In 2006,
Banda el Recodo celebrated their 68th anniversary, and they didn't do it by acting like a "ghost band"; instead,
Joel and
Alfonso Lizárraga (the youngest sons of the late
Recodo founder Don Cruz Lizárraga) kept the Mexican institution moving ahead musically. "Ghost band" is a term that jazz musicians use to describe bands that employ the name of famous bandleaders who have long since died -- for example, there was a still a swing band billing itself as the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 2006 even though
Miller himself died in 1944 -- and the "ghost band" concept certainly isn't limited to jazz. There are many Latin "ghost bands," and by calling itself
Banda el Recodo de Cruz Lizárraga, the outfit that
Joel and
Alfonso lead on Mas Fuerte Que Nunca (Stronger Than Ever) is technically a Mexican "ghost band." But unlike so many "ghost bands," this 2006 edition of
Banda el Recodo is not a carbon copy of how the outfit sounded 50 or 60 years earlier. Mas Fuerte Que Nunca is faithful to
Recodo's history in that everything on this 44-minute CD is easily identifiable as banda, but
Joel and
Alfonso use banda in many different ways. This diverse album includes everything from corridos ("El Chivo," "Los Dos Jefes") to ranchera ballads ("Ya No Llores Corazón") to tracks that combine banda with salsa ("Apreta'o, Apreta'o"), cumbia ("Quiero Que Me Des un Beso"), and pop-rap ("El Club de las Feas"). The latter was used extensively in the popular Mexican telenovela La Fea Mas Bella, a comedy drama loosely based on the hit Columbian telenovela Yo Soy Betty la Fea -- and
Recodo's appearances in La Fea Mas Bella underscored their willingness to appeal to the Latin pop culture of 2006 instead of being stuck in the past. Not without its share of surprises, Mas Fuerte Que Nunca is a rewarding, lively demonstration of
Joel and
Alfonso's desire to keep
Recodo forging ahead creatively while maintaining their late father's brassy banda orientation. ~ Alex Henderson