VARIOUS ARTISTS

Mambo Mania! The Kings & Queens Of Mambo

$17.98 CD

When Ricky Ricardo went to the Tropicana Club to evade one of Lucy’s crazy schemes, the music he would play was the mambo. While I Love Lucy was undoubtedly this dance’s biggest step into mainstream American culture, mambo music has a much more impressive lineage.  One of the first true cross-pollinations of Northern and Southern music, the mambo was born in Cuba where Latin and African rhythms could be carried back and forth to the jazz and swing bands of the U.S. Since then it has reigned supreme in such places as Pee Wee’s Playhouse, The B-52’s records, and some of the hippest samples in hip-hop. Mambo Mania! gathers the best of the Latin big band beat onto one hot ’n’ spicy collection featuring the music’s most famous popularizers (Tito Puente and Desi Arnaz, et al.) and revelatory rediscoveries (like Beny Moré) performing their top tunes. The quintessential party music!

Selection # 71881