Album Notes

Grupo Del Cuareim
I Can Dig It Baby

It's all about the groove!!! Eight percussionists who will put you into a hip-notic trance, master keyboardist Hugo Fattoruso, bass player Felix Pastorius playing a groove so deep it crawls under your skin, reminiscent of his genetic background, as ten vocalists send chills down your spine. One cannot help but move to this one of a kind rhythm!!! And that's only Track One. To get the scoop, read on...................

Track One
I Can Dig It Baby 8:44
Ines Bergara lead vocal
Hugo Fattoruso piano, keyboards, voice
Felix Pastorius electric bass

Track Two
Para Candombear 3:00
Washington Pintos lead vocal
Apolo "Popo" Romano electric bass

Tracks One & Two percussion
Fernando "Lobo" Nuñez, Gustavo Oviedo, Walter "Nego" Haedo, Jorge "Foque" Gomez, Washington Pintos, Noe Nuñez, Mariano Barroso, Pablo "Piraña" Silva

Tracks One & Two chorus
Maiana Garcia Vigil, Silvana Lombardini, Gabriela Gomez, Norma Galfetti, Urbano Moraes, Gustavo Montemurro, Carlos Quintana, Cesar Martinez, Marcello Irabarne

In the year 1974, Florida based soulman-extraordinaire Willie Hale released, on the Cat label, the album Party Down. The personnel included Willie "Little Beaver" Hale (electric guitar, lead vocal), Robert "Governor" Ferguson (drums, percussion), Latimore and Timmy Thomas (keyboards), Glen "Zeke" Holmes, Willie Clarke (percussion), Betty Wright (additional vocals). Of the seven tunes on the LP, the bass playing is credited to four, George "Chocolate" Perry, Ron Gordon, "Little Beaver", and one Nelson "Jocko" Padron.

One track in particular, track number one on the B Side of this LP, composed by Willie Hale, Betty Wright, and (producer, engineer) Willie Clarke, has gained much attention through the years, that tune being "I Can Dig It Baby". The reason is quite simple to understand. The bass player, credited as Nelson "Jocko" Padron, called in to lay down the bass on this track, was mistakenly credited, when in fact his name was actually John Francis Pastorius III "Jaco", who laid down that unmistakable groove. "I Can Dig It Baby" was, to the best of anyone's knowledge, at about 23 years of age, Jaco's first studio release as a sessionman.

Including Hugo Fattoruso (arranger, acoustic piano, keyboards, voice), 8 candombe percussionists, a vocal chorus consisting of five women and five men, the basic track was recorded in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1999. In 2000, Hugo departed Montevideo, I departed New York with tape in-hand, Felix Pastorius (one of Jaco's two twin sons, Julius the other) left his home with bass in-hand, and all converged on a Florida recording studio, where Felix, who was 17 at the time, on this, his first studio release as a sessionman, laid down his groove. After all has been said and done, I only have one question, "can you dig it?" -Neil Weiss/Producer

Dig this!!!
The Candombe rhythm traveled to Uruguay (South America) from Africa with black slaves over 200 years ago, and has been boiling in the barrios of Uruguay's capitol city of Montevideo ever since. The rhythm is created by the use of three tambores (drums); tambor piano, tambor chico, tambor repique, each with it's own specific function. Each drum is hung from the shoulder, played with an open hand, and a stick in the other.

Cuerda is the family of three tambores. At a minimum, a cuerda consists of three people, each playing one of the three tambores. A cuerda can consist of more than three drummers, as long as all three tambores are present.

Tambor Piano is the largest and lowest in pitch of the three tambores. Its head measures 16 inches in diameter. Responsible for the rhythmic base of candombe, its rhythmic function is similar to that of the upright or electric bass.

Tambor Chico is the smallest and highest in pitch of the three tambores, its head measures 8.5 inches in diameter. The chico is the rhythmic pendulum of the cuerda.

Tambor Repique (ricochet), its name tells us this tambor embellishes candombe's rhythm with improvised phrases. Its head measures 12 inches in diameter.

To learn more about Candombe visit www.candombe.com

NOTICE THE TINY BASS?

The completely functional mini bass was owned by Jaco Pastorius, who bought it from then 17 year old creator of the instrument, Roland Ledesma AKA Ledo. There is more about the meeting in the booklet.