Born Jose Calderon in Spanish Harlem N.Y.C. of Puerto Rican parentage, conga player anad bandleader Joe Cuba was one of the most successful N.Y. Latin artists in crossing over to non-hispanic audiences. At the forefront of the Latin boogaloo trend, which incorporated black music in a fusion of Latin rhythms and piano montunos with R&B and even jazz, his sextet used English to penetrate the American public, sometimes using themes which incorporated the two languages. Tnis CD of some of the finest work by the Joe Cuba Sextet is compiled from the five key albums Steppin Out, Diggin' The Most, Comin' At You , Breakin' Out, and Para Enamorados Siempre, which they recorded for the revered N.Y. Seeco label from 1962-64. The Joe Cuba Sextet played more than boogaloo. As you will hear on this CD, their repertoire features superb Latin-jazz, joyful mambo, cha cha, bolero, guaracha and other Afro-Cuban rythms including a grooving version of Tito Puente's 'Oye Como Va'.
Strut continue their essential work with the “Godfather Of Ethio Jazz”, Mulatu Astatke, with the first official reissues of his early classics ‘Afro Latin Soul’ Volumes 1 and 2 from 1966, recorded as The Ethiopian Quintet.
Mongo at the Village Gate finds Mongo Santamaria entering the boogaloo era with a variety of funky pieces that show the influence of R&B and soul-jazz without losing the group's roots in Cuban music. The infectious live set teams the conguero with trumpeter Marty Sheller, the reeds of Pat Patrick and Bobby Capers, pianist Rodgers Grant, bassist Victor Venegas, drummer Frank Hernandez, and the percussion of Chihuahua Martinez and Julian Cabrera. Such tunes as "Fatback," "Mongo's Groove," and "Creole" have happy, soulful, and simple melodies. This is one of Marty Sheller's best dates on trumpet, while Santamaria takes "My Sound" as a colorful unaccompanied solo. A remake of "Para Ti" is a welcome addition.
In the '60s, R&B was a much larger market than jazz. While John Coltrane or Art Blakey could fill a small club like The Village Vanguard, James Brown and the Temptations were selling out large auditoriums - gone were the days when jazz was very much a part of popular culture and Benny Goodman's name was all over the pop charts. Soul's popularity wasn't lost on Verve, which is why some of Cal Tjader's '60s LPs had titles like Soul Sauce and El Sonido Nuevo: The New Soul Sound - Verve wanted the baby boomers who were buying Stax and Motown releases to notice Tjader as well. However, Soul Bird: Whiffenpoof isn't the R&B-drenched project that some might expect it to be. Tjader's vibes solos are soulful in that he plays with a lot of feeling, but he isn't trying to be Marvin Gaye…