вторник, 20 мая 2014 г.

Vytas Brenner - La Ofrenda De Vytas 1973

VYTAS BRENNER was a German born Venezuelan pianist, keyboardist and composer. His career started in the late 1960s and released his first album (of nine in total) in 1973. His music took Latin American rhythms, as well as from unique Venezuelan tradition and combined them with Progressive Rock, to create delightful Symphonic prog, with elements of fusion, space rock and acoustic folk.Vocals on his albums are mostly in Spanish. His brother Haakon Brenner produced his first album and was an executive producer on "Hermanos" and "Jayeche".Vytas released an EP "Brenner's Folk" (recorded while he was resident in Spain and featuring his brother Haakon Brenner, as well as Jordi Soler and Jordi Barange) in the late 1960s and formed the VYTAS BRENNER QUARTET.In 1973, VYTAS BRENNER recorded a 45 EP with Maria Fernanda Márquez, called "Con Vytas y Mafe".His debut album "La Ofrenda de Vytas" was released in 1973, which introduces to a mix of different styles, with a lot of folk music influence. He assembled a band for this album (and the following also) which was apparently known as OFRENDA (Offering). There was much less synthesizer work on this album, but this would fully develop on later albums, this release is still mostly symphonic in sound, with wonderful guitar playing by Pablo Manavello (as was the case on all his albums until 1978 release "Ofrenda"). His next album was "Hermanos", released in 1974 which continued on in a similar vein to the previous releases, again mixing Latin American themes with intelligently composed Symphonic Prog. 1977 Brought Brenner's first live album, "En Vivo! Ofrenda" which was also his first double LP. His live output was even more exciting and the band often focused in long jams. Percussion was a very strong aspect with Brenner's sound, which often made them an awe-inspiring band to appreciate live. By this time Brenner was becoming more popular outside of Venezuela, as this album was mixed in Miami by Jack Adams. This LP also brought in the percussionist Felipe "Mandingo" Rengifo. In 1978 the same band that recorded the double live LP "En Vivo! Ofrenda", recorded the album "Ofrenda". This was the final release with the OFRENDA band, although it's classified as a solo album, as the band officially split after En Vivo! At this point, his music changed style and moved away from the progressive style and moved into the realms of pop, funk and soul. VYTAS BRENNER sadly died of a heart attack on March 18, 2004 in Salzburg, Austria, leaving 9 albums of wonderful music as his legacy.

Line-up / Musicians

Vytas Brenner/piano,organ,guitar
Pablo Manavello/guitars
Carlos Acosta/bass
Frank Rojas/drums
Jesus Chinchilla/drums,percussion
Angel Melo/cuatro
Ramon Hernandez/harp
Alfredo Rojas/maracas

Discography(Album)

La Ofrenda De Vytas 1973