Various Best Of Latin Jazz (LP, 180g colored Vinyl, Ltd.)

(New Continent) 17 tracks, gatefold cover 180g Virgin Vinyl, limited edition

Latin jazz has been an important and evolving trend in jazz since the mid-1940s, when Dizzy Gillespie brought the legendary Cuban conga drummer Chano Pozo into his big band. However, Latin American rhythms were present in jazz even earlier, as recordings such as Louis Armstrong's “The Peanut Vendor” from 1930 (an arrangement of “El Manicero” by Cuban pianist and conductor Moisés Simóns) prove. Even such an iconic jazz piece as W. C. Handy's “St. Louis Blues” from 1914 contains a habanera tresillo bass line.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Latin jazz gained prominence with such famous artists as Ray Barretto, Cándido Camero, Tito Puente, Bebo Valdés, Pérez Prado and Mongo Santamaría. Many American artists such as Gerald Wilson, Quincy Jones and the aforementioned Dizzy Gillespie even composed their own Latin American songs, as did the pianist Herbie Hancock, whose “Watermelon Man” became a hit after being recorded by Mongo Santamaría.