Kenya: Afro-Cuban Jazz
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Description
Frank Raul Grillo, also known as Machito, was the leader of The Afro-Cubans, a fiery definitive Latin-jazz big band. Not only did they sport a topnotch percussion section, featuring Candido Camero, Jose Mangual, and Uba Nieto, but they worked the arrangements of Mario Bauza, the father of modern Afro-Hispanic jazz in the U.S. This outstanding album, recorded in 1957, the same year that Tito Puente cut his historic Top Percussion sessions and Israel "Cachao" Lopez laid down his influential descargas. Named in honor the African country, Kenya, with pianist Rene Hernandez and A.K. Salim contributing compositions and arrangements, swings with the ancestral anthems that fueled the best Afro-inspired dances. "Wild Jungle" is a roaring rumba capped by special guest Doc Cheatham's zesty trumpet solo. The title track is an elegant Palladium-style lullaby graced by tenor saxophonist Ray Santoz's Lester Young lilt, and the Florida-born Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's Charlie Parker-like alto-sax riffs fly on "Oyeme," with another American, trumpeter Joe Newman. On the bata-drum-driven blues "Congo Mulence," Adderley and Newman create inspired solos off of the clave, highlighting the wonderful Afro-American and Afro-Cuban musical language Machito spoke and swung so well. --Eugene Holley, Jr.
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