Mongo Santamaria: The godfather of Latin jazz

Before Santana and Ricki Martin "broke" Latin music in the United States, there was Mongo Santamaria, considered by many music historians and critics to be the godfather of Latin jazz. This collection of 14 of Santamaria`s most vibrant and accessible grooves, recorded in the 1960s, goes a long way to reinforcing that claim.

"Watermelon Man," possibly Santamaria`s best-known song, starts off the disc. Herbie Hancock (a well-respected jazz musician in his own right) wrote the song in 1963 and considered it a straight-up jazz riff until he ran into Santamaria at a supper club in the Bronx in the early 1960s. In an interview with Adrian Pertout in 1996, Hancock explained how Donald Byrd (another revered artist) had him play "Watermelon Man" for Santamaria for the first time. According to Hancock, as soon as the Cuban-born percussionist heard the tune, he and his band joined in, ripping up the Bronx club with conga beats and basslines.

"Pretty soon," said Hancock, "the dance floor was filled with people laughing and shrieking and having a great time."

Thus, a new genre and a classic Latin jazz hit were born. The track sets the tone for an album filled with infectious, on-your-feet rhythms that soar with Santamaria`s expert conga and bongo playing, which is enriched still further by some excellent flute, bass, sax and trumpet accompaniment by Santamaria`s band.

The two disappointments of the album, a souped-up version of Otis Redding`s "(Sittin` on) The Dock of the Bay" and Ritchie Valens` "La Bamba," aren`t as exciting as other, more jazz-based fare. But an instrumental version of James Brown`s "Cold Sweat" has plenty of sass. The last track, a live version of "Afro Blue," is a gorgeous 10-minute jazz feast. It begins with a fantastic conga solo by Santamaria, merging with guitars and the roar of a live audience whistling and applauding in the background. Beautiful flute playing by Hubert Laws makes this phenomenal jazz: all parts working together to form a wonderful whole that puts you in the mood to be outside in some tropical environ relaxing and whiling away the hot hours.

If you can`t make it to the Caribbean anytime soon, this album provides an excellent substitute.

"The History of Rock"; Kid Rock; Lava/Atlantic.

Everything about "The History of Rock" is in keeping with this Detroit native`s brazen, audacious and loud style.

First of all, the album isn`t technically a "new" release. With the exception of three new songs, the CD contains re-mixed and re-worked tracks from his out-of-circulation 1993 and 1996 albums, which weren`t nearly as well-received as his 1998 breakthrough album "Devil Without a Cause."

While releasing never-before-heard tracks is not uncommon in the music biz, usually an artist waits until he has a few more albums (and years) under his belt before presuming that anyone would care enough to hear songs from back in the day. If you like the kind of rock `n` roll that limits itself to trash talk about girls, cars and the sexual prowess of the auteur, you`ll find it and then some here, though his profanity comes nowhere near that of Detroit`s other artist of the moment, rapper Eminem.

Kid Rock`s lyrical obsession with girls, girls` bodies and stuff you do with girls often gets in the way of these otherwise enjoyable tracks. But isn`t that expected from an artist with a reputation for being, well, a "partier?" The 14 songs on the album are an uneven mix of heavy guitar rock, Detroit-style funk and `80s hip-hop. When the music`s on target, they sound smoothly styled and perfectly in synch with the high-energy combination of these three genres.

A stand-out: "3 Sheets to the Wind" is an excellent hybrid mix of Doug E Fresh bass lines and guitar riffs. You can see how a dance club could go crazy to Kid Rock`s classic rap call: "What`s my name?" In "Born 2 Be a Hick," the Detroit native reminds us of his working-class roots. And in "I Wanna Go Back," he laments the good old days when he was just a struggling musician sleeping on couches and borrowing cash. Interestingly, it`s when Kid Rock sticks to the rock side of the genre that his songs feel stale. However, since this is the artist`s early work, much is forgivable.

As historical subtext, "The History of Rock" bodes well for the brash artist; we can only imagine what raunchy delights await us in his expected legitimately new release later this year.

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Emily Friedlander