PRADO- VIVE! BY RAUL GUTIERREZ AND HIS CUBAN BIG BAND
Perez Prado ‘King of Mambo’
Raul Gutierrez is a Mexican football manager of world renown. Another Raul Gutierrez is also the leader of the fabulous infectious and brilliant Cuban Big Band. Spin this disc and even the most determinedly dejected lockdowner will , guaranteed, spring into Latin-esque life. It’s a sound dedicated to dance. From the first trumpet blasts of Mambo del Papelero, the Raul Gutierrez band creates a new world of rhythm, almost forgotten in contemporary music.
It is curious that this dominant sound has all but vanished from the airwaves, for it was only in the 1950s that the compositions of its originator, the uncrowned King of Mambo, Damian Pèrez Prado –the ‘Mantacero – the little man with the seal face’ (don’t ask, that’s how he was known) swept the western world.
The youthful composer
Jazz has survived. But this musical movement is only now the centre of some cautious attention. Amazing, as it is arguably the most assertive of sounds and it dominated the dance halls - and the dansettes - for a decade not so very long ago.
Its originator Damaso Pérez Prado, was born in 1917, he developed his musical skills from early childhood by studying classical piano with Rafael Somavilla and then later played in casino orchestras in Havana. He also worked as pianist/arranger for another big beast in the Latin sound world, Sonora Matancera. His Casino De La Playa Orchestra became Cuba‘s best-known ensemble In 1946, Pérez Prado formed his own band to blend Rumba and Jazz and an entirely new genre was born.
This was no quiet backwater of a sound. Perez Prado left Cuba and soon signed a contract with RCA Victor USA. His combination of the Cuban danźon complete with fiery brass riffs and strong saxophone counterpoints – with his extraordinary cries of throughout the pieces – made his music uniquely powerful. There was plenty of competition. Once Perez Prado moved to New York, Cuban bands competed everywhere. The new Mambo eclipsed jazz – easier to dance to with no distracting solos .
Hollywood Success for the talented Cuban composer
Perez Prado’s pieces were sensational hits. On this CD most of the compositions are his. They feel fabulously joyful – and a little bit familiar. Try Mambo no 5 – it was a recent revived hit in the UK.( early on, Perez Prado confessed that he ran out of titles and resorted to numbers). Mambo number 9 is particularly fun on this exuberant recording.
The King of Mambo who reigned for ten years in the musical world
Perez Prado’s inventiveness pressed on throughout the 50s. Mambomania flourished . Thousands of recordings emerged over ten years . The bands got larger more successful, replete with banks of trumpeters . New York hosted dozens of these combos all well paid, all making a mint out of the unstoppable craze for Mambo music. Perez Prado went on to film stardom and musically got together with the French composer of La Vie en Rose, Louis Guy to produce Cherry Pink (and Apple Blossom White)", which hit the American charts for eight weeks, followed by "Patricia" - this peaked at No. 1 in the Top 100 charts and also went to number one in Germany, and number eight in the UK. Then the ultimate accolade Federico Fellini used it twice in his classic fifties film "La Dolce Vita".
The brilliant decade of Mambo peeps from musical history from time to time. The famous "Mambo No. 5" was a UK chart-topper for Lou Bega in 1999, but the full force of the genre is here in Raul Guiterrez’s brilliant album.
If you want a quick fix lift of spirits, these nine tracks will do the trick. It cannot be long before the magic of Mambo is back with us. We certainly need the work of the great Prez Prado today like never before. Welcome to full-on, lust for life, abandoned enthusiasm, cleverly constructed rhythms.
Prado does indeed . . Vive!
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