Mambo! And other Latin Music.

[Jezebel_Amazon]

I just wanted to share some videos... with great dance sequences and songs. Me being Latin I'm so fond of these videos. I hope this is the right place to post it! I hope to see other videos or hear other great tunes.

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[Paisley]

This thread might interest you:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=9044

 

[dhermann1]

I love Latin music of all stripes. I recently posted a bunch of Youtube clips of Astor Piazzolla on Facebook. Maybe I'll put them up here, too.
Of course I tend to like the older stuff. I have a really fun CD of Desi Arnaz's band from the early 50's. Most Norde Americanos don't realize that he was one of the top Latin musicians of his day in the 40's and early 50's.

 

[Chas]

My favorite Cuban orchestra is the Lecuona Cuban Boys, named for (IMO) the "Cuban Gershwin", Ernesto Lecuona. They toured extensively through Europe and S. America and recorded with Josephine Baker while in France.

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I also recommend Antobal's Cubans and Edmundo Ros. There is also, of course, Xavier Cugat.

 

[rmrdaddy]

This seemed incredibly a propos for this forum. Perez Prado on vinyl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKIenilOCro

 

[Chas]

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[Bustercat]

LOVE this song.

This guy is great, what a voice.
[YOUTUBE]gawQouGfXpw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Rundquist]

Latin music reached the height of its popularity in this country during the 50’s. That’s when it really entered the public consciousness. The mambo (and later the cha, cha, cha) were a fad at the time. Unfortunately what was being listened to for the most part (as is usually the case), was kitschy, and not totally authentic Latin music. This was of course a double-edged sword. It put Latin musicians to work (though there was definitely a discriminatory sliding pay scale).

But what is the Mambo? Where did it come from? The Mambo is a rhythm. It was derived from another Cuban rhythm called the Guaguanco. Depending on who’s camp you’re in, it was either started by Israel “Cachao” Lopez, or Arsenio Rodriguez. The mambo rhythm was the foundation of Latin music in the US at the time. The other major development that happened in the 40’s was the blending of jazz elements into Latin music. This happened primarily in New York by Puerto Rican and Cuban musicians.

The first people to do this were Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, and Mario Buaza (though Jack Costanso was playing with the Stan Kenton orchestra 6 months before Gillespie and Pozo played together). Chano was recommended to Dizzy by Mario Buaza. The two had met while playing in the Cab Calloway band. Dizzy became interested in the Music of Mario’s native land and when asked about who he should get to help him put together a band, Mario recommended Chano. Chano was a conga player from Cuba.

But the first band to get the blend perfectly right was the Machito band under the direction of Mario Buaza. I think that Buaza understood jazz a bit better than Gillespie understood Latin music, personally. Machito’s band sort of became the blueprint for Latin music and soon there were two other great bands competing with him in NY, Tito Puente & Tito Rodriguez.

Both Tito’s were of Puerto Rican decent. Both Tito’s had bands (like Machito’s) that were partially based on big bands. They had full sax sections and trumpet sections. The instrumentation also added to the “Mambo sound”. In the late 50’s after the Mambo fad was in full swing, the Cha, Cha, Cha was added to the repertoire. It was an easier (slower) rhythm to dance to.

During all this time, you had the stuff that was in the national consciousness and you had the authentic stuff that was being played in NY. As Mambo died (as far as the rest of the country was concerned), Latin music continued to thrive in NY. The trombone made its present felt and the sax was pretty much dropped (except for Latin jazz).

With the addition of the trombone, Mambo morphed into Salsa. The first Latin trombone record was by a Puerto Rican singer named Mon Rivera. But the man that really solidified the trombone’s position was Eddie Palmieri. Eddie is given credit for many modern innovations. He was the first one to continue to play a montuno with the left hand while taking a solo with the right during a piano solo (on 1965’s Azucar), for instance. He also brought the parade rhythm the Mozambique into prominence (though the actual adaption of the rhythm to be played by a single man was done by Eddie’s timbalero, Manny Oquendo).

Soon other all-trombone bands popped up like Willie Colon’s and Joe Bataan’s. Larry Harlow put together the first band who’s horn section consisted of two trumpets and two trombones. This instrumentation became the standard in Salsa. Salsa had it’s heyday in the 70’s and to a lesser extent the 80’s. Like all good things, it’s almost extinct today in NY.


Machito- Yo Soy La Rumba
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Tito Puente- El Rey Del Timbal
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Tito Rodriguez- Avisale A Mi Contrario
Durring the Mambo wars this was Tito's call to arms.
"Tell my advesary that I'm right here".

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Eddie Palmieri- Lo Que Triago Es Sabroso
(complete with animation that works for some odd reason)
Listen for how seamlessly they work in a 6/8 rhythm pattern into the middle of the song. 6/8 time is really African. American counterparts never did anything half as rhythmically complex.
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Eddie Palmieri- Azucar
"Azucar" also broke the "2 and a half minute" single barrier. That credit is usually given to the Doors "Light My Fire". Eddie did it a full two years earlier.
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Willie Colon- Todo Tiene Su Final (Everything has its end)
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Live version just because its awesome.
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[Rundquist]

One more just because the Comparsa rhythm is sick.

