(Salsa, Funk-Jazz, Afro-Cuban Jazz) Ricardo Marrero & The Group - A Taste - 1976, MP3, 320 kbps

A taste of Latin funk & soul mastery from Ricardo Marrero – the wholly excellent Taste LP from 1976 – a record as legendary for its rarity as for the slow cookers and uptempo funky gems on it! It's wonderful stuff, and the kind of record that justifiably revered by the few who've had a chance to enjoy it over the years – a record that pushes the stylistic boundaries of 70s NYC salsa with it's impeccable jazzy musicianship, spacey flourishes, sometimes salsa and sometimes soul steeped vocals, and tighter, Latin funk instrumental passages. Marrero's work on the keys is totally top notch, but The Group more than earns its capital letter status, to say the least! Titles include "Tiny", "Algo", "And We'll Make Love", "Vengo", "Get Yourself Together", "Babalonia", "My Friend" and "A Taste Of Latin". CD version includes 2 bonus tracks: alternate versions of "Algo" and "Babalonia".

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The story of this album begins in New York during the mid-’70s. It’s a story of stolen master tapes, shady deals and records deliberately made NOT to be sold. It’s the story of the musical obsession of one man who has devoted his life to music and how he was sold down the river by unscrupulous record industry moguls. It’s also the story of one of the rarest, most in demand and expensive records the world has ever known, with only a handful of copies of this super LP ever being found. Demand for the solid music within has led to a bidding frenzy whenever a copy has surfaced – the latest one on eBay fetched £2855 – that’s an amazing $4000! Records don’t get much more collectable than that, and so we have no hesitation of awarding a coveted ‘Holy Grail’ status to this LP, the third in our acclaimed series. Why so rare? We spoke to Ricardo himself to find out, and his remarkable story is revealed in the CD liners for the first time ever. He speaks about the recording of the album and his disappointment at the stolen tapes, his ill-fated association with boxing legend Don King, and the making of the legendary latin funk anthem ‘Babalonia’, which underwent no less than 4 pressings. [jazzman records]