Mambo swept American popular music in the middle 50's and this two-disc, sixty song set highlights some of the many R&B sides with a strong mambo beat. From Mickey Baker and Classie Ballou to James Moody and Yma Sumac this set's wide ranging sounds are full of surprises. 

Latin rhythms have infiltrated into every new branch of popular music that has emerged during the twentieth century. Jelly Roll Morton and W.C. Handy incorporated the Cuban Habanera into early jazz and blues. The Argentinean Tango found its way into twenties dance-band music; the Brazilian Baion and Bossa Nova styles wound their way through the sixties beat boom. Yet, none had such an all-pervasive influence as the Rumba. Its journey from the Middle-East through North Africa and Spain to the New World brought it into American dance halls in the thirties. The syncopated, rhythmic riffs of bandleaders such as Xavier Cugat helped to liberate dancers from stuffy foxtrots and waltzes, opening up an altogether more sensual world of excitement and exoticism. 

This is an entertaining and informative collection of early R&B recordings with a Latin beat.  From classics of the genre to complete unknowns this set is the most complete collection of this style we know of.  While some of the recordings are a stretch on the term Rumba blues, this four-disc 107 track box set is a great price and fun collection for those whose ears are a little bigger. 

Mambo Americano offers a comprehensive 63 song collection of Mambo inspired chart recordings stretching from the sax blasting of Chuck Higgins to the cool harmonies of The Robins and Harptones to Cal Tjader & Georgia Gibbs. A wacky Mambo voyage kicking off with Wynonie Harris' suggestive All She Wants To Do Is Mambo then weaving through a labyrinth of quirky jazz and bluesy interpretations ending with the close to authentic Leeward Island Mambo from Big Shell Steel Band Of Argentina. 

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