‘’If you’ve got rhythm, you have everything. Without rhythm you have nothing.’’ Mario Bauza, 1992
Machito Kenya (1957)
Label: Roulette Jazz
Producer: Ralph Seijo
Art Direction: Uncredited
Nationality: USA
Running Time: 35.46
‘’In the 1940, Machito and his orchestra brewed a hot cup of mambo-mania, blending Afro-Cuban beats with American Jazz. Frontman Frank Grillo, a.k.a. Machito sang and shook maracas, while music director Mario Bauza guided the cross-pollination of early big band sounds into afrocubano musical frameworks.
Bauza had long dreamed of creating a Latin big band that fused the fire of early Cuban orchestras he heard growing up in Havana with the hipness of Duke Ellington, whom he saw in Harlem. (Landing in Harlem aged 19, Bauza had played sax and trumpet in the bands of Chick Webb, Don Redman, and Cab Calloway.)
Bold original competitions and arrangements by Bauza and René Hernandez, who plays piano here, Chano Pozo, and AK Salim ( a noted jazz composer and arranger) define this underrated gem. Special guests Cannonball Adderley, Doc Cheatham, and Joe Newman bring strong voices as improvisers, riffing neatly in short but sweet choruses.
Opening cut ‘’Wild Jungle’’ establishes the unbridled prominence enjoyed by the drummers. José Mangual (bongo), Uba Nieto (timbales), Candido Camero (conga) propel the pieces. ‘’Holiday’’ and’’Blues’ A La Machito’’ fuse blues and swing with exceptional cohesion and interplay from the orchestra. ‘’Tin Tin Deo’’ is a stirring rendering of the Pozo Latin jazz standard.
The Machito Orchestra had se the guideposts for what Latin jazz could be. The all-instrumental Kenya, their most African-inspired album, marks a pinnacle of their sterling musicality.’’ (JCV)
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