Candido cut sooo many great Latin records over the years, spanning a wide range of styles, we have a hard time deciding which we love the best. We like to think this may be his best album from the early part of his career, specifically because it features the master conga player amidst a tight jazz lineup, who leave him plenty of room to solo and just plain get down doing his thing. Dick Hyman's on organ, Joe Puma's on guitar, and Ernie Royal's on trumpet, with George Duvivier and Charlie Persip in the rhythm section. 8 tracks in all, including "Afro Blue", "Caravan", "Softly But Blue", "Blue Lou", "Blue Prelude", "Bongo Baby", "Blue Dirge" and "Candido Cocktail". LP, Vinyl record album

Supposedly the end of Willie Colon's early "crime" career – as the title and cover imply that he's finally been brought to trial! Don't worry about Willie being beaten down, though, because the music on the album is every bit as fierce and powerful as ever – and features a number of long tracks that really stretch out in a highly percussive groove! The group's great – with Jose Mangual on bongos, Joe Torres on piano, and Milton Cardona on conga – as well as Hector Lavoe still in the lead on vocals. Titles include "Aguanile", "Pan y Agua", "Seguire Sin Ti", "Timbalero", "Pirana", "Ah Ah O No", "Si La Ves", and "Sonando Despierto". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most obscure salsa albums to come out of the Colombian scene in the 70s – a set that features top-shelf instrumentation from members of Fruko's combo, and vocals from singer Jacky Carazo! Jacky's got a great approach that almost seems to echo the Latin soul generation at times, but with vocals that are all in Spanish – and which are really well-suited to the soaring grooves of the group – who deliver some especially tight horns over the well-crafted piano, bass, and percussion at the core! The record's got all the charms of the best Fania work of the time, but a nicely different vibe too – in part because of the wider sense of rhythm on the Colombian scene. Titles include "El Despertar", "Alma", "Mi Canto", "El Negro Bembon", "Donde Sta Donde Sta", "Mi Cumbia", and "El Baile Del Raton". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible album of Latin funk – the only-ever record from this west coast combo headed by the legendary Benny Velarde! Benny's a name that you might recognize from earlier, straighter Latin dates for Fantasy – or for countless studio work during the 70s – but here, he's really got a talent for a funky 70s groove – and manages to hit a unique space that's somewhere between conventional funk, west coast Latin, and some of the hippest blacksploitation grooves of the time! The album also features some under-credited work from Lalo Schifrin – who was tied to the project somehow (Velarde claims that the record was killed by MGM upon release because of a feud with Lalo) – but never really fully credited in the notes. There's a definite link here with some of Schifrin's funkier soundtrack of the period – a great blend of jazzier elements and headier 70s funk – all served up with a tightness that has made the record one of our favorite funky treasures for years! Titles include "The Ghetto", "Latin Slide", "Who You Fooling", "Road Runner", "Soul Sauce", "Cocoa Leaf", and "Move Your Hands". LP, Vinyl record album

Smoking early work from the team of Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz – the kind of record that marked the pair as one of the freshest new voices to hit Latin music in the New York scene of the 60s! The rhythms and modes are all familiar ones, but they're delivered with a different sort of edge here – partly because of Ricardo's heavy use of dark notes on the piano, but also because there's a nice sense of space in the arrangements that almost points the way towards some of the freer thinkers of the Latin Soul years. Bobby's vocals are well-placed, and very soulful – and Chivirico Davila and Felo Brito also sing a bit on the record too. Titles include an incredible mambo reworking of "Parisian Thoroughfare", done as a longer descarga number that's really great – and other tracks include "Chachita", "Mirame", and "Yenyere". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the tightest funky 70s jamming ever – a lost gem from Ray & His Musical Court, a group that perfectly fuses JB/Horny Horns funk with beat-heavy Afro-Cuban groove! Ray and the group are one of the more obscure funky combos of the era, and it's a damn shame, because the group's tight-as-can-be amalgam of JB's style horn riffing and thumping Afro-Cuban percussion is some of the absolute best of its kind. This group seriously smokes any of the current funk bands on the road! On these sessions Ray wrote, produced, played "organ flute" and provided some vocals in a large group that includes three trumpets, bass clarinet, sax, two drummers, congas, electric bass, and a line of mostly Spanish vocalists. Amazing 70s super funk with a very proud Latin edge – and featuring tracks that include "Sunny", "Soul Freedom", "Cookie Crumbs", "De Eso Nada Monada", "Lo Sabia", "Venimos Acabando", "La Pena", and "La Senorita Lola". (Soul, Latin) LP, Vinyl record album

One of the hippest compilations of boogaloo work we've ever stocked – and one that goes way past the bigger names on Fania or Tico, into the underground of small labels from the late 60s! The tunes here are all especially rare – issued originally on labels that include Speed and Ghetto, and brought together beautifully here with an ear for soulful vocals, snapping rhythms, and some of the grooviest styles of the Latin Soul generation! The Speed recordings are especial favorites of ours, because the label had a really great way of setting up a groove, and often broke from more conventional Latin modes to hit some very unique rhythms. But all the work here is totally great – and titles include "Alla Tu" by Conjunto Universal, "Do Your Shing A Ling" by Pijuan, "I'll Be A Happy Man" by Latin Blues Band, "Return To Spanish Harlem" by Tony Middleton & Bobby Matos, "Latin Soul Boogaloo" by Paul Serrano, "One Way Ticket" by The Real Thing, "Symphony Sid In Acapulco" by Frankie Nieves, "Brass Boogaloo" by Sounds Tropicana, "Hippy Skippy Moon Strut" by Moon People, and "Mi Negra Va Gozar" by Paul Ortiz. (Funky Compilations, Latin) LP, Vinyl record album

A monster! If you buy one Latin record this year – make it this one – because it's one of the greatest ever recorded! Ray's late 60s Acid album is a landmark recording – a sublime mixture of Latin jazz, percussion, and soul – grooving hard in a variety of styles, and always hitting the money on every single track. The title cut "Acid" is one of those tunes you'll be playing until you're locked up in a nursing home – and the rest of the record is equally great – with cuts like the bouncy groover "Soul Drummers", the tasty boogaloo "El Nuevo Barretto", and the extended "Espiritu Libre", a great Latin jazz track, with very "out" piano! CD