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One of the great latin jazz lps of the 60s and featuring who else but Sabu Martinez. Latin Kaleidoscope is comprised of two suites, with the band swinging on well-written parts to a panoply of well-used percussion elements. Boland recruited drummers Kenny Clare, Al "Tootie" Heath" and Sabu Martinez to add their percussion talents. Gary McFarland’s six-part "Latin Kaleidoscope" is a joy to discover - much as it was to first hear his solo creations and offers much evidence of his gifts. Boland, who added his own touches to this suite, never takes a solo throughout and is occasionally heard on harpsichord; a sensitive touch to sensitively considered music. And excellent solos are taken by Sahib Shihab ("Duas Rosas"), Ronnie Scott ("Uma Fita de Tres Cores") and Aki Persson ("Othos Negros") Francy Boland’s "Cuban Fever" is like a musical postcard of Cuba: powerful, colorful, exciting…

Paco de Lucia, one of the greatest living guitarist in the world, was born Francisco Sanchez Gomez in Algeciras, a city in the province of Cadiz, in the Southernmost tip of Spain on December 21st, 1947. His stage name is an homage to his mother Lucia Gomez.

His father, Antonio Sanchez, a day laborer, played guitar at night as a way to supplement his income. He, Paco's elder brother Ramon de Algeciras and flamenco master Ni–o Ricardo were de Lucia's main influences. His first performance was on Radio Algeciras in 1958. The brothers Ramon, Pepe (a singer) and Paco now compromise half of the Paco de Lucia sextet.

The training ground for a flamenco guitarist, de Lucia once said, "is the music around you, made by people you see, the people you make music with. You learn it from your family, from your friends, in la juerga (the party) drinking. And then you work on technique. Guitarists do not need to study. And, as it is with any music, the great ones will spend some time working with the young players who show special talent. You must understand that a Gypsy's life is a life of anarchy. That is a reason why the way of flamenco music is a way without discipline as you know it. We don't try to organize things with our minds, we don't go to school to find out. We just live…….. music is everywhere in our lives."

The origins of the word flamenco are somewhat in dispute. Some argue that the word refers to the Flemish people who arrived in Spain in the 16th Century and once meant simply foreigner or non-Spanish. Others suggest that the word derives from the Arabic phrase "felah mengu," meaning pleasant in flight.

What is indisputable is that flamenco is a blend of the many cultures - Gypsy, Muslim, Jewish - that at one time settled in Andalucia, in the South of Spain. Their influences can be heard distinctively in the melisma of the singer, the rhythms, the slowly curling harmonic lines of the guitars.

Cucamonga are an explosive quintet from Argentina. As their most evident inspiration, that is a “certain” Frank Zappa, hang always in the balance between jazz, rock and experimentation. Supported by an infallible rhythm section, the band holds together an extremely precise writing and elegant harmonies with an enviable melodic and solistic freshness: electric piano, percussions and guitar run after each other through themes and solos, able to go from hard grooves to breathtaking breaks and funny atmospheres.