I don’t know Cuban trumpeters like I know jazz trumpeters, so commentary will be light to non-existent.
Cuban Fantasy (Machito)
“Cuban Fantasy” seems to have be composed by Ray Bryant, and it seems like everyone in Latin music has recorded it. This recording is by Machito, who, with Mario Bauzá as musical director, is known for putting Cuban rhythms to big band arrangments, which he does here.
The trumpet solo starts at 2:40. Notice the “Summertime” lick at c. 3:43. I believe the trumpet soloist is Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros (see below for more Chocolate).
The unison phrase that’s used to end each chorus and the turn as a whole, it’s been driving me nuts for the last couple days.
Some guys (Cuba Feliz)
I know nothing about this, but it’s lots of fun. It seems to be some guys in Cuba playing their trumpets to, with, and at one another. The fun starts at about 1:17. Watch the gestures and they play their trumpets in the stairwell of their apartment building.
Listen to the different kinds of sounds. And the neighbors joining in with hand claps. Nice duet at sunset starting at 3:40. Listen to how they echo and harmonize with one another. A nice conversation.
El Manisero (Mario Bauza)
I don’t recognize the trumpet soloist. But I don’t think Chocolate quite has that upper register. The whole section is hot.
Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros
From Eddie Palmieri, “Columbia Te Canto,” on Lucumi, Macumba, Voodoo (1978). This is not your nana's salsa. Palmieri is taking it to a whole other place. This piece is longish, over 10 minutes. It starts slow, in an elegiac mood, and then shifts into a guanguancó rhythm, where it stays ‘till the end. Chocolate enters at about 3:04, playing call and response with the vocalist.
Listen to the masterful way he floats over the underlying rhythm. His trumpet line is very fluid, but thick, like honey. This outing ends at about 3:38. The ensemble does this and that, Eddie Palmieri gets in his licks on piano, and then they begin to ride it out. Chocolate enters at 7:54, and is joined by vocalists at 8:10.
You're on your own here. Yuliesky's hot hot hot!
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