Classic stuff by Noro – and a wonderful selection of hard to find material from the 50s! This isn't really a greatest hits album – but it is a good sampling of some of his better (and better-recorded) work during the postwar years, and almost all of the tracks have a nice hard groove to them. Titles include "Oye Negra", "Mambo Mono", "Cuban Mambo", "Bim, Bam, Bum", "Que Problema", and "Sha Wan Ga". LP, Vinyl record album

Classic stuff by Noro – and a wonderful selection of hard to find material from the 50s! This isn't really a greatest hits album – but it is a good sampling of some of his better (and better-recorded) work during the postwar years, and almost all of the tracks have a nice hard groove to them. Titles include "Oye Negra", "Mambo Mono", "Cuban Mambo", "Bim, Bam, Bum", "Que Problema", and "Sha Wan Ga". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Titles include "Guarachita", "Si Me Pudieras Querer", "Los Cinco Sentidos", "Amor Antillano", "Sun Sun Babae", "Mi Bambalaye", "Barin Bareta", and "Rumba A La Vida". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic album from this groundbreaking Latin combo from Chicago – one who've got an inclusive spirit that grabs together so many different elements of music and unifies them as one! The style isn't quite salsa, isn't Latin rock or jazz – but instead has so many strands of sounds coming together at once – not colliding, but really merging and making something beautiful and new in the process – always with a sound that's proud, righteous, and very aware of its power to change! In a time of borders and boundaries, the approach is especially welcome – and it's our guess that we'll be hearing plenty from Dos Santos in years to come. The album features some guest work from the Antibalas horns, arranged by Nick Mazzarella – plus cornet from Ben LaMar Gay – on titles that include "Cordva", "Purisma", "Manos Ajenas", "How Far Are We From Here", "You Are My Revolution", "Caminante", "Logos", "Return Y Regreso", and "Acabame". CD

One of the most hard-hitting early albums from the legendary Fruko – a set that really lives up to the powerful image on the cover and the title of the record – almost as if Fruko's trying to answer the badass energy of Willie Colon on the New York scene! The record definitely burns as hard as any of Willie's best from the time, but with that earthier groove that Fruko did so well – that quality that made his music from the time such a fresh, powerful new voice that showed the world that Colombia had plenty of great sounds of its own to offer – served up with styles that owned nothing to NYC or PR at all! Vocals are by Joe Arroyo and Wilson Saoko – and titles include "Salsa Na Ma", "Alma Navidena", "Mosaico Matancero", "La Nueva Bamba", "Vamos Pa'L Campo", "Rumba En Navidad", "Tronco Seco", "El Violento", "Nadando", and "Tu Solo Tu". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer set of Latin Soul from the New York scene of the late 60s – a record that's every bit as wonderful as boogaloo classics on labels like Fania and Cotique, but which never got released at the time! The production quality is wonderful – with the mighty Bobby Marin heading up the whole set, and channeling the talents of a fantastic all-star lineup – which includes both Charlie Palmieri and Richie Ray on piano, Tito Puente on timbales, Bobby Rodriguez on bass, and Louie Ramirez on vibes – plus vocals from Jimmy Sabater and Willie Torres, who really give the record a lot of soul! The set's a mixture of instrumentals and vocal numbers, in English and Spanish – and titles include "Something New", "Nitty Boo Boo", "Would You Believe Me?", "Rice And Beans", "Dixie's Mambo", "Fun City Hippy", "Say Listen", "A Fool Like Me", "Papel De Bambu", and "Shingaling Now Boogaloo Later". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible collaboration between pianist Eddie Palmieri and vibist Cal Tajder – a record done for Tico in answer to their previous session for Verve – and a set that's even harder-jamming overall! Cal and Eddie really find something special together on the record – and both players groove into a descarga mode that burns even more strongly than their own other work of the decade – a masterful jam that's a really true collaboration, and which brings out the best that both musicians had to offer. Cal's moving way beyond his familiar modes here – with a fluid, freely colorful sound – and Eddie himself is beginning to hit some of the darker, harder notes that would show up even more strongly on his records of the 70s. There's a much more strongly jazz-based sound here than most of Palmieri's previous records – a really bold focus on the instrumentation as it rolls out over some great modally-informed grooves – and titles include "Bamboleate", "Resemblance", "Guajira Candela", "Mi Montuno", and "Come An Get It". CD

A later album by Louie Ramirez – but a great set of jazz tracks with lots of excellent work on vibes! A few of the cuts have vocals, but the sound is mostly Latin jazz, and there's lots of solos by Louie. Cuts include "Suavecito", "Geisha Girl", "Midnight Sun", "Bamboleate", and "Baile De Ochun". LP, Vinyl record album

