Afro-Cuban Jazz

Anything by Paquito D'Rivera... Had some great albums in the 80's (the 80's to some means OLD, to me that's fairly NEW)

My favorite is Kenny Dorham, "Afro Cuban" on Blue Note Records, this is "the" classic interpretation of the genre. Personnel include:

Art Blakey Drums
Kenny Dorham Trumpet
Percy Heath Bass
J.J. Johnson Trombone
Hank Mobley Sax (Tenor)
Cecil Payne Sax (Baritone), Brass
Oscar Pettiford Bass
Horace Silver Piano
Carlos "Patato" Valdes Conga, Continuo

An astounding lineup of talent and produced by Alfred Lion, engineered by none other than Rudy Van Gelder.

Remember this was done in 1955, the recording is a bit soft compared to modern stuff but a definitive work that deserves to be in every Jazz lovers library.

Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Poncho Sanchez, Eddie Palmieri, Mongo Santamaria. All had/have stellar careers in this genre.

For reading about the greats, I would recommend "From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz" by Raul Fernandez. He curated the Smthsonian exhibit on Latin Jazz.

Digging way back, look up the group Osibisa, they were an outstanding but little known band from the mid 70s...

http://www.osibisa.co.uk/osibisa.html

-RW-

Phil Manzanera-801 Latino.....Roxy Music's guitarist extraordinaire returns to his homeland and records with a cuban 801 band, and literally makes one of the great jazz/rock records of all time....overlooked, and out of print, cd's can be found on ebay and amazon used....'an essential'.

Hi. Anything by Mario Bauza, Chano Pozo and Chico O'farril, they were pioneers in Cuba and here. A short list of recordings that I think will give you an idea of the different faces and influences of afro-cuban music on Jazz.

Chano Pozo: "El Tambor de Cuba" (it has a very informative booklet)
Mario Bauza: "Tanga", "My Time is Now"
Chico O'Farril: "Carambola" "Heart of a Legend"
Cal Tjader: "La Onda Va Bien"
Chucho Valdes: "Live at the Village Vanguard", "Bele, Bele en la Habana"
Bebo Valdes: "El Arte del Sabor", "Bebo de Cuba"
Frank Emilio Flynn: "Algo Bueno"
Mongo Santamaria: "Sofrito", "Mambo Mongo"
Paquito D'Rivera: "Portrait of Cuba" "Habanera"
Poncho Sanchez: "Bien Sabroso", "Conga Blue"
Michel Camilo:"Rendezvous"
Arturo Sandoval: "The Latin Train", "Danzon(Dance on)"

There is a good compilation titled "The Roots of Afro-Cuban Jazz"

There are three books that I would add to the one that R1X1 mentioned:

"Cubano Be Cubano Bop" by Leonardo Acosta
"Music in Cuba" by Alejo Carpentier
"Cuba and Its Music" Ned Sublette (an amazing read)

Hope it helps. Take care

.

Add to the generation that Minotauro covered:
Cachao (recommended-- Master Sessions vol 1 & 2)

From the current crop, Yosvany Terry Cabrera

Between these two generations-- earlier works by Gonzalo Rubalcaba.

Herbie Mann!

Jose Alemany and Albita.

I Love Poncho Sanchez...saw him twice. Unfortunately, I think that only his older stuff was pressed on vinyl. Newer is CD only...Latin Spirits is great [CD only]

Adding on to some of the outstanding recordings already recommended:

Sabu Martinez: Sabu's Jazz Espagnole
Ray Barretto: Acid
Joe Cuba: Estamos Haciendo Algo Blen!
Batacumbele: In Concert at University of Puerto Rico
Francisco Aguabella: H20

These are a few of my absolute favorite afro-cuban jazz lps. I'm pretty sure that you can get the first three from someplace like vinyl.com. I think the Batacumbele lp is long out of print but is well worth finding - sabroso! The Francisco Aguabella lp was available from CuBop records but I don't know if it is still in print. Good luck!

Agree with all of the above, and would add Machito.Sadly,in reference to Albert Porter's recommendation above,both "Patato" Valdes and Cecil Payne are in today's NYT Obituary section. The former is listed as "Patata."

Machito -Mucho Machito and Kenya have both been recently reissued. Sabu Martinez -Jazz Espanole is excellent and timeless and was just reissued on Vampi Soul, which are by the way a great source for hard to find latin jazz reissues. They also have some Cal Tjader LPs that I highly recommend. Snowboy has some killer latin jazz albums like Mambo Rage, but watch out for his cheesy R&B ones. Jack Costanzo has a new one out. There are some great latin jazz compilations on Soul Jazz, Soundways, Honest Jon's and others. Ubiquity has been reissuing the Fantasy catalogue. They also put out the new Costanzo and Aguabella albums on CD and vinyl.

Check this out:

http://www.dustygroove.com/featured.php?cat=6

I have purchased lots of LPs from these guys and they are awesome to deal with.

Enjoy,
Mikky

If you're serious about Latin music:
Descarga.com
Museodeldisco.com
chuyvarela.com

Get this DVD, Blanco y Negro, Bebo & Cigala en Vivo. This is just about the best recorded Afro-Cuban Jazz piece out there.

Some Mo Horizons is a very well recorded cd in latin jazz. One of my favorites in my whole cd collection.