On Evil Ways, as the title might hint, Willie Bobo tries his hand at a number of popular covers such as Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, Knock On Wood, Ain’t Too Proud To…
The Chakachas were a group of Belgian studio musicians. Their self-titled LP was their second after their big hit with Jungle Fever. Unlike that record however, this…
** Ozo Def:—On paper, Latin-Pop Octet Ozomatli is scary. Any group whom employs a full-time Japanese tabla player, mixes hip hop elements with Latin Pop, are…
Like most of Mongo’s albums from this time, All Strung Out relies on a series of covers to carry it along. The opening Since You’ve Been Gone has too much…
In 1958 Cal Tjader spent three weeks in San Francisco playing at the Blackhawk Club from whence this recording came from. To add to Tjader’s Latin flavor he…
This was the last of the Mongo Santamaria LPs on my want list. Why it took me so long to find a copy I don’t know, but the Groove Merchant came through with…
Cosa Neustra has to be one of the best Fania covers ever. It’s got a dead man wrapped up in a blanket with a big rock tied to his feet as a man looks down on…
Harmony was a subsidiary of Columbia, and this record is a compilation of cuts from various albums Santamaria recorded with that label in the mid-1960s. The title…
Azteca was a local Bay Area group formed by the brothers Coke and Pete Escovedo at the height of Latin Rock craze with artists like El Chicano and Malo. Most of the…
Tjader lays down some very mellow Latin tinged Jazz on his live At Grace Cathedral album recorded in San Francisco in 1976. There are some good parts to songs like…
El Chicano grew out of the Chicano/La Raza movement in Los Angeles in the late-60s/early-70s. Inspired by the Civil Rights and later Black Power movements, especially…
Bang! Bang! & Push, Push, Push (Wanted Dead Or Alive)
Joe Cuba was one of the leaders of New York City’s Boogaloo movement in the mid-1960s. This LP contained one of his biggest and most memorable hits Bang! Bang!…
Estamos Haciendo Algo Bien! We Must Be Doing Something Right?
Joe Cuba is by far my favorite Latin player. Estamos Haciendo Algo Bien! is one of his classic records because it includes his big hit El Pito (I’ll Never Go…
Is there any better way to start off an album than with a great b-boy sounding open drum break, like Candido does with Candido’s Funk? The whole song is just…
Feelin Alright was Mongo’s first album for Atlantic. Like his work from the 60s it’s all covers of hit songs. All are given the usual Mongo workout with…
Agua Dulce is another record crossed off my long time want list. The Latin title track is highlighted by the work of Coke Escovedo on the timbales, and there’s…
On Fuego you find Mongo Santamaria at his Latin best. Crazy Lady begins with an open bass line before turning into a fast-paced Funk dance tune with a drum and conga…
A local store recently had a big sale of Latin and Brazilian music. In that batch came this Brazilian press of Jorge Ben’s Africa Brasil. Ben gets right down…
