Latin

Not a dud in the bunch here. The woman on the cover also makes an appearance, in the exact same outfit, on a Perez Prado album I have. That album is also of high quality (and will also be posted at a later date…ran out of time tonight). It stands to reason that if you see an album with this woman on the cover, proceed directly to the shopkeeper and buy it at whatever the cost. This album was part of nice haul at the thrifts this week…more good stuff to come. In the meantime, enjoy “Closer Closer”:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Arriba.zip (44MB)

This is a snappy collection of tunes guaranteed to get your toes tapping. I have absolutely no info on this release…the cover lists no artists, but the label says these songs are from Machito and his Afro Cubans and Pepito Pavon and his Orchestra. Lift your spirits with the Good Time Merengue:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Machito.zip (44MB)

I’m not much for show tunes, but take a show tune, make it a Cha Cha, and…Bam! You’ve got a winner. I think you could take pretty much any tune and improve it by cha cha-ing it up a bit. Someone should do the world a favor and convert the Eagle’s back catalog to cha chas. “Hotel California Cha Cha Cha” — there’s an idea you can have for free.

According to the jacket, this album is “one of the most unique undertakings in modern recording annals.” The band is Fred Sateriale’s Big Band, and the tunes are tight. Check out “On the Street Where You Live Cha Cha Cha:”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Bway Cha Cha Chas.zip (41MB)

Ethel Smith rocks. Check out that video clip from Bathing Beauty and tell me Ethel doesn’t rock. Did you watch it yet? See what I mean? Here Ethel shines on some Latin favorites, including her trademark Tico Tico.  As an aside, this particular Latin may have come via Manhattan, but Miss Smith was born and raised in Pittsburgh.

Enjoy The Parrot (On The Fortune Teller’s Hat):

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Ethel Smith Latin.zip (43MB)

Here’s a neat 45. Two Cha Chas and two mambos. I have a Samba one of these too. Look for that one soon. This one even came with a coupon for free dance lessons. I wonder if it’s still good…I’d like to learn to Mambo. I imagine it’s a skill, not unlike knot tying or perhaps basic auto repair, that would come in very handy for daily life.

Hey! Peanut vendor!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Murray Cha Cha Mambo.zip (15MB)

According to Space Age Pop, this album was arranged by Francis Bay, “Bay also provided the material for a number of albums released on Directional Sound. Credited to ‘John Evans’ — the Americanized name of his piano player, Jean Evans — or ‘Don Catelli’ — these are certainly the best of an attractive and well-produced (if shoddily annotated) series of glossy gatefolds clearly targeted at the same market as Enoch Light’s Command albums.”

I wouldn’t call the annotation “shoddy” so much as I would call it, um, well, “flowery” maybe? An example:

“A searing alto saxophone carries the argument over bristling timbales and drums…then the alto’s flight with biting trumpets swerves into a rhapsodic piano solo.”

It takes A LOT of words to fill up a gatefold cover. A dog-eared thesaurus is apparently a required tool of the trade.

Of course, gatefold scribblings don’t really matter much in the end, and the music on this album is GOOD, and this particular LP is in pristine shape. Worth a download.

Check out “Patricia” mambo man:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Latin Brass.zip (56MB)

It’s Monday morning, and really, who isn’t thinking about Tequila. And, of course, anything with “a go go” in the title, has to be quality. You have my personal guarantee. This album was released in 1966, a year that saw another artist with a letter “T” brass band score four Billboard top ten albums.

A word about the Audio Fidelity label. Audio Fidelity records are the gold nuggets in the stream of thrift store record prospecting. I hope to post more AF records from my collection in the future.

The title track:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tequila a go go.zip (22MB)