Machito
1957
Amanda: The cover of this album that I have pictured above pretty much gives you the background of these songs. This is afro-cuban jazz much like the style of the previous album we listened to, Palo Congo. I, however, liked this a lot better than the previous album for a multitude of reasons.
First off, there is no dreadful shrieking puncturing these tracks like there was with Sabu. There is also more variety in the tracks and I felt the instruments were played more skillfully. You may have expected me to complain about the jazz overdose some more, but I have decided to resign to my fate and accept that I will be listening to jazz until kingdom come.
RATING:
Brie: As Amanda said, this is Afro-Cuban music mixed with American style jazz. Mario Bauza, the musical director or Machito was first inspired to make an Afro-Cuban jazz album when he saw Duke Ellington in Harlem. I think if we performed an investigation, every jazz artist would be somehow traced back to Duke Ellington. Just a theory. Our book says that this album is supposed to be like the original end-all be-all of Latin jazz albums.
Personally, I really liked this album. It has much more jazz than Palo Congo, and I can picture this music being used for the soundtrack of a sixties movie!
RATING:
Machito - "Blues A La Machito"
ReplyDeleteStandout track from the album Kenya (1957)
Album 13 of 1001 Albums You Must Hear
This didn't totally win me over like previous jazz albums on this list. But this music is something different (for me) and it has a unique character. I really liked the parts where the trumpet and sax get room to do some tuneful solos. Blues A La Machito is a real find. Parts of the album get quite loud with blaring trumpets, which I found rather harsh at times. I'm glad I heard it once, and I will listen to my standout track again some time plus maybe one or two others which I marked as good.