Various Artists: The Complete Cuban Jam Sessions
There is much anecdotal evidence – some of it apocryphal – that the Cubans brought a diabolical complexity to Jazz when the musicians among...
Pérez Prado & Shorty Rogers: Voodoo Suite
Who knew that Dámaso Pérez Prado, the “Mambo King”, director of Sonora Matancera between 1936 and 1939, long before he formed his iconic mambo...
Ray Barretto: Standards Rican-ditioned
This album Standards Rican-ditioned by Ray Barretto has a very special – albeit tragic – place in the history and in the everlasting...
Cachao: Master Sessions Volumes I & II
Israel “Cachao” López is one of those larger-than-life figures, a monumental Cuban musician. Although not as famous as Bebo Valdés, he was still one...
Machito: Kenya
Far from being the obligatory “essential Latin Jazz” album, Machito’s Kenya escapes this glib epithet by the skin of its teeth. Drumming out the...
Al McKibbon: Black Orchid
Al McKibbon was one of the finest modern melodic bassists. The fact that he could play with the great Herbie Nichols will testify to...
Bebo Valdés Trio: El Arte Del Sabor
There is no “one” single iconic recording by the great Bebo Valdés. The pianist was an epitomé of good taste, which is not the...
Mongo Santamaría: Mongo at The Village Gate
Mongo Santamaria, more than any other Cuban percussionist, has had a wider appeal across musical idioms and metaphors. His music comes from deep within...
Armando Romeu: 1er Concierto de la Orq Cubana de Música Moderna
The Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna was one of the early swing bands that rocked Cuba and it’s hardly surprising why. The big band...
Chico O’Farrill: The Afro-Cuban Jazz Suites 1 and 2
Arturo “Chico” O’Farrill, who was born in Cuba in 1921, decided to follow family tradition and enter into law practice. But before he could...
Herbie Hancock: Inventions & Dimensions
Herbie Hancock was just twenty-three when he recorded this Inventions & Dimensions. The music on the recording, and the fact that Mr. Hancock was...
Peruchín Y Su Grupo: Piano Con Moña
Pedro “Peruchín” Jústiz is one of the most iconic and seminal figures in Afro-Cuban music, a pianist who was an important influence on Charlie...
Jane Bunnett: Spirits of Havana
Every one of the albums that Jane Bunnett has made, with or without her husband and trumpet/flugelhorn player, Larry Cramer, with or without Don...
Dizzy Gillespie y Machito: Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods
Dizzy Gillespie honored his African roots in many ways. His chameleonic writing was a testament to this fact. He also, along with Chano Pozo,...
Kenny Dorham: Afro-Cuban
The fabled Spanish tinge has hovered on the fringes of jazz a lot longer ago that it was known to have been introduced into...
Bobby Sanabria Big Band: Live & in Clave
Sixteen years ago Bobby Sanabria took his Big Band on the road and when they were in Birdland on May 20 in 1999, the...
Patato y Totico: Patato and Totico
This seminal recording by one of the finest congueros Carlos “Patato” Valdés and Eugenio "Totico" Arango, another great Cuban musical figure, also features two...
Chucho Valdés & Irakere: A 2-CD Retrospective
While you might have to wait until “My Reverie” on Disc Two to experience the full virtuosity of leader and pianist Chucho Valdés, it’s...
Angá: Echu Mingua
This record Echu Mingua pays tribute to Miguel ‘Angá’ Diaz’s Yoruba deity. This prophetic return to his roots – he says in his notes,...
Rubén González: Introducing Rubén González
It is one of those travesties of justice that some of Cuba’s greatest musicians were discovered or re-discovered by adoring audiences worldwide when they...
