Smith & Co

From Cuban and Puerto Rican roots, the signature rhythms of what is now generally termed Afro-Cuban music pulsed out of New York City's 'Spanish Harlem' in the late 1940s/early '50s:  an inspiration for innovative jazz musicians of the era, soon becoming an essential repertoire ingredient of international dance bands and a pervading influence on composers, arrangers and producers in the pop mainstream.

The principal originators of this breakout all performed in The Netherlands and Belgium during the late 1970s/early '80s, where they were privately recorded for posterity.  Smith&Co now presents the first official CD releases of these historic recordings.

The series is launched appropriately with concerts featuring three of the biggest names of the genre:  composer/bandleader & "King of the timbales"  TITO PUENTE; composer/bandleader & "King of the congas" MONGO SANTAMARIA; vocal diva & "Queen of Salsa" CELIA CRUZ (who was already a star in her native Cuba in the '50s before settling in the USA).

Recorded at the Muziek Centrum Vredenburg in Utrecht on 27th November 1982, here Mongo on congas & bongos leads his explosive septet on nine flamboyant and varied examples of why he was such an internationally feted percussionist, the repertoire including his significant composition "Afro Blue", which was transmuted into a Jazz classic by John Coltrane.

Accompanying volumes:
SCCD2473:  TITO PUENTE LIVE IN BRUSSELS
SCCD2479:  THE TITO PUENTE BIG BAND & CELIA CRUZ LIVE IN AMSTERDAM

1    Untitled
2    Bonita
3    Untitled
4    Amanecer
5    Para Ti
6    Afro Blue
7    Sofrito
8    A Mi No Me Enganan
9    Mambo Mongo