Calle 54

This is a fine collection of performances. I enjoyed Tito Puente's segment most--it's a nice farewell to a great musician. He evokes the men who preceded him, like Mario Bauza, Machito and Chano Pozo (whose conga playing on records with Dizzy Gillespie was a great joy of my teenage years). Bebo Valdes was also wonderful; alone, or in duets with his son Chucho or with Cachao. The only sour note was provided by the schlockmeister Gato Barbieri, purveying dull world music (does anybody remember the soundtrack album for Last Tango In Paris? that was great make-out music from Gato).

I liked this a lot more than Carlos Saura's banal flamenco and tango films, which were the last gasps of a dying filmmaker.