The son of a prominent Nicaraguan politician, Alfonso Noel Lovo was a choice target for the Sandinista rebels who hijacked his homeward flight from Miami in December of 1971, ultimately putting several rounds through the talented musician’s torso and hand. After several years, and as many surgeries, he would break new ground on this psychedelic swirl of Latin jazz and pan-American funk with his musical partner, percussionist Jose “Chepito” Areas of Santana fame. Long unavailable, La Gigantona has lived its forty years lost in the grooves of a single acetate. Imagine a Nicaraguan take on Herbie Hancock’s Afro-jazz masterpiece Mwandishi with some of the most penetrating, left-field guitar you’ve never heard.
