Jaleo A True Rock Mosaic by Luis Rumbaut

Jaleo, a first CD for Mike Wheaton and friends, is a part of the mosaic of the District of Columbia, the city that lies at the foot of Capitol Hill but a world away from the federal superstructure known as Washington. Wheaton lives in Mt. Pleasant, a culturally mixed neighborhood near the center of the city with one of the area's highest concentrations of Latin Americans, mainly Central Americans. South of Mt. Pleasant are the night-life districts of Adams-Morgan and the revitalized U Street. To the East, D.C. is a city of hip-hop and house music. Wheaton, who was born and spent his childhood in the Dominican Republic, has years of experience in and around Latin bands, playing cumbias, merengues, and other Latin rhythms, while -as this CD shows- rock remains closest to his heart. With Jaleo he teams up with Brazilian percussionist Alejandro Lucini, singer and bass player Adrienne Lastra, and other friends. The words of the songs are mostly by Brian Price; the music is Wheaton's.

Jaleo's rock doesn't scream or deconstruct; it's shaped by and seeks to join varied influences. It's interlaced with conga drums, funk accents, and Latin and Caribbean rhythms, while reaching back to the classic rock of the 50s and 60s. The first cut on the CD, Make Me Whole, highlights a clean lead guitar, like a stripped-down Santana with the sustain turned low. Swimming in Your Arms and We Lost Our Nerve build on the feel of samba and reggae, and La Bamba switches back and forth between its traditional rock style and a guajira/son in minor key. The other pieces play out with a more English-accented, urban rock sound, although the arrangements as a whole trade pieces and sounds: a salsa piano on the verses of one song changes to rock for the choruses, while the bass does the reverse. A merengue bass rides over congas accompanied by jazz chords. Rock piano yields to salsa, and back. Each of the three band members brings a varied history of musical ideas, and in this record demonstrate how the implosive process of fusion is different from its explosive counterpart of fission; their music projects a sense of a conscious compression and fitting of the pieces, turning them around and around until they fit.

Jaleo coalesced in 1993. Since then, Wheaton has garnered two Wammy nominations, for Alternative Rock vocal and Latin Vocal, while Lucini won a Wammy for Best Latin Percussionist. Lastra, born in Baltimore of Puerto Rican parents, has been a member of other local bands and plays stand-up jazz bass as well as electric six-string bass. Wilfredo Cruz, Ed Gonzalez, Steve Jones, Blaine Raedler, Grant Smith, and Paul Story are also on the record.

The CD does not escape some of the feel of a first studio recor-ding: the congas in Make Me Whole (Cruz) could lose some right angles, and the mu-sicians do not test their limits as they might in a live performance.No matter. Ac-cording to Wheaton, living up to the name -a Spanish word with flamenco roots that implies serious partying- means bringing a high level of energy to the salsa that Jaleo plays, starting with the groove and then building up; with this CD, Jaleo has defined its groove. Jaleo is rock with salsa and more in a mixed urban setting. It's playing new sounds from D.C. that will be heard more and more.