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Joe Cuba – Steppin’ Out (1963, Mono)

Joe Cuba – Steppin’ Out
 Seeco SCLP 9248
Original release 1963
This pressing, late 60s / early 70s
Style: Pachanga, Mambo, Guaguancó, Cha-Cha, Bolero, Salsa

The back cover of this early Joe Cuba LP includes instructions on how to dance the ‘Wabble Cha’, a dance step I presumed they hoped would take the world by storm. There are two great vocalists on this record – Cheo Feliciano and Jimmy Sabater.  “To Be With You” would become Sabater’s trademark song.

Joe Cuba – Steppin’ Out (1963, Mono)

Gene Russell – New Direction (1972) (Black Jazz BJ01 – RSD 2020)

Gene Russell
New Direction
Real Gone Music RGM1018
Released: 29 Aug 2020
Limited Edition, RSD exclusive, Clear with Black Swirl
US  Original release on BLACK JAZZ RECORDS as BJ/1 in 1971

Well, it has been nearly two months since my last post here. I had planned to share this record at the beginning of the year, hoping that 2021 would symbolize a “new direction” for the world.  But those hopes got dashed just a few days in.

I haven’t been sitting around in the bad kind of funk and stewing in my own juices, however.  The Doctor has just been busy putting food on the table.  And watching more films than last year, so far. That was one of my New Year’s Resolutions.Gene Russell – New Direction (1972) (Black Jazz BJ01 – RSD 2020)

João Bosco – João Bosco (1973)


João Bosco – João Bosco
Original release 1973
2003 reissue RCA / BMG France 74321 965032

 

In 1972, João Bosco only had a split 7-inch single under his name as a recording artist, but the fact that the other side of that 7″ was from Tom Jobim should tell you the high regard he was held in even at this stage. That same year, Elis Regina would record her first Bosco/Blanc-authored song, Bala Por Pala, and songs from the prolific writing duo would feature prominently on her records for the rest of the decade.  That song also appears here, on João Bosco’s debut album, in a version that is more exciting and, well, smoothly frenetic in a way that is distinctly Bosco’s.João Bosco – João Bosco (1973)