Of Mongo’s mid-60s recordings for Columbia, Mongomania might be the best one. The extremely catchy Soul-Jazz of I Wanna Know, the swinging Old Clothes with some…
Like his other releases on Columbia, Workin On A Groovy Thing is a collection of covers. The best songs are Spinning Wheel, the upbeat We Got Latin Soul, Gettin It…
Recorded live in 1971 at the famous Montreux Jazz Festival in France, this record brings all of Mongo Santamaria’s elements to you. You’ve got the straight…
Mongo 70 has always been one of my favorite Santamaria albums because of its energy and quality song selection. Things get started off with the excellent Windjammer,…
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…
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…
Mongo Santamaria gets some fine backing on this album by the likes of Bernard Purdie, Eric Gale, Chuck Rainey, Stanley Turrentine and Neal Creque. Like Mongo’s…
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…
Hey! Let’s Party is one of Mongo’s earlier pieces when he was just hitting on the Soul-pop covers. Here he has Walk On By, I Got You (I Feel Good), and…
In the mid-1960s Mongo Santamaria began making crossover albums for the mass American market. The formula was simple, cover a lot of popular dance tunes of the time.…
Mongo Soul is a collection of Mongo Santamaria’s earlier work on Riverside. There’s not a bad song on here really. A great listen with tons of pounding…
For whatever reason, I slept on Mongo Santamaria for years. Then, for some unknown reason, I bought one of his records about six months ago and have been tracking…
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…
Another Mongo record for my crates. I saw this three times in Toronto so that must’ve been a sign to get it, and I finally did in Montreal. It’s got a…
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…
Live At Yankee Stadium was recorded in New York in August 1973. Dr. Gasca opens with a long conga break by Mongo before the horns join in for a Latin-Soul jam. Afterwards…
Up From The Roots, as the title and cover picture implies, is a collection of songs that show the African roots of Caribbean music. Almost the entire first side is…
