Mambo Mucho Mambo: The Complete Columbia Masters

Machito | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 23, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00006AWHA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,936 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #55 in Music > World Music > Caribbean & Cuba > Cuba > Mambo

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Havana-born bandleader-singer Frank Raul Grillo, a.k.a. Machito (or simply Macho), may not have achieved the same level of mass appeal as Xavier Cugat (for whom he played and sang in the '30s), but his fusion of African and Latin rhythms with the improvisational bent of New York's postwar bebop scene would have a huge and lasting impact on Latin music. The 20 tracks gathered here date to the early and mid '50s, an era that saw Machito's musical peak and the exploding popularity of Latin rhythms neatly coincide. Partnered with his classically trained brother-in-law Mario Bauza, Macho and his band bounded through swinging, jazzed- up takes on "Sambia," the staple "Adios," and the de facto mambo anthem "Mambo Inn"; harmonized with the Skylarks on a vocal tribute to the Savoy Ballroom ("Mambo à la Savoy"); engaged in some saucy sexual innuendo with Graciela on the live high jinks of "Si Si, No No"; and even made room for Columbia A&R man Mitch Miller's oboe on the aptly named "Oboe Mambo." With its infectious Latin rhythms and loose-limbed bebop and swing seasonings, this music has a remarkable contemporary resonance that eclipses transient lounge revivalism; small wonder many Latin musicians hail Machito as "the Godfather." --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars this is where Afro Cuban Jazz begins, August 24, 2005

By 

COMPUTERJAZZMAN "computerjazzman" (Cliffside Park, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mambo Mucho Mambo: The Complete Columbia Masters (Audio CD)

but I can't give this CD five stars because there are too many slow numbers, would have preferred to hear all uptempo numbers, but that is my personal bias. But the ones that are here are great! These recordings are all from the 50's when the Machito Orchestra really had it nailed down.

5.0 out of 5 stars I am biased... after all Pepito Arvelo was my uncle, November 21, 2002

By 

Cojonu (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mambo Mucho Mambo: The Complete Columbia Masters (Audio CD)

This album has great timeless music. Before the latin craze of Ricky Martin, Shakira and Enrique Iglesias, these guys were setting the stage for La Vida Loca...

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Machito, March 4, 2006

By 

Leonardo J. Gonzalez "cuba" (Eagle point, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mambo Mucho Mambo: The Complete Columbia Masters (Audio CD)

The CD is very good , but lacks some of machito's songs that made him famous.