Bachata Rosa (CD - 1990)

Juan Luis Guerra Y 4.40: Juan Luis Guerra (vocals, guitar); Daniel Pena (saxophone); Armando Beltre (trumpet); Roberto Olea (trombone); Elvis Cabrera (piano, synthesizer); Marco Hernandez (synthesizer); Osvaldo Cesa (bass); Roger Zayas (drums); Pedro Peralta (congas); Rafael Guzman (guira); Isidro Bobadilla (percussion); Adalgisa Pantaleon.

Additional personnel: Luis Del Rosario (saxophone); Femin Cruz (trumpet); Manuel Tejada (piano, synthesizer); Yanino Rosada, Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano); Robert Jeandor (bass, maracas); Hector Santana (bass); Guy Frometa (drums); Alberto Machuca (bongos, cencerro); Gadwin Vargas (congas); Pichi Perez (guiro, maracas); Henry Garcia (guiro, background vocals); Santiago Martinez (timbal); Mariela Mercado, Sonia Silvestre, Victor Victor, Robert Jeandor (background vocals).

Engineers include: John Fausty, Marco Felix, Carlos Molina.

Recorded at 440 Studio, New York, New York; Audio Proceso, Midilab & Estudios EMCA, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Personnel: Robert Jeandor (bajo sexto, maracas); Osvaldo Cesa, Hector Santana (bajo sexto); Juan De La Cruz (tamboura, bata, timbales); Luisín del Rosario, Daniel Pena (saxophone); Fermin Crúz, Armando Beltre (trumpet); Roberto Olea (trombone); Elvis Cabrera, Manuel Tejada (piano, synthesizer); Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Yanina Rosado (piano); Marcos Hernandez (synthesizer); Roger Zayas-Bazan, Guy Frometa (drums); Gadwin Vargas, Pedro Tene Peralta (congas); Alberto Machuca (bongos); Pichi Perez (guiro, maracas); Henry Garcia (guiro); Santiago Chago Martínez (timbales); Isidro Bobadillo (percussion).

Recording information: 440 Studio, New York, NY; Audio Proceso, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Estudios EMCA, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Midilab, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Ochoa Recor.

Bachata was originally rural and guitar-backed, above all bolero-type songs. It began moving to town a few years back, and has reached the bigtime with this big-deal production. The basics (guitar ensemble, simple percussion, sentimental lyrics, rural associations) have gotten kind of generalized, but it's really fine of its kind, which includes a touch of mbube. ~ John Storm Roberts, Original Music minimize