Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers: Heat!
From Heat! (Prestige, 1968)
In the 1960s, Prestige also dabbled into the growing Latin jazz scene. They weren’t major players per se – not as prolific as Fantasy which had Cal Tjader and Mongo Santamaria on their roster – but Prestige’s secret weapon was Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers. Regarded as one of the most important Latin/soul/jazz/funk fusionists of his time, Pucho recorded seven albums for Prestige from the mid-to-late ’70s, Heat! being one of the best in the bunch.
What I love about the title track is how smooth it moves. Pucho’s timbales lay down an irresistable groove and the horn section snakes in with what sounds to me to be some heavy Ethopian jazz influences but once the sax comes in, the sound is undeniably soulful. Delicious.
Tomorrow: The guitar soul of Billy Butler.
ELSEWHERE
chatter