Dance Party

February 3, 1959 will always be remembered as ‘the day the music died.’ On that frigid occasion, a small plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper crashed in a frozen Iowa field, killing all touring three rock and roll luminaries and their pilot. Bear Family’s posthumous tribute disc to the tragedy brings together some of their greatest recordings on this one-of-a-kind collection, along with key sides from the surviving participants of the tour—Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Sardo, Waylon Jennings, even Debbie Stevens, whose cover of If You Can’t Rock Me is an unheralded classic.

NOW Country Classics: 90's Dance Party is the 4th installment in the popular Country Classics series featuring country superstars Shania Twain, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Brooks & Dunn and many more. This project is a joint venture from Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. This release is part of the multiplatinum NOW That's What I Call Music! compilation series with sales topping 250 million copies worldwide and 94 million in the U.S. alone.

As of 2002, conga player Poncho Sanchez had been recording for Concord Records' Concord Picante imprint for 20 years, a good point at which to pause and take stock of his 20 albums for the label. The Ultimate Latin Dance Party does just that, selecting 23 key tracks from 18 of those albums on a two-disc set running over two hours. Sanchez pays tribute to his predecessors on such songs as Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia," and a "Tito Medley" dedicated to Tito Puente and including "Oye Como Va." Among the guest stars joining his band are Joey DeFrancesco, Eddie Harris, Mongo Santamaria, and Puente himself. While this best-of cannot replace Sanchez's extensive catalog for fans, it is a generous compilation for more general listeners, who should be able to get a good idea of the conga player's lively, exuberant style.

Bebo is considered one of the figures of the golden age of Cuban music and also performer of Afro-Cuban jazz. Since his departure from Cuba in 1960 to settle permanently in Sweden in 1963, Bebo disappeared from the musical memories of his Cuban people and spent more than 30 years out of his career until he reappeared in 1994 managing to recover his memory and triumphing with several of his jobs at the Grammy Awards. This album is a reissue of a compilation of recordings made in 1959, shortly before his departure from Cuba, with his orchestra (the first 11 issues), to which is added 4 Bebo cuts playing piano and featuring the ensemble 'Los Cordobeses'.