PRICE:
$25.00$21.25
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Descargas
FORMAT
LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
VAMPI 246LP VAMPI 246LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
4/29/2022

Official reissue of 1967 descargas album by Peruvian percussionist Coco Lagos y Sus Orates. 1966 was a prolific year for the MAG record label. The percussion playing by 29-year-old Peruvian Coco Lagos stands out on a number of MAG recordings. Coco continued his early career, and he played the conga drums for artists who passed through Lima, accompanying Pérez Prado, Oréfiche, and Chano Scotty, among others. In the late '50s, he started working as a regular musician in the recently founded record company MAG, alongside musicians such as Ñiko Estrada, Mario Allison, Lucho Macedo... After taking part in numerous recordings, in 1966 the director of the MAG label, Manuel Guerrero, asked him to make a series of recordings for an LP that would be released under the name Coco Lagos y sus Orates. According to Coco's statements to the press, the orchestra included musicians from the label such as pianist Alfredo Linares; vibraphonists Carlos "Charlie" Palomares and Otto de Rojas; timbalero Mario Allison; alto sax player Mario Escobar; Chilean trumpeter Víctor "Duraznito" Durand; double bass player Santiago Colón; and vocalists Benny del Solar, Kiko Fuentes, and César Gonzales, as well as other backing singers. On July 21, 1966, the recording kicked off with "Tumba Coco", a descarga composed by Coco and Manuel Guerrero, and sung by Benny del Solar and César Gonzales. The following month they laid down the tracks "Guajireate", by Manuel Guerrero; "Volando", by Mario Allison and Manuel Guerrero, also sung by César Gonzales and Benny del Solar; and the instrumental "Mamblues", an original song by Cal Tjader, who recorded it in 1965. This track became a hit again in 1972, when it was included in the animated film for adults Fritz the Cat, based on the drawings by Robert Crumb. In September, the LP project entitled Descargas was announced to the press, and as a preview, a single with "Tumba Coco" and "Mamblues" was released, which caught the attention of the music critics. The New York label Alegre Records, which maintained friendly commercial relations with Manuel Guerrero, revitalized the descarga genre in the 1960s through the Alegre All-Stars Orchestra, whose records were re-released in Peru under the MAG black label. The Descargas sessions also resumed in September, when they recorded two versions by the widely regarded as the Father of Boogaloo, Joe Cuba and his sextet: "Brava Pachanga" and "El Hueso", both sung by César Gonzales. Includes insert with liner notes; 180 gram vinyl.