The First Case of the Latin Lounge Groove

I feel a crowd pleaser coming on...

This week we dive into a Latin music genre that I haven't yet covered on the big show... Latin Lounge. I use that term because these songs are still sought after by DJs playing "lounge" sets (music for mingling rather than for dancing). In fact, the artists represented in this set were all operating in a cross-section between jazz and dancefloor musical genres. 

With a few exceptions, my typical Latin music selections have tended to favor artists who recorded outside the United States, and who did not particularly expect to win an American listening audience. That type of music was almost always performed for dancefloor audiences. But today's selections are all from artists based in the United States, and some tracks are from mainstream jazz record labels. Much of this music was performed for seated jazz audiences as often as it heated up ballrooms and other dance venues.

But you won't mistake these tracks for square gringo ripoffs of Latin themes. These are some of my all-time favorite grooves from the Latin Jazz scene of the late 60s and early 70s. 

Today's sub-theme is vibes... the vibraphone. Almost every track in this set features the instrument. We will hear from famous vibes masters including Cal Tjader, Dave Pike, Joe Cuba, and even Mulatu of Ethiopia.