Latin Soul Plus Jazz
Artist: Machito

Tremendous arrangements, driving solos, and good dance tunes. Originally issued as Kenya. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide Read More

Cross Currents
Artist: Hilton Ruiz

Pianist Hilton Ruiz's first American date as a leader (after releases for SteepleChase, Denon and Jazz Unite) finds him performing Latin-flavored versions of bop standards. With bassist Major Holley and usually drummer Ed Blackwell and percussionists Ray Barretto and Steve Berrios joining him, Ruiz performs such numbers as "Stolen Moments," "My... Read More

Latino
Artist: Cal Tjader

Vibraphonist Cal Tjader is heard leading five different groups throughout this CD but the identities of the flutists, bassists and pianists are less important than knowing that Tjader, Willie Bobo (on drums and timbales) and the great conga player Mongo Santamaria are on every selection. The music really cooks with torrid percussion, inspired... Read More

Soul Sauce
Artist: Cal Tjader

Soul Sauce is one of the highlights from Tjader's catalog with its appealing mixture of mambo, samba, bolero, and boogaloo styles. Tjader's core band -- long-time piano player Lonnie Hewitt, drummer Johnny Rae and percussionist's Willie Bobo and Armanda PerazaŃ -- starts things off with a cooled down version of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo's... Read More

Machito at the Crescendo
Artist: Machito

Machito, one of the most revered artists in the history of Afro-Cuban music, lives up to his well-deserved reputation for giving 200 percent in concert on At the Crescendo. Captured live at Hollywood, CA's Crescendo (a legendary, long-gone Sunset Strip nightclub owned by record exec/producer/concert promoter Gene Norman), Machito and his... Read More

Royal 'T'
Artist: Tito Puente

Tito Puente has long championed Latin-jazz, a combination of Latin percussion and rhythms with bebop-oriented jazz. This release from the Concord Picante label serves as a perfect introduction to his music. For this date Puente (who performs on timbales and marimba) uses six horns, piano, bass, synthesizer and three other percussionists to play... Read More

Hot Sauce
Artist: Juan Amalbert & His Latin Jazz Quintet

The Latin Jazz Quintet was among the more interesting, if short-lived, groups on the early '60s scene. The band made intriguing, exciting dates with both Eric Dolphy and Pharoah Sanders when each was in his sax infancy. The 15 selections on this CD reissue combine selections from two Latin Jazz Quintet dates done between recording dates with... Read More

Several Shades of Jade/Breeze from the East
Artist: Cal Tjader

Prodded by producer Creed Taylor, Cal Tjader turned momentarily away from pure Latin jazz to explore some polystylistic fusions of East and West on a pair of 1963 Verve albums. The first, Several Shades of Jade, finds Tjader in the intriguing company of Lalo Schifrin, who provides some searching, delicate, challenging, and yes, grooving... Read More