Ray Barretto - Ritmo Sabroso

I don't cover enough Salsa and Latin Boogaloo on this site. At least not as much as I would really like. I wish this blog could be a full time job, but it doesn't pay the bills. Also, writing is a funny thing, if you're not feeling it, then it can be hard to put it to paper. So getting into the spirit of sharing music for me..EASY, getting around to writing a post.. a little more WORK sometimes.

So, in my efforts to post some more 'Latin' I'm offering this fine Ray Barretto tune. It's the flip side of 'El Watusi' which was pinnacle for me and my paths into 'Latin Soul' back in the day of all the Charley 'Caliente' reissues that I got into. It's interesting to me that was so long ago now, and the young cats I see into 'Latin' rare groove are so much more evolved and deeper than me. The game, just like with everything else it seems, has advance and evolved. And, it was a young cat Cameron Thompson who brought my attention to this flip side. He's a new seller at the record shop and has brought in a ton of tasty Latin, Cumbia, Salsa and treats from all over the globe.

It's crazy to me to think these records (We Got Latin Soul Vol 1-3) were back in 1987-88. I was way into this sound back when they first came out. In fact originally all I had was the compilations. It was a bit later that I started to surface the originals. And, got turned on many others through my friend and record dealer Peter (Pete da Greek), that story will flower out of me at some point here. Because Pete had amazing stories and pictures of New York Salsa scene during that time period. Even crazier for me to see the SPEED label stuff come out as re-issues. Man, those LP's were like holy grails..I suppose they still are. But, enough of my walk down memory lane.

I got to meet the great Ray Barretto and see him perform at Yoshi's in Oakland back in the late 80's or early 90's. He was another of those artist who while signing my copy of one of his records gave me that completely puzzled look as if I was from another planet. This was another example of me bringing some ancient relic of album art to his attention. Something that, back then wasn't as much yet a common occurrence. I forget which LP cover it was, and right now I wish I knew, or rather knew where it was. Back when Yoshi's was on Claremont Ave., it was really easy to meet and hang with the artists in the lounge upstairs. It's funny I'm actually on my way to the new Yoshi's in Jack London Square this evening, but we'll talk about that later.
Enjoy this nice, short and beautiful salsa from one of the true masters.

Ray Barretto - Ritmo Sabroso

Joe Bataan - Call My Name

Joe Bataan is a king in my world. I'm a HUGE fan of this cat. Been in love with his brand of early boogaloo since my youthful mod days, he's turned my head around like Linda Blair with his unique salsa funk, and he continues to melt me with his 'oldies' sound. To say Joe Bataan has made some noise within Latin Music would be fair, but rather Joe's been more like a cataclysm, shaping and changing things along the way. He's been down since day one, I believe he started in New York at a very early age, coined the term 'Salsoul', proclaims having the first rap record, and undeniably been responsible for gaining a wider audience for Latin Music.

I was first introduced to Joe via a few compilations called, I believe, 'This Is Latin Soul' on Charley's Latin reissue label Caliente. Those comps fed a fire that burned out of control and sent me into a salsa and boogaloo buying frenzy. Joe's records, however, always seemed to hit the hardest with me, and also work on other levels. He never made a boring LP, always mixing it up and even when in the confines of the early boogaloo sound, he always attempted to branch out.

This particular album was masterminded by Daniel Colas, who rediscovered Joe, brought him back into the limelight within the loving arms of the rare groove community. Daniel found he was still in the New york area and began to work with him. It's a throwback into earlier years of Joe's sound and although a modern record, it deploys an arsenal of older sounds. In some respects this is easily the lost Joe Bataan record that never was. It's stained with all of the qualities we love and have always wanted from a JB album. Released on the Vampi Soul label in 2005 it re-familiarized everyone with Joe's music. I got reminded of this great album when Joe came to San Francisco recently to perform. Having met him myself I can say he's truly a sweetheart of a guy and full of incredible tales of his life. A true treasure of the music world.

Joe Bataan - Call My Name

Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Orchestra - Que Se Sepa

First off...HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO. And, for you white people that's not a holiday for you to go grab 5 jars of mayonnaise and make cheese sandwiches. Even though I'm not sure what Cinco De Mayo is really all about, I know unfortunately here in America it's really just about another 'drinking' holiday. Jeesh, don't we have enough of those? Isn't it sad that's what most holidays boil down to these days...getting effed up?

Well, we'll take what we can get. Even if we are due a Chicano / Latino month like Black History in February, we'll compromise to have this one day to recognize our brown peeps.
Back from  below the belt of the equator in our last post with Jorge Ben, we're quickly back to flippin' a bitch and doin' donuts in the streets of Califa. Latin music and inspiration has always been running through my veins. Being raised above the Mission district (Potrero Hill) in the 70's of San Francisco led to much of my development and tastes in musica. A young vato wanna be passed onto me what his older brothers were showing him. We were both 8 or 9 years old. A quick course in 'How to crease your dickies', 'stand so that your shoes made a V for vato', and to always 'carry a comb in your back pocket' among other things. This same little dude left a bunch of 45's at my house that shaped what I got heavily inspired by. At least in the beginning I was an honorary 'Cholo' and still to this day, hard to fight my love for salsa, Latin soul and lowridin' oldies. Orale.
Fast forward a few decades and I'm spinning entire sets of Salsa and Latin Funk. This tune was an absolute staple of mine. This would, without fail, get the entire club into a heated spastic salsa funk fury. The monster drums at the beginning would cause whiplash for any hip hop or funk connoisseur and the entirety of Salsa dance capability on this one is un-fuck with-able.
This is typical of this era for Fania and camp, scorching horn melodies, superb backing vocals setting the pace, and an arsenal of percussion. While this is standard Fania formula, which was killing it and making them and New York city salsa capital of the world, this tune in particular is atop the list for me.
Mos def in my top 10. Here's also this super rare video of Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Orchestra doing this song on a TV show.  ¡SALUD!





