"Bongos From the South" by Edmundo Ros & His Orchestra

"Bongos From the South"
by Edmundo Ros & His Orchestra

Right off the start it's bongos. 

Throughout the first side, very heavy percussion, and many breaks highlighting them as well. Some well known tunes on hear like "Deep in the heart of Texas", "Moon over Miami", and "When the saints go marching in". A Strauss waltz gets the percussion treatment later on side 2.

"La Comparsa" has a cool little groove to it. The woodwinds have a catchy little ostinato, that sets up the rest of the song as you clave away.  Banjos get broken out for "My old Kentucky home", but the xylophone almost makes it sounds like a  cartoon.

"Brazil" has some moments that make me think "Caravan" from Duke Ellington, but it is a catchy up tempo number regardless. This was a fun tune to end the side.  All in all, side 1 was well worth the $1 alone so far. Some very catchy tunes on here, and some parts I am sure have been sampled through the years. Moving on to side 2.

From the insert

Edmunds Ros learned music in military school much like myself. He was born in Trinidad, but completed his studies in Venezuela, including a period as the timpanist in the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra.  The height of his fame seems to have occurred during his many years in London. He led his own bands for many years into the 1970s. This album is from 1961.

The second side starts with the well known classic, "When The Saints Go Marching In".  

links: discogs - spotify

"Belafonte" Harry Belafonte

 The sheet was a little damaged, but the record looked OK to play. 

Matilda was a pick up compared to the other tunes. The whistling was out of sight.  This is much closer to my own association with Mr. Belafonte's music. 

The last song on this side is quite sad.

Side 2 

"Noah" starts with a preacher call and response rally. Using th e bible story of noah to bring context to the next piece.  It raised an eyebrow in my household to hear that coming from my vinyl all of a sudden. 

"Scarlett Ribbons" goes back to the crooner model. 

"Unchained Melody" is a tender and very sparse arrangement, but tons of vibrato on his voice. Too much for my taste. "Jump Down..." is a fun little tune. silly. the tempo speed up is nice. This is also the first song that had a skip on the record. Not bad.

"Sylvie" is more crooner. Another tune that shows how low to high, or high to low he can go in his range. Very smooth. The solo guitar with the building vocal harmony is nice.