Mondo Mambo: Best of Perez Prado

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Damaso Pérez Prado was one of Latin music’s most inventive bandleaders–literally, as he merged jazz elements with guaracha rhythms, creating the potent concoction known as mambo. The 20-track Mondo Mambo! gets Prado’s two biggest U.S. hits, the rather tame “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” (1955) and the ultratame “Patricia” (1958), out of the way quickly, the better to serve up track after classic track of blaring horns, deep-dish percussion, and shouted exhortations by the master himself. The great Beny More adds vocals to the beyond-torrid “Babarabatiri” and two other numbers, while Prado lays down some daring Monk-style pianistics on “Pianolo.” (The disc also includes Prado’s original “Mambo No. 5,” which Lou Bega turned into a daffy smash in 1999.) –Rickey Wright

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Damaso Pérez Prado was one of Latin music’s most inventive bandleaders–literally, as he merged jazz elements with guaracha rhythms, creating the potent concoction known as mambo. The 20-track Mondo Mambo! gets Prado’s two biggest U.S. hits, the rather tame “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” (1955) and the ultra-tame “Patricia” (1958), out of the way quickly, the better to serve up track after classic track of blaring horns, deep-dish percussion, and shouted exhortations by the master himself. The great Beny More adds vocals to the beyond-torrid “Babarabatiri” and two other numbers, while Prado lays down some daring Monk-style pianistics on “Pianolo”. (The disc also includes Prado’s original “Mambo No. 5”, which Lou Bega turned into a daffy smash in 1999.) –Rickey Wright