SONGS OF LOVE, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN.

• Author: Holston, Mark

Paquito D'Rivera: 100 Years of Latin Love Songs (Heads-Up HUCD 3045) Cuban woodwind virtuoso Paquito D'Rivera captures the romantic spirit of twentieth-century Latin American popular music on this richly rewarding program of ten timeless songs from throughout the Americas and Spain. From "La Morocha," an early Argentine tango written in 1905, to "Corazon Partio," an international pop hit of 1997 composed by Spanish singer/songwriter Alejandro Sanz, the album traces the evolution of the venerable ballad tradition from country to country, style to style. A remarkable soloist equally at home in symphonic or jazz-oriented settings, D'Rivera crafts willowy improvisations that evoke the period qualities of these storied works while emphasizing their contemporary validity.

The decade-by-decade survey includes "Tu mariposa" (1920), a song in the paseo vallenato rhythm by Colombian composer Tobias Enrique Pumarejo; "Corcovado" (1960), one of Antonio Carlos Jobim's most beloved bossa novas; "Sin tu carino" (1976), a salsa standard written by Puerto Rican Louie Ramirez and Panamanian Ruben Blades; and "Amor sin medida," a contemporary ballad by Venezuela's Ilan Chester.

On six of the tracks D'Rivera is accompanied by a full string orchestra, conducted by Bob Belden. The other four performances feature the soloist's alto and soprano saxophones and clarinet in a variety of small group settings, from a duet with guitarist Aquiles Baez on "Verde Tropical" (1936), a Mexican bolero by Gonzalo Curiel, to an octet featuring Argentine pianist Dario Eskenazi and Uruguayan harpist Roberto Perera on "Ay Ay Ay" (1915), a favorite of opera singer Mario Lanza composed by Chile native Osman Perez Freire. The CD album is also a multimedia CD ROM, which features profiles of the composers and their home countries, complete with demographic, geographical, and historical information.

El Lobo: Songs and Games of Latin America (Rounder Kids CD 8078) "Arroz con leche," the child intones, "se quiere casar con una viudita de la capital" (Rice and milk, I want to get married to a widow from the capital).

With little variation, children in Ecuador, Mexico, and Puerto Rico form a circle and go through the motions of this familiar patio game that has been handed down from generation to generation since the time of Spanish colonization. Field recordings from these three countries provide an uncommon insight into songs and games that add a distinctive cultural dimension to the lives...