Héctor Lavoe was born to sing. As Latin music evolved from the boogaloo of the late '60s to the salsa boom of the '70s, Lavoe was at its forefront and "El Cantante" (the singer) of some of its most representative songs. Born Héctor Juan Perez in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on September 30, 1946, he was influenced by the Latin singers he heard on the radio, Daniel Santos and Chuito el de Bayamon, just to name a couple. As he grew more involved in music, he drew his inspiration from Puerto Rico's great sonero Ismael Rivera, as well as Cheo Feliciano. These influences are obvious in Lavoe's singing style: he attacks the son and montuno like the masters Rivera and Beny Moré, but Lavoe's natural talent for improvosation made him unique and very popular with salsa fans.

While the music that came to be termed "salsa" originated in Cuba, Puerto Ricans have been among its strongest supporters. One New York-reared puertoriqueno who soared to the top of the salsa world in the 1950s was timbale player/vibist Tito Puente. Boasting such early Puente gems as "Cual Es La Idea," "Oye Mi Guanguanco" and "Yambecua," the exuberant, infectious Cuban Carnival is essential listening for anyone with even a casual interest in Afro-Cuban music. Many of the players Puente employs in his driving orchestra - including Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo and Carlos "Patato" Valdez - would become among the most celebrated percussionists in Latin music. Whether the style is mambo, son, cha-cha or rhumba, Cuban Carnival is outstanding from start to finish.

Antonio Adolfo mentions Luiz Eça, Tom Jobim, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and João Gilberto - "all the jazz and bossa nova folks, a lot of people" - as his greatest influences. In "Cristalino", released in 1989, he presents a fine brazilian jazz album with some gifted musicians like Dino 7 cordas, Serginho do Trombone, Nélson Faria, Chacal and Mauro Senise.

One of this year's most exciting salsa releases came out of the Bay Area. A mostly young group plays the kind of expanded Latin-jazz that too often goes unnoticed amid a host of tipico recordings. Roots it has, in Afro-Cuban religion and in the music of groups from Machito to Irakere. A sleeper, it also has imagination, verve and skill.

What you see is what you get, an excellent little compilation of the various faces of soul-jazz as presented by the Verve label with their amazing array of artists from Hugh Masekela to Willie Bobo and Herbie Mann on the one hand, and Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Hendricks (in an outstanding reading of Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man") the Heath Brothers, and Teddy Edwards on the other. The track list is wonderfully varied, too: there's a smoking version of Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" by Masekela, a pair by Jimmy Smith, and a big band – a new entry by the acid jazz group the James Taylor Quartet, but they get it deep; and Wynton Kelly goes deep into soul and blues with "Escapade." Anyway you cut it, it comes out great.

Born Jose Calderon in Spanish Harlem N.Y.C. of Puerto Rican parentage, conga player anad bandleader Joe Cuba was one of the most successful N.Y. Latin artists in crossing over to non-hispanic audiences. At the forefront of the Latin boogaloo trend, which incorporated black music in a fusion of Latin rhythms and piano montunos with R&B and even jazz, his sextet used English to penetrate the American public, sometimes using themes which incorporated the two languages. Tnis CD of some of the finest work by the Joe Cuba Sextet is compiled from the five key albums Steppin Out, Diggin' The Most, Comin' At You , Breakin' Out, and Para Enamorados Siempre, which they recorded for the revered N.Y. Seeco label from 1962-64. The Joe Cuba Sextet played more than boogaloo. As you will hear on this CD, their repertoire features superb Latin-jazz, joyful mambo, cha cha, bolero, guaracha and other Afro-Cuban rythms including a grooving version of Tito Puente's 'Oye Como Va'.

This recording brings back an obscure session from the long defunct Andex label that was probably recorded around 1956. The emphasis is on Latin jazz with altoist Art Pepper, trumpeter Conte Candoli, tenor saxophonist Bill Perkins, pianist Russ Freeman, bassist Ben Tucker, and drummer Chuck Flores interacting with the percussion of Jack Costanza and Mike Pacheko. With arrangements by Bill Holman, Johnny Mandel, Benny Carter, and Pepper, the music is quite jazz-oriented if a touch lightweight. Worth investigating by fans of the idiom.

Two very groovy records - back to back on a single CD! Gypsy 66 is one of Gabor Szabo's best records - a hip small combo session, featuring backup by Gary McFarland, Sadao Watanabe, Richard Davis, and Willie Rodriguez - an odd kind of lineup, but one that goes well with the offbeat grooves of the set! The overall sound has lots of touches of the McFarland Latinized rhythms of the time - but also stretches out with some of those great snakey guitar solos from Szabo - not nearly as extended or trippy here on other albums of the time, but in a really great way that makes for some tight, hip, mod little tracks!…

Time is Now is like a delightful summer breeze, a refreshing album that recreates with absolute freedom some of the most excel and refined Latin American and classic repertoire. Mario Bauzá made it possible with that characteristic sound, filled of Latin flavour and vigorous radiance that will captivate you from the first track. You won't believe the mesmerizing adaptation of "Mack the Knife", for instance. Don't let this album pass in front of you. Go for it and enjoy it forever.

During his final two years, Mario Bauzá and his newly formed Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra recorded three albums, of which 944 Columbus (made just two months before his death) was the last. Three of the ten selections on the CD are dominated by vocals, but jazz is a very strong element throughout these sessions with a variety of fine solos, particularly from trumpeter Michael Mossman. The percussion section blends in well with the horns in this 19-piece orchestra and the final statement from the father of Afro-Cuban jazz is a memorable one.

Music is one of the most magical of all the arts. It can, by its mere sound, excite the body to such an extent that it leaps up and dances - in most cases instinctively; with eyes closed it can suggest a palette of a myriad colours; and by its sheer mystical nature music can heal the body and the mind of many ailments. Bobby Matos’ music does all of this and some more. It helps pay homage to the soul and the spirit. This is once again evident in the music of Mambo Jazz Dance. There is an inherent energy that converts musical notes here that drives the mind into a state of trance where it seems to become a kind of crucible into which the mambos and the boleros of Mr. Matos pour themselves, stirring the mind into an interminable dance. The exciting aspect of this musical unguent is that it is invisible and soon fills all parts of the body, awakening it and pushing it into an ebullient mambo, no less…