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)
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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. |
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- |
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. |
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! |
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 |
