Trompeta: Chappottin, Chocolate, and the Afro-Cuban Trumpet Style

Rating:
Summary: Choco gets his due
Review: The main emphasis in this book is on Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros. Davies also looks at the work of Chappottin, but to a lesser degree. The best part of the book for a layperson is the interview with Chocolate included in the appendix. The interview is in Spanish, with an English translation. This book is especially good for music students interested in the Cuban trumpet style. There is practically nothing, however, on two other significant Cuban trumpeters, El Negro Vivar and Jorge Varona. Still, this is a minor quibble. Davies had done a great service to all of us who love Cuban music, and also to the underdocumented Chocolate Armenteros.

Rating:
Summary: nuts and bolts of salsa
Review: Trompeta is one of the best academic studies of Afro-Cuban and salsa music in print. Following roughly in the Gunther Schuller tradition, the author does an in-depth analysis of the music and especially the trumpet style. Although the book does present a fairly thorough overview of the history of the music, it is not for the faint-hearted.

Its primary strength is its exhaustive solo by solo and bar by bar study of the playing of Chappottin and Chocolate. An interesting byproduct of the book is the interview with Chocolate, which is presented in Spanish and with an English translation.

If you are looking for strictly anecdotal material and an easy read, this book is not for you. However, if you want a book that presents a thorough musical presentation of this great tradition you can't do better than Trompeta