Ritmos Bailables  Orquesta Romanticos de Brazil   MAMBO. DANZON. CHA CHA CHA. BOLEROS.   Star Records (Miami, Florida)

“Cha Cha Cha” Orquesta America Vol. 1  Panart Records (Cuba)

Boleros del la Temporada  Various Latin artists  Peerless Records (Mexico)

“Viva Cha Cha Cha”  Cuco Chicos  Columbia Records (France)

CHA CHA CHA at MALIBU  Marty Franklin and his Orchestra  Cadence Records (1957)  Always hard to believe that after looking at records for 50 years, I can still find ones that I’ve never seen.  This looks like so many others, but — maybe because it’s new to me — I think it’s exceptional for the genre.  Maybe it’s those dinner jackets!   By the way, that’s Malibu as in the Malibu club in Lido Beach, Long Island where, along with other noted dance spots like the Tamarack Lodge in the Catskills, Casa Seville in Long Island and Club Elegance in Brooklyn, Marty was laying down the beat on his Lowry organ since the early 50’s.

LP cover lover, Jeff Missinne and Jerold Kress, of the web site The Crown Records Story  provided us with this:  “Latin Twist”  Louis Martinellie and the Continentals  Crown Records.  Most interesting because the model here is 50’s pin-up queen and TV’s Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Irish McCalla.  Hard to tell from the photo (looks a little like one of the Mary Tyler Moore covers), but below is a  behind-the-scenes photo of the Latin Twist cover session courtesy of Sean McIntyre (Irish McCalla’s son).

Jerold Kress ID’d the two guys in the photo; left in suit w/cigarette is Joe Bihari of Crown Records; right in shirtsleeves is Joseph (or Josef) Tauber, photographer.  “Photo from the estate of Irish McCalla, and McCalla Enterprises, Inc.” (McCalla Enterprises, incidentally, was a company Irish and her sister started in the 70’s to merchandise prints and ceramic plates of Irish’s work as a painter and illustrator.  Her talent was as impressive as her beauty, and friends who met her said she was also one of the nicest folks around.)  Thanks Jeff, Jerold and Sean!

Here’s one you won’t find anywhere else online!  Attilio and his Tango Orchestra   “Dracula Tango”   Vogue Records (France)  (1974)   Monster cover art by Bernard Monie

Ken Macintosh and his Orchestra “Rock a Conga”  RCA  (France)

Tito Puente  “Black and White * French Barclay E.P.   Tracks: Ran Kan Kan / Mambo Gallego b/w Que lindo el mambo / Manbiando

Dario Moreno  with Claude Bolling and his Orchestra “”Oh!  Que Mambo”  Philips Records  (France)  Looks like a french Jackie Gleason … And Awaaaaaaay We Go!