Watermelon Man!

Name: Watermelon Man!
Brand: Mongo Santamaria
SKU: 772343
Price: 15.99 GBP
Availability: InStock

Out of Stock

Cat No: 772343

Release Date: 24 November 2023

Packaging Type: Slip Sleeve (CD or Vinyl)

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 8435723700487

Genres: Jazz

Description
180g high-definition premium vinyl, limited edition, the complete album plus bonus track. This release presents the complete original Mongo Santamaria LP Watermelon Man!(Battle BS-96120), the 12-inch album that came after the enormous success of the single containing the title tune backed with 'Don't Bother Me No More'.
Ramon "Mongo" Santamaria Rodriguez was born on April 7, 1917, in Havana, Cuba, and died on February 1, 2003, in Miami, Florida. He is best known for being the composer of the jazz standard 'Afro Blue', recorded by John Coltrane, among many others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he became an integral figure in the fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with R&B and soul, paving the way for the boogaloo era of the late 1960s. Santamaria was one of a handful of Cuban congueros ('conga players') who came to the United States in the 1940s and '50s.
"Herbie Hancock's 'Watermelon Man' was a gigantic hit for Mongo Santamaria in 1962, doing for him in the '60s what Perez Prado's big mambo hits did for him in the '50s. Naturally, then, the follow-up LP to the single is devoted to twelve airplay-length tracks loaded with bright, swinging Latin cha-chas and mambo rhythms mixed with blues, soul, and jazz, presumably suitable for twisting the night away." - ****1/2 AllMusic
Tracklisting