Rumba

This compilation collects a number of 7” singles produced by Audio Productions Ltd. in Kenya’s capital Nairobi in the first half of the 1980s and released on the Wendo, Lulus, Mlima and APL imprints.

In keeping with the recent trend of holding up jazz heroes for Latin listening audiences, a cause championed by Conrad Herwig and Brian Lynch in their tributes to Coltrane and Davis, Jerry Gonzalez & the Fort Apache Band offer up their talents to immortalize Art Blakey and his mighty Jazz Messengers. With some very creative renditions of Jazz Messengers B-sides, like "Crisis" done in a slinky Afro and "Madi's Smile" done in cha cha, Gonzalez shows himself yet again to be a great Latin interpreter of the jazz repertoire. There could not have been a better choice of group than the Fort Apache Band to pay the Messengers homage. They are without a doubt one of the finest Latin jazz outfits operating today, with superb balance and taste…