VOLKSKRANT(103)_20110312_Pag_42VPROJazzLive rec 

 

“This is original jazz with QUALITY!”
4/5 stars.

The unknown New York band, “Gato Loco” flipped everyone on their head.
They played songs that brim with enthusiasm.

Summer festival programmers, pay attention : These unknown New Yorkers
are available.  You look for an act that will turn a room on its head:
this band brims with enthusiasm and sounds like the orgasmic
lovemaking between James Brown and Tito Puente.

Do not hesitate to contact them.  Their name : Gato Loco.

The closing act of the opening night of the week-end VPROJazzLive
Festival, they look like a wild gang.  Saxophonist and leader Stefan
Zeniuk spoke with a charming American accent, while wearing an
oversized white jacket and hat.  The lively, shiny shirt and dingy
long hair of the tuba player was perfectly appropriate with the tight
headscarf of the percussionist, which was taken off for a Batman mask.

Gato Loco mixes mambo with salsa, klezmer with funk, and rock with
freejazz.  They delivery an immense amount of energy within this crazy
genre-melting music.  The dark, colorful bass sound strengthens the
rhythmic character.  These dynamic warriors have an authentic sound,
with entertaining theatricality.  The guitarist moves his bottle of
white wine to his lips, then to the strings of his instrument, while
Zeniuk leaps like a hysterical maniac from left to right.  They are
having natural fun.  This is only possible thanks to the tightly
written compositions.  A world band, which is unusual at the Bimhuis,
deserves a standing crowd.