And, as always the full (and, very brief I might add) mp3 for this song... ****UPDATED - Again, trying to comply with copyright laws. We have included this youtube version of the studio version. Sorry, you'll have to find the mp3 on your own. Or, of course we strongly urge you to track down this album in any form you can.

Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound - Que Se Sepa

First off...HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO. And, for you white people that's not a holiday for you to go grab 5 jars of mayonnaise and make cheese sandwiches. Even though I'm not sure what Cinco De Mayo is all about I know unfortunately here in America it's really just about another 'drinking' holiday. Jeesh, don't we have enough of those? Isn't it sad that's what most holidays boil down to these days...getting effed up?

Well, we'll take what we can get. Even if we are due a Chicano / Latino month like Black History in February, we'll compromise to have this one day to recognize our brown peeps.
Back from  below the belt of the equator in our last post with Jorge Ben, we're quickly back to flippin' a bitch and doin' donuts in the streets of Califa. Latin music and inspiration has always been running through my veins. Being raised above the Mission district (Potrero Hill) in the 70's of San Francisco led to much of my development and tastes in musica. A young vato wanna be passed onto me what his older brothers were showing him. We were both 8 or 9 years old. A quick course in 'How to crease your dickies', 'stand so that your shoes made a V for vato', and to always 'carry a comb in your back pocket' among other things. This same little dude left a bunch of 45's at my house that shaped what I got heavily inspired by. At least in the beginning I was an honorary 'Cholo' and still to this day, hard to fight my love for salsa, Latin soul and lowridin' oldies. Orale.
Fast forward a few decades and I'm spinning entire sets of Salsa and Latin Funk. This tune was an absolute staple of mine. This would, without fail, get the entire club into a heated spastic salsa funk fury. The monster drums at the beginning would cause whiplash for any hip hop or funk connoisseur and the entirety of Salsa dance capability on this one is un-fuck with-able.
This is typical of this era for Fania and camp, scorching horn melodies, superb backing vocals setting the pace, and an arsenal of percussion. While this is standard Fania formula, which was killing it and making them and New York city salsa capital of the world, this tune in particular is atop the list for me.
Mos def in my top 10. Here's also this super rare video of Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Orchestra doing this song on a TV show.  ¡SALUD!




And, as always here's the full (and, quite short song I may add) mp3 for you to enjoy!
Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound - Que Se Sepa

Madeline Bell - That's What Friends Are For

Copped this the other day and was surprised I had never had an original of it before. I'd had the Glucklich comped version and of course nabbed the Jazzman re-issue, but somehow never picked up this LP. It reminds me of the broader kind of 'world' inspired rare groove stuff I used to play, and in fact I'm retreading over some more territory in the Brazilian area lately. This jam is light and fluffy and reminiscent of carnival. Madeline holds it all down with a beautiful sophistication and exquisite class. The rhythms and melodies are Latin, Brazilian, Cuban and African. If it's a 'world' sounding groove, then fine. But, it is indeed a groove of 'world class' brilliance.

Madeline is originally from Newark, New Jersey. Like many soul singers she started in the church. She went on to great prominence in gospel with The Glovertones and Alex Bradford Singers. She was a center piece in the notorious rock/pop group Blue Mink. Blue Mink was an incredible diverse group musically with a racially mixed front force of two singers that might have been inspired by groups like Chicago.



Her solo LP's are highly sought after, and of the snippets I've heard, the early ones are particularly amazing. Although, I still haven't tracked them down yet either. She had the chance to record with the esteemed Wadsworth and Mansfield team. She churned out some monster soul tunes and a few northern floor burners. Just leaves more room for us to spotlight her career for future posts. What an incredible voice! SIDENOTE: I hope you'll enjoy our new 'old magazine' style layout...peep the club picture in this above YouTube clip..you'll also see the ad from an old Blues and Soul Magazine for 'The Cats Whiskers' club.





She's still active today and performing. She made most of her moves in Europe and can't be denied her place in soul history. Even Dusty Springfield sang backing vocals for HER, and became president of her fan club. Word. Madeline Bell part uno. More to come.



Madeline Bell - That's What Friends Are For

Julian Covey - A Little Bit Hurt

From hard rock to hard organ blazin' mod soul. This little slab of boogaloo swingin' action has been in my mod 60's soul box ever since Alec Palao played it when we DJ'ed together many years ago. It's a hand clap groove with the simple addition of bass and piano. Once the organ sets in, it's hell fire to spark with mod shing-a-ling dance moves.

This track, a double breasted pin stripe suit and some talcum powder and you've any mod committed to the dance floor like nobody's business. It's a little over 2 minutes of pure fire.


From this heavy rhythm guided groover it's easy to tell that Julian Covey was a drummer. Julian's real name is Philip Kinorra. He's played with British organ and groove kingpins Graham Bond and Brian Auger. Right along side McDuff and McGriff, Graham and Brian ushered in my introduction to organ, fresh from the mod days right into acid jazz and rare groove. Hard to deny the underbelly of a Latin groove with that bad ass conga and stand up bass. In fact it's a hybrid of true Latin soul that somehow meets Spencer Davis' 'I'm A Man' somewhere in the middle.


I'm a little bit hurt by just what a monster tune this is. Hope you agree.


Julian Covey - A Little Bit Hurt