[Dixielandjazz] OKOM goes Mambo "MAMBO FOR CATS" RCA Victor 1955 or so.

[Steve barbone]

Just in case we squares think Dixieland can't be played as Latin, check out
this Record review. Come to think of it, if any of the graybeards on the
list remember Perez Prado, they'll remember that he adapted Dixieland and
other OKOM standards to Mambo and swung them like crazy.

Yep, danceable Dixieland at a time when the art crowd folks were just
starting to try to put an end to it as dance music. Viva Prado.

Hey Luis & Tito, there is probably a market for this kind of Dixieland Mambo
at a club near you.

Don't listen to squares who try and tell you "It can't be done." ;-) VBG

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

Mambo For Cats
RCA Victor EPB-1063

Side 1
Perez Prado - Jazz Me Blues
Noro Morales - The Sheik of Araby

Side 3
Perez Prado - Jersey Bounce
Tony Martinez - Fascinating Rhythm
   
Side 2
Al Romero - Muskrat Ramble Mambo
Don Elliott - Love for Sale

Side 4
Damiron - Lullaby of Birdland
Don Elliott - Makin' Whoopie

Review by BILL ZEITUNG -Copyright 1955, Radio Corporation of America

Man, it's time to bolt down the furniture and kick back the rugs. This is no
time to be a drag - let down your hair, roll up those trousers and start
swingin'! This is the righteous stuff for all you jazzbos - mambo for cats -
and man, if you're not a jumpin', rockin', screamin' cat by the time this
record ends, there's just no hope - you're dead.

We've assembled just about every fast-movin' mambo outfit in the game,
lighted a fire under their respective music stands, and brother, the results
are absolutely the livin' end. They just have to be, for this is music that
moves and moves and never gives up - it's the greatest, man; it's the most
frantic, it's the hippest! And any of you deluded hipsters who thought the
Latins could play nothing but guitars are sure livin' somewhere in the
middle ages.

Every tune we're pushin' at you here is a real jazz standard, most of them
the kind that the boys have been blowin' around in circles since ole Sarchmo
was in knee pants. But it's a sure, safe bet that you've never heard the mad
flurry of notes assembled here - the tunes are there all right, but with
that mambo beat they kick and rock, they roll and riot like nothin' you cats
have ever been sent to before. Man, you're gonna be gone, and you're goin'
far.

There's that crazy Prado makin' like mad with Jazz Me Blues. He's a wild
man, he's really gone, knockin' out those cool, screechin' notes. Here he is
again with Jersey Bounce, diggin' like mad, throwing himself all over the
stand. His hysteria is catchin'; man, even on the phonograph this Stuff'll
murder you - that is, if your speaker holds out and the walls don't crumble
around your jumpin' feet. And here's Al Romero latchin' on to Muskrat Ramble
Mambo - he's wingin' low with only vibes and rhythm but, man, when he hits
you've had it - watch out for flyin' glass.

Now you can dig Noro Morales, that real gone Latin cat who lowers his sights
on The Sheik of Araby - what he does to them is probably illegal, but while
he's windin' up he turns out some of the most finger poppin' music you've
ever glommed an ear to. And here's Lullaby of Birdland, too - man, that's
practically the hipster's theme song, nice and cool and crazy, served up
here by that jumpin' eighty-eighter, Damiron. And now, cats, you can flip
your lids to Tony Martinez' real mad renditions of Fascinating Rhythm, and
then go completely off your rocker while Don Elliott, one of the absolute
terrors of modern jazz, sticks pins in Love for Sale and Makin' Whoopee. And
man, if you're still conscious after all this, you've got it made.

Jumpin' with these sides is the only known requirement for life membership
in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Lid Flippers and Happy Hipsters.
That's all you gotta do, man - move with the music, throw away those
inhibitions, and if you've got some rafters handy, start swingin' from 'em.
But look, cats - don't get your feet wet unless your ticker's tickin',
unless you've been takin' your vitamin pills and really want to get your
kicks. For man, we've finally discovered what really happens when that
irresistible force meets the immovable object. When the mambo meets jazz,
man, don't run for cover - just stand your ground and swing with the rest -
but above all else, friends, STAY LOOSE!