(Latin Jazz, World Fusion, Afro-Cuban Jazz) Montego Joe - Arriba con Montego Joe - 1965, MP3, 320 kbps

Everything about this album, from the artist's name and album title to the rather cheesy cover photo of a smiling tuxedo-clad man on a beach surrounded by congas, suggests to a cynical eye that Arriba! Con Montego Joe is kitschy exotica on par with Martin Denny or Les Baxter. And while that style of music has its fizzy charms, it turns out that Arriba! Con Montego Joe is something much meatier. Collecting the entirety of the two albums Montego Joe (born Joseph Sanders) made for Prestige (1964's Arriba! Con Montego Joe and 1965's Wild and Warm), these 17 tracks are a uniformly excellent blend of swinging, groove-oriented Latin percussion against soulful hard bop horns and piano (played by some kid with the unlikely name of Chick Corea). This unlikely combination works a treat, especially on the tracks that take a while to unfold, like the sinuous "Bata Blues," which marries some excellent soloing by Corea and tenor saxophonist Al Gibbons to the pitter-pat of the African tuned drums of the title. There is little that's groundbreaking on these albums, but Miles Davis would attract quite a lot of attention several years later for his cross-cultural experiments in a very similar style, and this is an intriguing early indication of that direction.

Montego Joe - conga drums;
Leonard Goines - trumpet;
Al Gibbons - tenor sax & flute (#1-17), conductor & arranger (#7-17);
Milford Graves - drums, timbales;
on #1-6 (May 15, 1964), "¡Arriba! con Montego Joe":
Chick Corea - piano;
Eddie Gomez - bass;
Robert Crowder - percussion;
Rudy Stevenson - conductor.
on #7-17 (May 21, 1965) "Wild & Warm":
Arthur Jenkins - piano;
Ed Thompson - bass;
Sonny Morgan - percussion.