Epic Ondatropica Out-Take Released by Quantic’s Selva Imprint
06 May, 2020An improvised Latin jazz epic has been brought to life on a new release from Quantic’s Selva imprint. The track was recorded as part of the original Ondatropica sessions, which took place in early 2012 at Medellín’s legendary Discos Fuentes recording studio, but is only now being released.
As Quantic himself details in the following tale the track, “Noche de Amor”, features the remarkable piano playing on Juancho Vargas with Fruko assisting on bass, and presumably Ondatropica co-conspirator Mario Galeano on percussion. Here’s Quantic to tell the story of how this one came about:
“During my time in Colombia I became fascinated with band leaders of the golden era of Colombian recording. Names that stood out were Lucho Bermudez, Edmundo Arias, Pacho Galán and Juancho Vargas. I first heard his dramatic rendition of ‘Virgines del Sol’ from an old RCA 78 in Palmira, his approach was unique, avant garde, haunting. As I grew to know his repertoire, it became clear that Juancho has always been at the cutting edge.”
“Halfway through recording the Ondatrópica project with Mario [Galeano] in Medellín, Juancho had heard about what was going down at Studio Fuentes. He was enthusiastic to come straight to the studio, having just returned from hospital.”
“We already had the room set up with Anibal Velasquez’s rhythm section and Fruko joined on bass, taking Juancho’s lead through a series of chord transitions & casual improvisation. Today we revisit this session and bring a piece that that has remained unreleased until this time.”
“Noche de Amor” by Juancho Vargas con Ondatrópica is released by Selva as a 7″ and digital track. It is available from Bandcamp and other platforms
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