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ARTIST
TITLE
Coco May May: 1955-1962 Spanish Harlem Dancefloor Fillers - The Afro-Cuban Roots of Boogaloo
FORMAT
LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
GR 023LP GR 023LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
1/22/2016

140-gram LP in 350-gram reverse-printed cardboard sleeve. Remastered and restored sound. Edition of 500. In the '50s in El Barrio, pachanga, mambo, rumba, cha-cha-chá, and, above all, guajira and son montuno are the preferred rhythms. On Friday nights at The Palladium, the best orquestas, like Tito Puente's, Jack Costanzo's, and Joe Quijano's, keep the atmosphere hot as Machito, Cugat, and Bauzá did before them. Afro-Cuban rhythms had been finding a place in jazz and it was in the '40s and '50s when things gathered momentum, and that Latin thing that would explode later and be known commercially as "salsa" began to emerge, although there was a gap between those first pioneers and the new generation for whom boogaloo was king. Boogaloo has deep roots in Afro-rhythms, soul, and rhythm 'n' blues. It is fair to say that the bands who played charanga, mambo, and son considered boogaloo an inferior genre, and later they asked why this music was called "salsa," when it had always been Afro-Cuban music. With this series, Grosso! Recordings brings in some of the Latin bands based in New York between 1955 and 1962 and other recordings done in Cuba by orquestas of the likes of Arsenio Rodríguez, José Curbelo, Roberto Faz, and the immeasurable Sonora Matancera, Orquesta Kubavana, and La Playa Sextet. This collection documents not only the Latin sound of the big city -- "Pachanga en changa" by Joe Quijano, "Conmigo" by Eddie Palmieri, and "Mambo de Cuco" by Mongo Santamaria -- but also the more traditional sound of "El divorcio" with the incomparable "tres guitar" of Arsenio Rodríguez and the mambo at the end of "Guajira y Tambó" by Ray Barretto, together with the double meaning present on the lyrics of all Cuban music, such as Sonora Matancera's version of "Esto se hincha" and "Las Bobitas" by Roberto Faz. A must-have to understand the arrival of boogaloo and salsa. Format and selection designed for DJs, collectors, and the general public. Includes tracks by Tito Puente, Pío Leyva with Bebo Valdés & His Orchestra, Arsenio Rodríguez, Bienvenido Granda & La Sonora Matancera, Roberto Faz & His Conjunto, Fantasmita with C. Barbería & Kubavana, Ray Barretto, Jack Costanzo & His Afro Cuban Band, Joe Quijano & Conjunto Cachana, Cachao & His Combo, Eddie Palmieri & "La Perfecta", La Playa Sextet, Mongo Santamaria, and La Lupe.