckley interviews Esquivel (1996)
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, April 1996
Jeff Buckley asks the questions, and Esquivel gives us a glimpse of his happy half-century of music making. ...

Tropicalia CDs: Samba takes a trip
Review by Jim Irvin, Mojo, 1998
ON THE DAY that man first trod upon the moon, Brazilian stars Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were bidding a reluctant farewell to their homeland. Just ...

Tom Zé: Fabrication Defect (Luaka Bop/Warner Bros.)
Review by Richard Gehr, Village Voice, May 1998
TOM ZÉ'S peculiar contribution to the Tropicalistas' highly influential 1968 collaborative album Tropicalia: Ou Panis Et Circencis was the satiric antidevelopment anthem ‘Parque Industrial’, which sang ...

Jack of All Trades: Carlos Santana
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, January 2000
AROUND THIS TIME every year, the American music industry holds its collective breath as the Grammy awards nominations are announced, eager to see which of its ...

Cachaito: Buena Vista Bassman
Report and Interview by Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph, June 2001
A TOUGH-LOOKING character in a back-to-front baseball cap slaps hard around a semi-circle of conga drums. An older man, small and self-contained, who could easily pass ...

Joe Bataan: Young, Gifted And Brown
Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul Records, 2004
A ROMANTIC STREET punk, a jailbird with spirit, a champion of the blue-collar underdog – Joe Bataan is a rebel with ...

Eddie Palmieri: The Man Who Stirred Up Salsa
Interview by Mark Hudson, Daily Telegraph, March 2004
Eddie Palmieri, maverick genius and opening act in next month's Latin music festival at the South Bank, tells Mark Hudson why salsa is more than party ...

Joao And Bebel Gilberto
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, The Times, June 2004

IT WAS IN THE summer of ‘64, 40 years ago this month, that Joao Gilberto’s ‘A Girl From Ipanema’ was released. A huge global hit, ...

Ry Cooder: Chavez Ravine (Nonesuch)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, July 2005
AFTER A DECADE of travels that's taken him from Timbuktu to Cuba, Ry Cooder has come home to shine a light on a shameful episode in ...

Legends of Songwriting: Sergio Mendes
Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, October 2005
ON TIMELESS, the latest album by Sergio Mendes, there's a line in the title track that goes, "Kindness is timeless/Love is so easy." ...

Eddie Palmieri & La Perfecta: Sugar Daddy
Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Fania CD, September 2007
THE HIP DANCEFLOOR RHYTHMS OF PALMIERI'S LA PERFECTA: 1962-1967 ...