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Trini Lopez at P.J.'s
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Liner Notes:
A. E. Housman once said that a line of poetry is good if reading it made the skin of his face prickle. The Trini Lopez Trio's takeout on "This Land Is Your Land" does that to me. A frantic flag-waver - with that tremendous Latin beat, created by leader-guitarist Trini's vocals, Mickey Jones' deft drums and Dick Brant's beautiful bass. A real skin-prickler- especially when they span the States "from California to the New York Islands, from the Redwood Forests to the Gulf Stream wide." Ordinarily, in that swingin' Hollywood nightspot known as P.J.'s, you would imagine that a flag-waver like this would go over like an anchor in aspic. But Dot when Trini Lopez puts his 150 pounds of Latin dynamite behind it. Besides, as Irving Berlin sizes up the situation, "Do you know a better flag to wave?" Trini's tight little trio was originally booked by P.J.'s for three months. From the very first night, the combo has been coming on strong for each set, as though it were the first one they've ever blown, as exciting as Bingo in a church basement. As a result of their solid hit, they've been re-signed and re-signed every third month for a year and a half and are still going stronger than tacos in an Olvera Street sidewalk stand. Unlike too many Latin combos that become as disorganized as Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody arranged for harp and trumpet, the Lopez group passes miracles of teamwork that have helped make P.J.'s as much of a Los Angeles landmark as the Brown Derby, the Hollywood Bowl and the footprints at Grauman's Chinese. For proof, I cite the great talents who frequent the jumpin' joint nightly. Such performers as Bobby Darin, Jackie Cooper of TV's "Hennesey" show and Bob Fuller of "Laramie" are so intrigued by Trini's style that they're constantly compelled to sit in with him on drums. Talent attracts talent. That crazy beat, P.J.'s trademark, is showcased typically in Trini's "La Bamba." No dancing is permitted at P.J.'s so the customers keep time to Trini's Latin-scattin' vocals with their cocktail jiggers, their glasses, their fists and their feet. When the Dallas-born leaderman shouts "Everybody!" nobody needs a second invitation -they all join in. One of Trini's special talents is making "The Live Ones" who frequent the spa join in the community sings. I don't know how he does it. Personality, maybe. Anyway, at 25, Trini is a real showman. The customers may not always dig the words, as in the cynical "America" from West Side Story, but that commotion you hear at the end of this turn ("One more time, Trini!") is a tremendous tribute to his showmanship, when you consider that so many of the exhibitionistic enthusiasts are in attendance not to hear but to be seen-and heard-by columnists such as myself. They sing-along-with-Trini too in "Bye Bye Blackbird," a memorable audience participation routine with a real rockin' rhythm that always knocks me out, and not just because it reminds me of Tallulah Bankhead. They also stir up a racket like the last movement of "Le Sacré du Printemps" with "What'd I Say?"- one of those steady-beat blasts that typifies P.J.'s and is a great gittin'-off number. Trini's individualistic vocal tremolo gets a real workout in "If I Had a Hammer" and justifies those shouts of "More!" from the habitués. "Cielito Lindo," for the aficionados, stirs up more customer participation and is just like Saturday night on the Paseo de la Reforma. The trio also makes "Granada," that old warhorse, sound new, and if you don't habla Espahol just remember what the Poet of the Kalevala, the Finnish epic, said: "I have learned my songs from the music of many birds, and from the music of many waters." I don't know if they have many waters in Trini's home town of Dallas, but they MUST have birds. I think you'll flip, as I do, for Trini's medley, especially that South-of-the-Border Gospel glimmer in "When the Saints Go Marching In," and also for the way Trini brings the Mexican Hat Dance to the banks of the Tiber in "Volare." As for "Unchain My Heart," it's a wailer and a symptom of that incurable disease brought on by a crazy beat which, once you've caught it, always brings you back to P.J.'s and Trini Lopez. -MIKE CONNOLLY The Hollywood Reporter; San Francisco Chronicle Syndicate |
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