By 1967, Boogaloo (aka bugaloo), was all the rage in the clubs of New York City; a fusion of sorts of Cuban rhythms mixed with soul and blues styling, this style of music burned brightly for a few years but was eventually disowned by many in the Latin music scene as being un-pure and of poor musical quality. The boogaloo sound was (sadly) dead and buried by 1970.
I have never understood why this music was so disliked by many in the Latin music community, and their points of derision were driven home in a BBC documentary about Latin music in the USA in the 60's-70's that I saw when I was in the UK last summer. Put on a boogaloo record, and there's bound to be smiles all over the room; plain and simply, it is music that inspires happiness and dancing.
Jazz pianist Ray Bryant caught a ride on the boogaloo train for today's selection and my LORD does this record swing! Admittedly, my taste for jazz does not run very deep, and I find that the majority of my listening to the genre is (you guessed it) found within the three minute confines of a 45 RPM single. I know, this is blasphemy to the jazz community, but long improvisation just doesn't cut it very often for this listener. In 2:58 seconds, Ray Bryant shows the world that he can play rings around just about anybody on the piano, and it's all within my attention span.
from 1967...
RAY BRYANT - PATA PATA
3 comments:
Very nice. I recently posted Miriam Mekeba's Original vocal version on my own blog! I've never heard Ray's version before, but it really does swing.
And how does one get to check out your blog, brianbrora? ;-)
Hello Holly - send me your email address and I'll be pleased to send you an invite! If you click on my name on this comment, it should take you to my profile which includes my email link. Hope Derek is OK with all this. Thanking you and Derek in anticipation.
Post a Comment