Machito - The Machito Collection 1941-52 (2020)

Machito was a bandleader, singer and percussionist who helped create and refine the Afro-Cuban style of jazz, as well as developing Cubop and salsa music during the 1940s. He was instrumental in introducing jazz musicians like Charlie Parker, George Shearing, Stan Kenton and Dizzy Gillespie to the potential of Latin rhythms in jazz, with several top jazz musicians like Parker collaborating in his recordings. Born in either Havana, Cuba, or in Tampa, Florida, in 1909, he moved to New York in 1937 and in 1940 founded his Afro-Cubans orchestra, which immediately attracted attention. This excellent-value 40-track 2-CD collection comprises studio and live broadcast recordings from the first and highly significant and influential decade and more of his career, which was interrupted for several years by war service. Several of the recordings feature Charlie Parker on alto sax, Flip Phillips on tenor sax and Howard McGhee on trumpet, with Milt Jackson and Harry Belafonte also contributing. The set notably the landmark 17-minute recording of his celebrated Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite which features Charlie Parker on alto sax and Flip Philips on tenor sax along with Harry Sweets Edison on trumpet and Buddy Rich on drums as part of a 20-strong orchestra. The collection provides a thoroughly entertaining introduction to the world of Afro-Cuban jazz, with Machito capturing the essence of a highly distinctive and influential strand of post-war music.