Mongo Santamaria at the height of his Latin Soul years – working on a cool Columbia session titled after an earlier hit, but served up with his new lean sound of the late 60s! The album's got that perfect Santamaria combo from the time – a group that features trumpet and these wonderfully sharp arrangements from the great Marty Sheller – plus very smoking reed work from a young Hubert Laws, wailing away on flute and tenor, and Bobby Capers on alto and baritone – both players who mix jazz and soul instrumental modes, to bring a hell of a lot of feeling to the overall sound of the band – in ways that really get past more familiar use of trumpet or trombone in other Latin combos. The band grooves nicely on original material like "Streak O Lean", "Ricky Tick", "Do It To It", "Fatback", "Coconut Milk", and "Jose Outside" – and they also reprise Mongo's big hit "Watermelon Man". LP, Vinyl record album

A dozen songs from Araketu, Bamdamel, Negritude Jr, Soweto, Grupo 100%, Karametade, Ronaldo & Os Barcelos, and Vinny. (Global Grooves, Latin) CD

A smoking third volume in this mighty look at the Peruvian cumbia scene of the 70s – music that often shares the same blend of guitar, percussion, and keyboards that makes some of the chica grooves from that time so great! The music here maybe owes a bit more to Latin sounds from up north, but the overall execution is very strongly in the modes put forth by Peruvian labels and producers at the time – often with great use of echo, especially in the guitar lines and keyboards – which make things sound very different than anything coming from Colombia or New York at the time! Yet there's also plenty of salsa elements at play here, too – the kind of percussive interplay that might be driving a Cuban or Puerto Rican combo – but nicely different in this setting too. Titles include "Chola Ingrata" by Los Ecos, "Manzana Verde" by Los Tantos, "El Saltamontes" by Silvestre Montez Y Sus Guantanameros, "La Manzanita" by Los Gitanos, "Descarga Oriental" by Los Orientales De Paramonga, "Larga Espera" by Los Sanders De Nana, "Lamento Moyobambino" by Sonido Verde De Moyobamba, and "La Narajadita" by Grupo Siglo XX. (Global Grooves, Latin) CD

Excellent collection of tracks from Salsoul's great Latin series from the mid 70's! Despite the "disco" in the title, most of the tracks on here are straight salsa, and the LP features tracks like "Bamboleate" by Libre, "Trompeta En Montuno" by Chocolate, "Adelante" by Cachao, "Kimbo Kimbisa" by Graciela, "Anabacoa" by Grupo Folklorico, and "Chico & The Man" by Joe Bataan. Lots of stuff that's hard to find on vinyl, too! LP, Vinyl record album

A really deep dive into the world of electrified Peruvian music – one that's put together not only with a killer collection of tracks, but also some really detailed notes that expand on this wonderfully unique hybrid of styles! Rhythms are often in the territory of cumbia from slightly farther north in the South American scene, but given all sorts of rootsier percussion touches – then mixed with electric guitar and thin keyboards, of the sort that you'd normally expect to hear on a 60s surf record – yet reworked here with a uniquely tropical vibe! The approach is often more instrumental than vocal, but you'll hear plenty of voices on the set too – sometimes just calling out to urge on the instrumentalists in the combos – on titles that include "La Hamaca" by Los Cisnes, "Humo En La Selva" by Los Invasores De Progreso, "Selva Virgen" by Los Zheros, "Descarga Royal" by Los Royals De Pucallpa, "Baila Bonito" by Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical, "El Pasito De Miriam" by Grupo Siglo XX De Rioja, "La Palmerita" by Fresa Juvenil De Tarapoto, and "Recordando Aguaytia" by Sonido Verde De Moybamba. (Global Grooves, Latin) CD

A really deep dive into the world of electrified Peruvian music – one that's put together not only with a killer collection of tracks, but also some really detailed notes that expand on this wonderfully unique hybrid of styles! Rhythms are often in the territory of cumbia from slightly farther north in the South American scene, but given all sorts of rootsier percussion touches – then mixed with electric guitar and thin keyboards, of the sort that you'd normally expect to hear on a 60s surf record – yet reworked here with a uniquely tropical vibe! The approach is often more instrumental than vocal, but you'll hear plenty of voices on the set too – sometimes just calling out to urge on the instrumentalists in the combos – on titles that include "La Hamaca" by Los Cisnes, "Humo En La Selva" by Los Invasores De Progreso, "Selva Virgen" by Los Zheros, "Descarga Royal" by Los Royals De Pucallpa, "Baila Bonito" by Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical, "El Pasito De Miriam" by Grupo Siglo XX De Rioja, "La Palmerita" by Fresa Juvenil De Tarapoto, and "Recordando Aguaytia" by Sonido Verde De Moybamba. (Global Grooves, Latin) LP, Vinyl record album