The Jesús Maria district in the oldest part of Havana, Cuba, might be pretty much overlooked if not for the fact that, 100 years ago Friday, Ramon Santamaria was born there. "Mongo" Santamaria was ...

Mongo Santamaria was a great Cuban conga player (“conguero”) who most people don’t know about. Even though for tropical Latin music lovers, percussionists and drummers, he is a veritable god. He’s ...

Jazz musicians have long mined Broadway, the Great American Songbook, and even pop music for material. Here are five Latin interpretations of songs written by jazz musicians, a process that isn't as ...

No musician was more responsible in his lifetime for bringing the sound of Latin music to jazz and popular music audiences than Tito Puente. During a career spanning over half a century Puente ...

A key figure in the New York City dance scene, Joe Claussell rifled through the vast archives of esteemed Latin label Fania and remixed some of his favorites for a new compilation called Africa Caribe ...

The Mambo Kings' 2004 debut recording, Marinera, was a good example of solid Latin jazz. The group, which was founded in 1997 in Rochester, New York, returns two years later with the same lineup: ...

By the time the Cal Tjader Quintet recorded Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia" in 1959, the song was already becoming a jazz standard. But if you listen to the famous 1953 Massey Hall version with ...