Afro-Cuban Jazz

Adding on to some of the outstanding recordings already recommended:

Sabu Martinez: Sabu's Jazz Espagnole
Ray Barretto: Acid
Joe Cuba: Estamos Haciendo Algo Blen!
Batacumbele: In Concert at University of Puerto Rico
Francisco Aguabella: H20

These are a few of my absolute favorite afro-cuban jazz lps. I'm pretty sure that you can get the first three from someplace like vinyl.com. I think the Batacumbele lp is long out of print but is well worth finding - sabroso! The Francisco Aguabella lp was available from CuBop records but I don't know if it is still in print. Good luck!

Agree with all of the above, and would add Machito.Sadly,in reference to Albert Porter's recommendation above,both "Patato" Valdes and Cecil Payne are in today's NYT Obituary section. The former is listed as "Patata."

Machito -Mucho Machito and Kenya have both been recently reissued. Sabu Martinez -Jazz Espanole is excellent and timeless and was just reissued on Vampi Soul, which are by the way a great source for hard to find latin jazz reissues. They also have some Cal Tjader LPs that I highly recommend. Snowboy has some killer latin jazz albums like Mambo Rage, but watch out for his cheesy R&B ones. Jack Costanzo has a new one out. There are some great latin jazz compilations on Soul Jazz, Soundways, Honest Jon's and others. Ubiquity has been reissuing the Fantasy catalogue. They also put out the new Costanzo and Aguabella albums on CD and vinyl.

Check this out:

http://www.dustygroove.com/featured.php?cat=6

I have purchased lots of LPs from these guys and they are awesome to deal with.

Enjoy,
Mikky

If you're serious about Latin music:
Descarga.com
Museodeldisco.com
chuyvarela.com

Get this DVD, Blanco y Negro, Bebo & Cigala en Vivo. This is just about the best recorded Afro-Cuban Jazz piece out there.