The New Swing Sextet - Monkey See, Monkey Do

Combien de vieilles bandes magnétiques et de LP fabuleux sont encore menacés par les rongeurs, dans les coffres poussiéreux d'éditeurs aujourd'hui disparus ?. Si ce n'était l'excellent talent de dénicheur du label VampiSoul, ce serait le cas de ce combo new-yorkais de Latin jazz, formé à la moitié des années 60 et encore tout imprégné des vocalises swingantes des fifties. Cette compilation rassemble des titres perso et des interprétations de standard, gravés chez Cotique sur une vingtaine d'années et qui embrassent différents styles. Cela dit, tous les titres bénéficient d'un canevas de percus latines à faire flamber les dancefloors, qu'ils baignent dans un jus salsa (May Baby Couldnt Wait), un boogaloo rapide (Think Drink), des envolées vocales swingantes (Baby Get A Hold On My Heart) ou dans le jeu de vibraphone du leader Georges Rodriguez.

The New Swing Sextet are a Latin jazz combo from New York that formed in the mid 60s with members who still perform today. Monkey See, Monkey Do: Groovy Latin Swingers From Harlem's Best Combo - 1967 to 1971 is a Vampi Soul compilation which combines together recordings the group made in the late 60s/early 70s for the Cotique label.
They combine a Latin jazz feel like Cal Tjader with a vocal boogaloo sound that will have you shaking a tailfeather. As an added bonus, they are also joined on some numbers by the female singing trio called The Revue which fleshes out the vocal sound even more.
The group has a couple of originals which quote extensively from other songs but also has their own thing (lyrically and musically) added to the songs to make it their own. Up Tight quotes extensively from Stevie Wonder's song of the same name but also has an added New Swing Sextet section which really extends this song vocally and musically.

Johnny Sedes - Mama Calunga

Johnny Sedes est considéré comme un épigone de la salsa. Ce vénézuélien directeur d’orchestre, multi-instrumentiste, vivant entre Porto Rico, New York et Caracas, a un peu le parcours d'autodidacte de Juan Garcia Esquivel. C'est en cela qu'il m'a intrigué. Je ne suis pas un passionné de salsa à proprement parler, mais bon... autant faire plaisir aux amateurs puisque cet enregistrement traîne chez moi depuis des années.
En 1969 il enregistra avec le label Fonseca : "Johnny Sedes And His Orchestra : Mamá Calunga". L’utilisation du saxophone sur les morceaux : "Carúpano","Doce Cascabeles", "El Manicero" (chanté par Chivirico Dávila) a fait le succès de ce disque. Chivirico chantait "La verdad" accompagné de Leo González (chanteur vénézuélien) et Bobby Cruz dans les chœurs. "Mamá Calunga" est marqué par la sonorité de Bobby Cruz. "Acere Voz Quiere" est une bomba avec du jala jala. "Te Vas" un boléro.

This is simply one of the strongest releases ever in the genre of Salsa/Mambo/Latin Jazz. Yet it still remains unknown to most people, most likely because it came out on the elusive Fonseca label of New York. This was a legendary record label that produced so much good stuff in the late 60s and even until early 80s. However, Fonseca went under and along with it disappeared the master tapes of all their recordings. This is one of the reasons the LPs on the Fonseca label have for a long time been highly sought after by collectors.
This is in many ways an album of Ricardo Ray’s though as it is his orchestra, but with Johnny Sedes on sax and doing the arrangements and compositions. It says on the back of the cover that Chivirico Davila and Leo Gonzales are on vocals, but some also include Bobby Cruz here in the coro and as the singer on the song “Mama Calunga” even though he is not credited.