Paris to Cuba by Mario Grigorov

Posted By ironmeden on August 23, 2009

When i’m reading cigar review blogs and also as I write reviews I try to find nuances of certain flavors in the cigar that may pare well with a whiskey, a wine or even food.

What I don’t read much of is the ambiance that surrounds you as you smoke a cigar. What do you do while you smoke a cigar? Do you read online newspapers, do you play poker, do you chat? What about music?

A few months a go I was asked to listen to an album and review the songs. To be honest I was hesitant to review the music. Just because I wasn’t certain on how to review music.

I’m not really up to par of what is hip these days. My days of listening to Top 40 radio was over 20 years ago. I’ve been mostly catching up with music that I missed during the last 37 years of my life and beyond. Lets be honest, when I was in high school its hard to come out of the closet regarding some of the music I enjoyed. I admit on the outside in high school I was a heavy metal all the way. I really enjoyed the music and to this day the main station I listen to on Sirius/XM is Hair Nation. But what I didn’t tell my friends is that I also enjoyed Duran Duran, Genesis, Chicago and Prince. Oh Boy was it a crime to like Prince in those days.

Now i’m getting into the metal bands that for some reason I didn’t listen to, Iron Maiden, Savatage, Judas Priest and AC/DC. Also my library of Jazz continues to grow!

And in the mid 90′s I wrote music with a friend of mine. We put together 6 songs during that time. All are R&B uptempo or ballads. I had a dream of getting them published at one time, but now they are fun to listen to once in a while. Not many people get to put their words to music.

Paris to Cuba by Mario Grigorov

Its only fair when I talk about this CD that I enjoy a cigar. I pulled out a stick that has been sitting in my humidor for a few years. The Monticristo Media Noche 7 x 58.

As I listen to the CD, i’ve listened to it many times at this point, it really brings me to a place I can only imagine being. What I imagine is a Caribbean island, its a hot humid evening. Tiki torches are the only light illuminating the area. Friends surround me as we tip back a local rum. Gorgeous native women dance seductively as the song ‘Ice Hotel’ begins with a drum beat and continues on into a sly trumpet led groove. The trumpet then gives way to a haunting solo, almost hypnotizing, before taking back the reigns of the song.

Wanting to keep the groove going we head into ‘Snake Eyes’. The piano teases us before the drums brings us to the squealing trumpet. Vocalist Melissa Newman takes us the rest of the way with her sultry and seductive voice. During the song Melissa has her way with your emotions as she fights back and forth with the trumpet. Not to be left behind, the strumming of a classical guitar mold the two together forcing them to gain respect for each other, when then an affair begins.

Now that we are exhausted, its time to slow it down a bit. Eyes meet across the dance floor and we grab a body to move in between the fire lighting the dance floor. Melissa’s voice soothes over the crowd in ‘I See’. Its a slight uptempo song but it then leads us to a more calming, slow grind instrumental of ‘Three Dozen Roses’.

Now its time for what the guy’s have all been waiting for, this is the part where the ladies take over the floor. We all sit back with our rum and cigars and watch the ladies sweat it out to ‘Cuban Soil, Cuban Sun’. A chorus of trumpets move the ladies around the floor. ‘Every Little Movement’ featuring again the vocal styling of Melissa Newman has the ladies picking guys back up to the dance floor. The guys all look back to their table to see their rum and cigar, but each lady makes us forget about what we left behind.

We fall back to our seats hand in hand. The guys pick up where they left off with their rum and cigar where then we see a slight jealously from the ladies. The air surrounds us then with great conversation and laughs. In the background Mario’s music continues the mood we celebrated all evening. ‘Paris to Cuba’ fills the air with a climatic sound of classical guitars and violin harmonies.

We end the evening with ‘Magic Circus’. Everything we experienced tonight feels summed up in this one song. Our glasses clink together as we toast each other and the great time we had. The rum is just about out and the cigars are almost burned up. But we all know the evening will continue somewhere else.

You want to find out where this music will take you? Check out Paris to Cuba

Light up your favorite cigar and pour yourself a spirit and enjoy your passion with a little music.

Share on Facebook