News & Updates — Rumba Psicodélica

The great Nuyorican percussionist, bandleader and composer Ray Barretto (Mr Hard Hands) retains a huge legacy, greatly influencing many percussionists and Latino jazz artists, and standing as a towering figure in the landscape of salsa music. He was checking out the bebop scene in the late '40s and honing his chops before getting the tap to play with Charlie Parker. He then worked in Tito Puente's band for four years in the late '50s. In the '60s he was a first-call percussionist for sessions at various jazz labels (Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside, etc), as well as playing with Herbie Mann....

Despite the working name of "Joe Cuba", the conguero Gilberto Calderon was actually a Nuyorican who grew up in Spanish Harlem. Since the first album in 1962 and into the '70s, the Joe Cuba Sextet were a very important and influential band on the newer generation of Latino musicians. With the two-tongued vocal duo of Cheo Feliciano (singing in Español) and Jimmy Sabater (singing in English) they scored a bunch of smash hits and helped fuel the boogaloo craze of the mid-'60s, fusing the soul music influence with Afro-Cuban rhythms. The group's albums contained burning hot descargas, jumping boogaloos and...

Taking the world by storm: the amazing Locobeach!! Psychedelic disco-cumbia made in Brooklyn NY, from the bastard children of Chicha Libre and Los Crema Paraiso. Members of Los Amigos Invicibles, La Muy Bestia Pop and featuring the talents of Joshua Camp, songwriting talent and creator of the C.A.M.P.O.S. project. This fantastic new outfit is already electrifying audiences around NYC. Locobeach is cumbia pop; latin disco with a psychedelic/spaghetti western edge. This supergroup of a band is comprised of Jose Luis Pardo on guitars/vocals, Neil Ochoa on congas/percussion/electronics, Joshua Camp on accordion/keyboards/vocals and Edward Marshall on bass. Dance music for your...

The Nigerian percussionist, teacher and activist Babatunde Olatunji helped bring African rhythms to the greater music world. His 1959 album for Columbia, Drums Of Passion, became a staple on hi-fis all over the world. His bands included amazing jazz musicians like Yusef Lateef, Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Pat Patrick, Marshall Allen, Horace Silver, Charles Lloyd, Airto and others. He played with the Grateful Dead and made all kinds of music from huge ensembles of drummers and folkloric musicians to jazz and soul. As a guest or sideman he played on records by Cannonball Adderley, Stevie Wonder, Max Roach, Mickey Hart, Richie Havens...

The great Cuban conguero and bandleader Mongo Santamaría brought some spice to the American popular music scene. He had been bandleader for the prestigious Tropicana house band in Havana in the '40s before coming to NYC in 1950. He was the composer of "Afro Blue" and had a huge hit with Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man". In addition to his own groovy ensembles, he played with Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Perez Prado, Fania All Stars, Willie Bobo, Dizzy Gillespie and others. It's always a pleasure to hear his Afro-Cuban arrangements of popular soul tunes, as well as his Orisha-guided rumbas. He...