Little Latin holiday

Machito and his Orchestra — Irving Berlin in Latin America (1959)

Hello again! I do realise it's been quite a while since my last post. Where have I been? Nowhere, I was just busy and then I broke my foot last month. FACEBOOK BROKE MY FOOT, to be more precise. Since I was practically house-ridden the whole time that probably would have been a perfect time to post more covers, but I didn't really feel like it. I preferred to watch TV online and make origami stuff.

So today we have Machito and his Orchestra. I just love this album. I found it for $2 it in an Op-shop many months ago. I just had to look at it to know it would sound totally kick-ass. The only thing wrong with it was that a small grand-child perhaps scribbled all over the back cover with a blue pen. But anyway, if you ever happen to find anything by Machito and his Orchestra BUY IT!!! That is if you like 50s Latin music of course!

This track is a lovely Latin version of "Blue Skies". It's a pretty song and I really like the Doris Day version too.

Sexy escapade...

The George Shearing Quintet — Latin Escapade (1956)

George Shearing is one of the few Space Age Pop artists that I've managed to get my hands on. It's not exactly the easiest genre to find here in Perth, but if you know exactly what you're looking for you'd be surprised what you'll find. I bought this one on eBay, as a part of a 12-record collection of George Shearing. Very nice stuff. Maybe I'll upload a track from another one.

I'll give a proper explanation Space Age Pop very soon... With pictures!!!

This track is called "Anitra's Nañigo"

Ka-POW!

Dynamic Brass — The Blue Velvet (1970)

That's one way to describe this album. It's pretty explosive from start to finish! And by far, one of the best op-shop finds I've had to date. I can't believe I find this kind of stuff for only $1! I say this with a very self-satisfied, sheepish grin. It's things like this, that make trawling through dross (Kamal) entirely worth the effort, you see...

Now to the track... When I was in Highschool — which wasn't so long ago, I might add — I studied Classical Guitar. One of the duets I played was "Two Guitars". Here is a brassy, jazzed-up version of it that sounds better than anything I ever played!

Hey there, sexy lady!

The International Hits Orchestra — Lightly Latin (1968)

Welcome to the wacky world of Cheesecake! It's a term given to records that have a random hot lady on the cover, wearing various amounts of clothing. I have no idea where that term originated.

"Southern Festival"(below) is quite a good track. It's what I imagine the soundtrack of a 60s spanish spy movie would sound like...

Xavier and Abbe

Xavier Cugat / Abbe Lane — Self titled

Abbe Lane with Tito Puente and his Orchestra — Be Mine Tonight

Today we have a little Latin treat... Xavier Cugat was a well-known band leader from the 50s and 60s. For 12 years, he was married to singer/dancer/actress Abbe Lane. So this track "Nightingale", is actually taken from "Be Mine Tonight" by Abbe Lane and Tito Puente and his Orchestra but it's on this compilation album "Xavier Cugat / Abbe Lane". I really wish I had "Be Mine Tonight"!

Here's a test to see if I can upload tracks I recorded onto my computer, to my Sound Cloud account, then to here! Hooray, it worked!!!