Caravana Cubana Gets Charged Up

It was understandable that Caravana Cubana’s first song on Friday at the Conga Room sounded slightly under-rehearsed. After all, the Los Angeles musicians who make up the band haven’t functioned as a cohesive unit for years.

By the second number, however, serious musical sparks began to fly. The old-fashioned “Romanza Guajira” was marked by the volcanic instrumental combustion of conguero Michito Sanchez, pianist Joe Rotondi and percussionist-singer Jose “Perico” Hernandez.

Conceived as a tribute to the late radio deejay and salsa lover Emilio Vandenedes, Caravana Cubana is the brainchild of his former colleagues Alan Geik and Nina Lenart. The pair gathered some of the most notable players, secured guest appearances by an impressive number of Cuban stars, and recorded the Grammy-nominated album “Late Night Sessions.”

Without the record’s most idiosyncratic performers, such as pianist Chucho Valdes, sonero Pio Leyva and salsa-con-funk group Bamboleo, it was difficult for the band to re-create the album’s magic Friday. But bandleader Hernandez shone whenever the music visited the mystical, polyrhythmic world of the Cuban rumba.