El Malo
Artist: Willie Colón

El Malo was Colon and Hector Lavoe's first-ever recording, made in 1967 when Colon was a mere 17 years old. Every number's a killer: "Jazzy," "Juana Pena," "Borinquen," "El Malo." Plus boogalu! ~ Carl Hoyt, All Music Guide Read More

Latin Bugalu
Artist: Charlie Palmieri

Latin Bugalu suffers from the usual affliction of New York Latin albums. By the time the recording is made, times have changed and the artist has moved on to something new. The boogaloos here are better than average, and even first-rate in the case of Frank Ross' "Bugalu." But the star tracks, at least at a distance safe from the boogaloo fad,... Read More

Salsa's Bad Boy
Artist: Willie Colón
Contrabanda
Artist: Willie Colón

Three out of eight tracks on Colon's latest were recorded in Venezuela, the rest in New York. Both bands frequently reach beyond salsa into his more romantic image; much of side one is a medley including his early hit "Che Che Cole" and "Calle Luna Valle Sol." The first two songs are the dullest: the rest, though not vintage Colon, show repeated... Read More

Taboo
Artist: Ray Barretto

Ray Barretto's Taboo features a new, smaller version of his New World Spirit ensemble. Hector Martignon, who composes along with Barretto, is still here, as are Satoshi Takeishi, Ray Vega, and Jairo Moreno. Saxophonist Adam Kolker takes the sax chair vacated by Jay Rodriguez, and guitarist Alfredo Gonzales has not been replaced. The material is... Read More

My Summertime
Artist: Ray Barretto

Ray Barretto (a master of the congas) has effectively fused together bop-oriented jazz with Latin rhythms to form a particularly viable version of Afro-Cuban jazz; he hates the term "Latin jazz." Rather than sounding like two forms of music, Barretto's group New World Spirit shows that Latin rhythms can uplift all types of jazz songs, even... Read More

Afro Blue: The Picante Collection
Artist: Mongo Santamaria

In assembling its own "Mongo's Greatest Hits" entry, Concord Picante had only a slim catalog of four albums, a narrow time frame, and one of Mongo's less incendiary phases to choose from. But they stuck with a purist concept, avoiding pop covers and experiments, targeting Mongo's vintage standards and numbers that conjure some of the old... Read More