“A lot of the older people want to know why we added drums or synthesizers to the songs. “We hear the complaints here, too,” Lopez said. Oscar Lopez, one of Mexico’s top rock producers, was called in on the project, he said, to, “come up with exciting new arrangements and sounds for classic Jimenez songs.” Reached by phone in Mexico City, Lopez said that nearly all of the reviews the album has garnered in Mexico have been positive, with the exception of one. “This is a tribute, that’s all,” he said. It was obvious to me that no one deserved it more than Jose Alfredo Jimenez.”Ĭalderon said the album was made to mark the 25th anniversary of Jimenez’s death, but said it was not entirely commercially driven. “I realized that this had never been done with anyone international. “This idea came to me after hearing what they did with Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra,” said Calderon, speaking by phone from Veracruz. Furthermore, they say that every change to the music was approved by Jose Alfredo Jimenez Jr. But it’s a pretty good one.”Ĭalderon and other producers and artists on the album defend their work, saying it was done with the best of intentions. “Most of it is actually really well done, artistically,” Loza said. Even Loza, who specializes in Mexican music, admits to liking many of the selections, in spite of his initial impulse to dis the disc. To be fair, lots of people love the updated recording, which was obviously made in the image of the Grammy-winning 1991 Natalie Cole/Nat King Cole digital duet “Unforgettable.” Dan Apodaca, a board member with the Los Angeles-based Mariachi Heritage Society, said the tribute was “a great way to expose a new generation to the magic” of Jimenez. “They just felt it lacked respect,’ said Andres Ramirez, an on-air personality at the station. And though it has gone gold in Mexico in a few short weeks, Mexican music lovers in Los Angeles have responded less warmly.Īt KLVE-FM, the city’s most popular radio station, programmers have taken the current single, a duet with Spanish singer Rocio Durcal, out of rotation after the station was flooded with negative comments about it. y sigue siendo El Rey” (And I’m Still the King-a play off “El Rey,” one of Jimenez’s greatest hits), was the brainchild of accomplished Mexican producer Juan Carlos Calderon, who has worked with Luis Miguel.
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