From his first record in 1985, released on the legendary Acid Jazz imprint (the 12" single Bring On The Beat), to his twelfth and new album, New Beginnings, Snowboy has become an epitome for fast, funky, hard but always dancable Latin/Afro-Cuban Jazz. Although he has released great Soul/R&B songs like Girl Overboard or Where Is The Love as well, Snowboy is solely concentrating on Latin Jazz for some years now (like on his Para Puente album for CuBop in 2002).
It took him two years to record a new album because he had to pause nearly a year due to an arm injury...but I thought anyway, that all decent percussionists need a pause from time to time to get their wrists remoulded in an expensive, extravagant hospital in Switzerland.
Snowboy's debut release for Chillifunk brings us nine songs, that makes you - as always - forget the fact that Snowboy's actually not Latin and not even from Middle America but from the UK.
There are of course the three tracks that were available before on a 12" album sampler, Carga Tu Bateria (preceded by Ochun, a nice chant-intro), Mediodia Hasta Tarde and Riots Of Hadleigh.
Besides Carga Tu Bateria Ven Rumbero is another track sung by Davide Giovannini, who also composed this song. This is again a great piece of Afro-Cuban Jazz with flawless brass section and of course lots of percussion by Snowboy himself.
The song that's really destined to become the first summer hit is a cover of I've Got To Learn To Do The Mambo (that's also available as a radio version here), which was a hit in 1955 for Ivory Joe Hunter. Snowboy has won James Hunter over to sing on this track and the result is a groovy dancefloor winner that makes you shake your hips. It's all there, a memorable melody, great instrumentations (organ, horns, percussion) and a nice story line why James Hunter has to learn the mambo before his baby puts him down. And the good news is that I've Got To Learn To Do The Mambo will be released as a single on May 10th, 2004, a few days before the album.
With the hypnotic 9 minutes plus of Hands Of Palmieri and Wilson's Mambo you get two more impressive instrumentals that makes New Beginnings one of Snowboy's best albums to date. Now that we've got the right soundtrack for a very hot summer, the only thing missing is the sun and rising temperatures here in Europe. But I'm confident that this is only a matter of time and all will be well when New Beginnings will be released on May 24th, 2004.