Eddie Palmieri-Camagueyanos Y Habaneros from 1966
With the right partials it's amazing what you can achieve with two trombones.

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[Rundquist]

Well….one more.

This is Eddie Palmieri’s “Café” (a son montuno/cha cha) from 1964. It talks about the virtues of a strained, homemade cup of coffee. Barry Rodgers just kills it on the trombone.

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Here's his second take on it from 1998. I prefer the original, but this is good too.
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[Jezebel_Amazon]

Awwww this song reminds me of my Abuelita. <3
She loves that song.. and Beny More. You just hit a soft spot Bustercat!

LOVE this song.

This guy is great, what a voice.
[YOUTUBE]gawQouGfXpw[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Jezebel_Amazon]

One of my favorite singers is Lola Flores a flamenco singer/dancer from Spain. I love her stuff. One of my first records was hers and my Abuela gave it to me so I hold it dear.

[YOUTUBE]GD2C7H5tbSg[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]ZQPgQ3vkKrE[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]6oLZ62z4RHo[/YOUTUBE]

And something not as dramatic for those rolling their eyes.

[YOUTUBE]SJUXLtVOun4[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Rundquist]

Maybe this stuff should go in a separate thread (not to be a stick in the mud, I know you started the thread). It's just that stuff is Flamenco, not mambo, as the thread title suggests.

 

[Jezebel_Amazon]

Well I put and Other Latin music for that reason. As much as I love mambo I'd like to see different things. Mambo isn't the only interesting Latin music out there.

Maybe this stuff should go in a separate thread (not to be a stick in the mud, I know you started the thread). It's just that stuff is Flamenco, not mambo, as the thread title suggests.

 

[Jezebel_Amazon]

Oh please share!

I love Latin music of all stripes. I recently posted a bunch of Youtube clips of Astor Piazzolla on Facebook. Maybe I'll put them up here, too.
Of course I tend to like the older stuff. I have a really fun CD of Desi Arnaz's band from the early 50's. Most Norde Americanos don't realize that he was one of the top Latin musicians of his day in the 40's and early 50's.

 

[Bustercat]

Awwww this song reminds me of my Abuelita. <3
She loves that song.. and Beny More. You just hit a soft spot Bustercat!

Glad to help take you back, JA.
He showed up on my Slacker Radio station, I'd never heard him before. I'm hooked!

 

[Rundquist]

Well I put and Other Latin music for that reason. As much as I love mambo I'd like to see different things. Mambo isn't the only interesting Latin music out there.

You know, I must have misread the title. There is a provision for other latin music in the title, which I didn't account for. I personally would never lump "Latin music" together like that (that's like having a thread on "American music" which is too broad a stroke), but I should have started my own thread then. [huh] Carry on.

 

[Jezebel_Amazon]

I wouldn't consider it "lumping" it together. Just more as bringing it together. I doubt there where more than 5 popular Latin genres in the Golden Era or Mid-Century. I figured making separate threads for each sub-genre would be obnoxious. But you are right there is so much of mambo to cover. By all means start a thread.. I just figured there was one out there already and I have interest in other Latin styles so I made this. I honestly didn't think anyone would have an issue with my posting of videos....but I guess I was wrong. Hah.

You know, I must have misread the title. There is a provision for other latin music in the title, which I didn't account for. I personally would never lump "Latin music" together like that (that's like having a thread on "American music" which is too broad a stroke), but I should have started my own thread then. [huh] Carry on.

 

[Bustercat]

(that's like having a thread on "American music" which is too broad a stroke)

Alot of us are new or just getting into this stuff. An overview like this is actually pretty helpful.

 

[Rundquist]

I can get overzealous when it comes to this music. It changed my life. I grew up on some “old timey” types of music (amongst other things). I still enjoy a lot of it to this day. But Afro Cuban music from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s destroyed me.

It took all three elements of music (melody, harmony, and rhythm) and set them to 10. It’s one of the most sophisticated music’s of the world, and yet it’s unknown to most. The great New York DJ “Symphony Sid” (whom the song was written about) was one of the storied jazz DJ’s of all time. Many people do not know this, but he was a Jazzer turned “Mambonic”. Durring the last part of his career he stopped playing jazz and played Mambo/Salsa exclusively.

Mambo/Salsa music sort of incubated during the 40’s. It didn’t reach it’s full potential until later. I don’t like to rank music and say, “this is better than that”. But it is possible to say something reached a zenith at a certain point. Some people here would say that jazz reached that point in the 40’s (of course others would say it was the 50’s and 60’s, but that’s not the point). Mambo/Latin music picked up where big band music left off.

When jazz stopped being popular/dance music, Latin music still was (at least in segregated areas). Mambo music employed all of the elements that big band music did as well (not to mention other elements). It used horns. It used complex chords. It was dance music. The two really are related. For that reason, I always shove it into music threads when I can. I’m trying to expose people to it.

If anybody enjoys some of the people mentioned in these threads, that’s great. Because I have a strong opinion, it can be interpreted as condescending perhaps. That was not my intention. Benny More was a genius. He was a great singer and had a great band. I have his complete works.

As far as Desi Arnez goes, I would say if you like him, then you should also check out Miguelito Valdez. Desi played in his band at one point and pretty much copied everything that he did. Miguelito was one of the greatest.

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