Twenty-five years ago when LP Founder Martin Cohen produced the classic vinyl albums Drum Solos Volumes 1, 2 and 3 (re-released on CD), home videos were barely a twinkle in the consumer’s eye. That audio trilogy became “required reading� for serious students of Latin percussion.

Now LP/Congahead Productions announces the follow up, Drum Solos Revisited, this time in DVD, with the superb audio and extra features afforded by that medium. The DVD follows a similar modus operandi as the earlier recordings—engaging New York’s finest percussion artists in an exploration of beginning, intermediate, and advanced solos—but covers exciting new stylistic developments decades in the making.

Hosted by LP artist/recording artist Ralph Irizarry, the video follows fifteen top percussionists as they run through five tunes, offering solos in each at three levels of complexity: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. For example, preceding the track “Express to Queens�, host Irizarry advises us to observe a classic descarga form melded with Cuban bass lines and contemporary New York style jazz. Then he sheds his narrator’s hat and joins Chuckie Lopez, Samuel Torres, and Tony Escapa on the soundstage aside a band that includes electric bass, trumpet, piano, and sax. A crisp stereo mix and multiple camera angles render it easy for the student to follow the action. When it comes time to launch a beginners’ level solo, the musicians refrain from “talking down� to the listener, instead dealing out simple phrases that would work in any musical situation. When Chuckie, Samuel, and Tony get busier, the real art of Latin percussion emerges, clearly visible to the student via cameras left, right, and overhead. The zoom button will get lots of use here!

Drum Solos Revisited is bursting with contemporary Latin music. In effect, it’s a “one stop shop� for Latin music aficionados, offering ample percussive examples, a play-along section, Spanish language track and musicians’ bios.

Drum Solos Revisited introduces students to lofty levels of percussion execution at an audience friendly pace. It’s a DVD that percussion fans will to return to time and time again, either to further their technique, solidify previous lessons—or just to marvel at a ace Latin band working out. For the latter, select the chapter “Crazy Montuno�, and check out Little Johnny Rivero, Harry Adorno, and Orlando Vega trading eight-bar solos against a background of slick drumset, probing electric guitar, and standard salsa band.