Bob Azzam picture sleeve on Festival from France.

(13 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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Bobby Montez “Jungle Fantastique!” on Jubilee (1958) The first and best of just five Latin jazz lps by West Coast vibist Montez. “African Fantasy,” “Jungle Sunset” and “Kon Tiki” are legendary jazz dance tracks.

(11 votes, average: 3.36 out of 5)

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Chaino and his African Percussion Safari “Jungle Echoes” on Omega.   (See Chaino Africana post for more)

(43 votes, average: 4.35 out of 5)

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“CHAINO AFRICANA” on Dot Records. “Spellbinding primitive rhythms by Chaino, percussion genious of Africa”. The music here and from other Chaino records is on a CD reissue called “Chaino Africana and Beyond”.

Chaino is one of the elusive figures of space age pop. After growing up in Chicago, Leon Johnson left home and lived a fairly wild life, eventually taking up the bongos and making a name for himself as “Chaino” (taken perhaps from the great Cuban conga player, Chano Pozo?) on the “chitlins” circuit of black nightclubs. In the late 1950s, he went to Hollywood and met producer Kirby Allan, who had recently been inspired by African tribal music during a trip to Kenya. Allan and Johnson went into the famed Gold Star studio in early 1958 to try to create an American-ized version. They eventually succeeded in getting jazz impresario Norman Granz to release some of these cuts on the luridly-titled, Jungle Mating Rhythms. At the same time, they were able to sell tracks to three different small West Coast jazz labels, Score, Tampa, and Omega, and all four albums were released virtually simultaneously. A few months later, Allan signed with the Silent Majority label, Dot (home to Lawrence Welk for a fifth album, Africana. A sixth album, Temptation, was recorded for Omega but was barely out the door before the label went bankrupt.   — Space Age Pop

(48 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)

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This is beautiful.   A 1950′s piece of art from Bogota, Columbia and the Sonolux label.

(14 votes, average: 3.64 out of 5)

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Fred Elias and his Ensemble of Renown featuring John Tatasopoulas.

Excerpt from back cover notes: “Only the emotional depth of Fred Elias & His Ensemble of Renown and the bazooki of John Tatasopoulas, world’s greatest in this field, can capture the contrasts of tender emotion and resounding rhythms of MYSTICAL TEMPTATIONS.”

Check out lots of cool covers at Belly Go! Go!

(15 votes, average: 3.80 out of 5)

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An old Parlophone EMI 10″ from the UK. “Voix De L’Orient” Series.

(21 votes, average: 3.71 out of 5)

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“Rito Esclavo” by Pedro Laza y sus Pelayeros on Fuentes.

(17 votes, average: 4.24 out of 5)

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