October 12, 2007

Purdue jazz to unleash wave of mambo tunes in Loeb performance

Presented by Purdue Bands & Orchestra, the concert starts at 8 p.m. in Stewart Center's Loeb Playhouse. Admission is free.

Director Mo Trout said the American Music Repertory Ensemble will not only look at the mania created in the 1950s by Perez Prado, considered to be the innovator of the mambo, but at the reactions to it. While "mambomania" was sweeping the country – pulling crooners like Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney into its frenzy - many people in the U.S. Latino community thought Prado was catering too much to Anglo tastes, Trout said.

The Latino community often preferred the traditional, less "pop" sounds of musicians like Tito Puente, which also will be represented during the concert, Trout said.

The Lab Jazz Band will start the night off with a mix of jazz tunes including "The Gentle Rain" by Luiz Bonfa, "A Night in Havana" by Victor Lopez and "Blue Bossa" by Kenny Dorham.

The American Music Repertory Ensemble will then take the stage. Trout will direct the big band with vocalists, which is dedicated to performing music by the greatest jazz composers of the 20th century and presenting it as it was created.

The ensemble's set will open with "Mambo Jambo," the tune that brought Prado to the attention of U.S. audiences.

Already dubbed the "Glen Miller of Mexico," the Cuban-born Prado had been recording mambo dance tunes in Mexico for several years when American band leader Sonny Burke covered Prado's "Que rico el mambo." It became a hit in the United States under its new name, "Mambo Jambo." Prado then toured the United States with his new brand of dance music and collaborated with major American performers.

The American Music Repertory Ensemble will highlight one of those collaborations with Clooney's "Sway" from her 1960 Touch of Tabasco album with the Perez Prado Orchestra.

Several tunes originally recorded by Helen O'Connell, former singer with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, will be performed including "Time Was," "Green Eyes" and "Amapola," all from 1957.

Also riding the wave of interest in Latin music in the 1950s was Puente, who became internationally recognized for his contributions as a bandleader, composer, arranger and percussionist. Two Puente classics, "Oye Como Va" and "Ran Kan Kan" are on the program, as well as a Puente arrangement of Paul Desmond's "Take Five."

"Mambo Kings" kicks off the jazz season at Purdue. The next concert features the Purdue Jazz Band in "The Jazz Soul of George Gershwin" at 8 p.m. Oct. 26 in Loeb Playhouse as part of Homecoming festivities.

Writer: Christy Jones, (765) 494-1089, christyjones@purdue.edu

Source: Kathy Matter, (765) 496-6785, kcmatter@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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