Perez Prado initial style was Afro-Latin in the tradition of Machito, Tito Puente and Noro Morales, but Pérez ‘Prez’ Prado swiftly evolved as the virtual innovator of big band mambo, the precursor of salsa. His eclectic fusing of Latin with Tin Pan Alley pop brought some hitherto exclusively ethnic Latin steps into the commercial mainstream. The single most consistent and permanent figure in Latin Jazz after 1950, Perez Prado specialised in mambo (the hybrid of which he was not really, musicological or otherwise, the true originator) and a series of mambo-derived novelty steps of his own devising, notably the Suby and the pau-pau (mambo variants both) and the culeta, Perez Prado’s own answer to the cha-cha-cha. Viewed in the light of his many credentials, not least of which his unforgettably flamboyant and exotic showmanship, the well-groomed, moustachioed Prado is still regarded as the King of Mambo.
Bandleader, pianist, composer and arranger Dámaso Pérez Prado was born in Matanzas, Cuba on 11 December 1916, the son of a schoolmistress and a journalist. Perez Prado broad musical education began at a tender age and he learned to play classical piano early, studying technique at the Escuela Principal de Matanzas, under Rafael Somavilla. By 1942 he had made Havana his base, where he became pianist-arranger to the orchestra of the jet-setting Cabaret Pennsylvania de la Playa de Mariano. There, Perez Prado played first piano, then both piano and electric organ, notably in local club orchestras, including the Cabaret Kursaal, the Cubaney and the Paulina Álvarez. He was also sometime pianist-arranger to the Cuban Sonora Matancera, and wrote arrangements for vocalists resident at the Casino de la Playa, including Gaspar Roca de la Peer and Cascarita.
Pérez Prado - The Mambo King, Original Recordings 1949-1958
| 1] Mambo No.5 2] Qué Rico El Mambo 3] More Mambo Jambo 4] Mambo No.8 5] April In Portugal 6] Locas Por El Mambo 7] Broadway Mambo 8] Syncopated Clock Mambo 9] C’est Si Bon 10] Anna (Baião) 11] Silvana Mangano 12] The Suby 13] Jazz Me Blues Mambo 14] Such A Night 15] Ballin’ The Jack 16] Rhythm Sticks (Maria Elena) 17] Cherry Pink And Apple-Blossom White (Cerezo Rosa) 18] Freddy 19] Sweet And Gentle 20] Why Wait? 21] Mambo Japonés 22] Hawaiian Cha-Cha-Cha 23] Paris 24] Patricia 25] Pampa 26] Leyenda Mexicana 27] Guaglione 28] Cose Cose Cose 29] Cuban Rock |
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