The Original Latin Dance King

Xavier Cugat

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 23, 2002)
• Original Release Date: July 23, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00006B1SN
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #106,927 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #38 in

  Music > World Music > Caribbean & Cuba > Cuba > Rhumba

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
One of Latin music's original 20th-century superstars of stage, record, and screen, the bandleader born Francisco de Asis Javier Cugat Mingall de Cru y Deulofeo may have delivered the rumba, tango, and mambo with a slick mainstream veneer, but it was precisely those shrewd commercial instincts that undoubtedly brought a rich, rhythm-charged world of music to audiences who might never otherwise have been exposed to it. The 23 gloriously remastered tracks here span the '40s and '50s, an era when "Cugie" was a household name due to his myriad radio and film appearances. The material ranges from an energetic 1941 Miguelito Valdes performance of the Afro-Cuban staple (and later Desi Arnaz signature tune) "Babalu" and a Cugie-ized take on Tito Puente's evergreen "Suavecito" to more jazz-kitschy renditions of "The Brand New Cha-Cha" and "The Anything Can Happen Mambo" by third wife Abbe Lane (Cugat would later marry pop culture icon Charro). The mambo and merengue fads of the '40s and '50s are also given their due via Pérez Prado's "Mambo Jambo" and "A Bailar Merengue" respectively. Machito may have been more "authentic," but few could quibble with the effervescence and missionary zeal Cugat brought to Latin music for eight remarkable decades. Let this be your appetizer. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect Cugat collection, March 3, 2003

By	Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

Bandleader Xavier Cugat is frequently looked down on by some Latin music purists, but I guess that's their loss. This is a fab collection with a generous cross-section of Cugat's work on the Columbia label, from 1941-57, featuring swinging hits like "Babalu" and "Bim Bam Bum," and tons of talent including singers such as Tito Rodriguez, Miguelito Valdes and Abbe Lane (fresh from her work with Tito Puente) as well as Cugat's top-flight band, which never quite gets the credit it deserves. Yeah, sure, this stuff is kitschy and contrived, but these guys also really rocked(!) There's some seriously hot percussion going on in the background, and even the songs, taken on their own cornball terms, are a lot of fun. This is probably one of the best-programmed Cugat collections you're ever likely to come across. Check it out!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I am biased... after all Pepito Arvelo was my uncle, November 22, 2002

By	Cojonu (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

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...

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some good, Some excellent, Half of them BAD., January 11, 2003

By	Rob Lee (St. Petersburg, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

I give this CD 4 stars because 9 selections to me are fantastic. [Coco Seco, Suavecito, Miami Beach Rumba [A+] , Yo quiero un Mambo, Mambo Jambo [an A+], Mambo Gordo, Besame Mucho, Bread Love and Cha Cha Cha, Cuban Mambo[A++]. I don't care for the selections of Miguelito Valdes [probably from the early fortys. Abbe Lane is a beautiful woman and had great style and voice but these selections on here are certainly not her best. A great recording of Abbe Lane's is "ANNA" {El Negro Zumbon] recorded with Tito Puente. However Xavier Cugat is the absolute BEST ever.