1. Wild Jungle*
2. Congo Mulence
3. Kenya
4. Oyeme
5. Holiday
6. Cannonology
7. Frenzy
8. Blues A La Machito*
9. Conversation
10. Tin Tin Deo*
11. Minor Rama
12. Tururato
A-
The biggest, loudest horn section you've ever heard, playing thunderous chords over a rock solid Afro-Cuban rhythm section, all interspersed with tuneful soloing and wonderful melody lines. This is the biggest, loudest, most rocking album on the list so far. From the instant "Wild Jungle" starts you know you're in for a good time. This is a party album, pure and simple.
What's interesting is that the name isn't just some lame late-50s grab at the Exotica brass ring. I don't know a lot about African music, especially of the 50s, but there are songs on here that sound like early Fela Kuti, and others reminiscent of Ethiopian jazz. Machito and musical director Mario Bauza clearly knew their stuff. They blend influences from African, Latin and Blues music into a bizarre rhythmic monster that kicks ten kinds of ass. Then again this is new to me. Possibly there was loads of this stuff around at the time. I doubt it, though.
There are so many great moments on this album. Like the massive, repetitious horn stab on "Blues a la Machito" that sounds like it'll never end. Or the brief percussion intro to "Oyeme", which sounds like it was beamed back in time from a late-90s IDM album. Or every moment of "Wild Jungle", the clear album highlight. The easiest way to describe it is "Duke Ellington meets Yoko Kanno's 'Tank!'".
There are a few weak tracks that don't do anything particularly interesting, and I think it might have been nice to include a vocal track, but otherwise this is great. It's exactly the sort of album I was hoping to be introduced to by doing this list.
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