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Spanish language music: Mambo
ABOUT MAMBO
Mambo is a musical form and dance style that originated in Cuba in the
1930s and 1940s and became part of the big band sound of the 1950s.
It combines European ballroom dances with the rhythms of African folk
music. The music traditionally combines voice, trumpets, and a rhythm
section consisting of a bass, conga drum, and cowbell or timbale. Mambo
tempos are moderate to rapid.
MAMBO ARTISTS, CDs & AUDIO CLIPS
Desi
Arnaz (Cuba)
CD The Best of
Desi Arnaz: The Mambo King [1992] LISTEN
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CD | CD 1937-1947 [1998]
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CD
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Lou
Bega (Germany / Uganda, Sicily)
CD Little Bit
of Mambo [1999] LISTEN
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CD
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Cachao
(Cuba)
CD ¡Ahora
sí! [2004] LISTEN
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CD REVIEW: Bassist Israel "Cachao" Lopez put mambo
as well as the jazzy jam sessions known as descargas on the map. The
Miami-based actor/percussionist Andy Garcia resurrected him from obscurity
with the popular Master Sessions recordings in the 1990s. This CD and
DVD, recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, is Cachao's fourth
collaboration with Garcia. The ageless bandleader's deep arco and pizzicato
basslines anchor an all-star group, which includes salsa trombonist
Jimmy Bosch, timbalero Orestes Vilato, and tresguitarist Neslon Gonzalez.
They lay down the Afro-Cuban rhythms that range from the changui to
the rumba. "Mambo Cambio de Swing" links Havana to Harlem,
while "Guajira Clasica" marries Bartokian style with the Cuban
countryside. "Queja Africana/Protesta Abakua" is laced with
Justo Almario's Coltrane-tinged saxophone and completes the transcultural
influences of this great musician. -- Review by Eugene Holley, Jr.
CD Cuba linda [2000]
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CD | CD Master Sessions
Vol. 1 [1994], LISTEN
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CD, Vol. 2 [1995] LISTEN
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CD
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Celia
Cruz (Cuba / USA)
CD100% Azúcar!: The Best
of Celia Cruz [1997] LISTEN
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CD | CD Regalo del Alma [2003]
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CD | CD Mi vida es cantar
[1998] LISTEN
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CD | CD Celia in the House:
Classic Hits Remixed [2003] LISTEN
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CD
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Xavier
Cugat (Spain / Cuba)
CD The Original Latin Dance King
[2002] LISTEN
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CD REVIEW: One of Latin music's original 20th-century superstars
of stage, record, and screen, the bandleader born Francisco de Asis
Javier Cugat Mingall de Cru y Deulofeo may have delivered the rumba,
tango, and mambo with a slick mainstream veneer, but it was precisely
those shrewd commercial instincts that undoubtedly brought a rich, rhythm-charged
world of music to audiences who might never otherwise have been exposed
to it. The 23 gloriously remastered tracks here span the '40s and '50s,
an era when "Cugie" was a household name due to his myriad
radio and film appearances. The material ranges from an energetic 1941
Miguelito Valdes performance of the Afro-Cuban staple (and later Desi
Arnaz signature tune) "Babalu" and a Cugie-ized take on Tito
Puente's evergreen "Suavecito" to more jazz-kitschy renditions
of "The Brand New Cha-Cha" and "The Anything Can Happen
Mambo" by third wife Abbe Lane (Cugat would later marry pop culture
icon Charro). The mambo and merengue fads of the '40s and '50s are also
given their due via Pérez Prado's "Mambo Jambo" and
"A Bailar Merengue" respectively. Machito may have been more
"authentic," but few could quibble with the effervescence
and missionary zeal Cugat brought to Latin music for eight remarkable
decades. Let this be your appetizer. -- Review by Jerry McCulley
CD Golden Classics [1995]
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CD | CD South America, Take
It Away: 24 Latin Hits [1997] LISTEN
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CD | CD 16 Most Requested
Songs [1995] LISTEN
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CD
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Machito
(Cuba / USA)
CD Mambo Mucho
Mamba [2002] LISTEN
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CD | BOX SET Ritmo caliente
[2002]
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CD | CD Mucho Macho: Machito
& His Afro-Cuban Salseros [1991] LISTEN
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CD
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Beny
Moré (Cuba)
CD Cuban Originals
[1999] LISTEN
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CD REVIEW: Aside from being Buena Vista Social Club alumni,
what else do Omara Portuondo and Eliades Ochoa have in common? They've
both issued releases that include songs originally made famous by the
great Beny Moré. After a successful Mexican tour with Conjunto
Matamoros, the Cuban vocalist made his first big splash at the microphone
of Pérez Prado's supercharged mambo machine (check out the overheated
"Pachito E' Che 1950") before taking the reins of an orchestra
of his own in 1954. Most Cuban singers are known for their deftness
with the romantic bolero or the more aggressive mambo styles, but Moré
excelled in both areas. On "Y Hot Como Ayer," recorded in
1955, he glides from a midregister croon to effortless trumpetlike glissandos,
his big band pulsating behind him, while he plays a sonero to a T on
1957's "Que Bueno Baila Usted," one of many memorable songs
he penned himself. This excellent introduction to Moré's career
includes newly remastered songs originally released from 1949 to 1958.
-- Review by Bob Tarte
CD Lo mejor de lo mejor [2001]
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CD | CD Serie platino - 20
exitos [1997] LISTEN
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CD
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amazon
Pérez
Prado - "King of the Mambo" (Cuba)
CD Cuban Originals [1999]
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CD REVIEW: Pérez Prado may not have invented the mambo,
but he invented the style of mambo most people remember. The Cuban-born
Prado had his first success developing his high-octane variation on
the son montuno in Mexico in 1949. His angular arrangements with
chugging rhythms were too radical for the Cuban recording establishment,
but not for the Mexican film industry. Prado became the musical director
sought by leading producers, and his soundtracks attracted deserved
attention back home--leading to a fruitful collaboration with vocalist
Beny Moré. Many of the songs here bear the stamp of Prado's cinematic
sweep, like "Sabor a Mi," where a picaresque muted trumpet
scales peaks of throbbing brass, or the bombastic annunciation of "Besame
Mucho." Because he was so ambitiously modernist, his oeuvre still
sounds fresh today. A lightning-bug version of "Flight of the Bumblebee"
casts off impressive solos with the nonchalance of a clown juggling
while turning cartwheels. Gaudy and irresistible, these instrumentals--including
two of Prado's earliest mambos--cross-pollinate swing era big band music
and Afro-Cuban rhythms with the delicacy of a cymbal crash. Extra bonus:
two songs prefiguring Prado's No. 1 American hit "Cherry Pink and
Apple Blossom White." -- Review by Bob Tarte
CD Lo mejor de lo mejor [2001]
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CD | CD Mambo Mania / Havana
3am [1994] LISTEN
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CD | CD Voodoo Suite / Exotic
Suite of the Americas [1990] LISTEN
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CD
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at amazon
Tito
Rodriguez (Puerto Rico)
CD The Best of
Tito Rodriguez, Vol. 3 [1994] LISTEN
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CD
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