Buenos Hermanos

There was the Buena Vista Social Club, of course. And then there was Ibrahim Ferrer, its unofficial frontman. Born at a social club dance in Santiago, Cuba, in 1927, the impish crooner began singing professionally in 1941 with local groups, then as a feature with the likes of Orquesta Ritmo Oriental and Beny Moré, with whom he's often compared. Ferrer was famously shining shoes when bandleader Juan de Marcos González came knocking. A recording session produced by US guitarist Ry Cooder spawned the phenomenally successful BVSC album; ensuing side projects kept the wheels turning. This second and final Ferrer album was released in 2003 (he died in 2005), between what its producer Cooder calls two major world events: “the Bush Iraq war of 2003 and the closing of Tower Records on Sunset Blvd.” Here it is again, re-released with four previously unheard tracks, just when the world could do with some bolero-style soothing.

Featuring a crack band of brothers including mega-pianist Chucho Valdés, bassist Cachaito López and Manuel Galbán on surf-style electric guitar, along with Tex-Mex accordionist Flaco Jiménez and textural jazz trumpeter Jon Hassell, the album's 17 tracks are a smorgasbord of classic songs and the romantic boleros that were always Ferrer's forte. Tunes such as the feelgood ‘Boliviana’ and gospel-flavoured ‘Perfume Gardenias’ come refreshed with so-called ‘2020 mixes’; of the new tracks, the brass-fuelled ‘Ven Conmigo, Guajira’ is a standout. But it is Ferrer's vocals - light, strong, sensuous, occasionally improvised - that really make this a winner.