This previously unreleased set from the 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival features the pacesetting Afro-Cuban jazz conguero
Mongo Santamaria and his frequently blazing seven-piece band. With trumpeter
Tommy Villarini (whose high-note flurries sound a little like
Jon Faddis in spots) and saxophonists
Doug Harris and
Allen Hoist (who takes a rare spot on cello) taking heated solos and
Santamaria a major force throughout, this is highly enjoyable music. "Watermelon Man" has guest appearances by trumpeter
Dizzy Gillespie and harmonica great
Toots Thielemans, although
Gillespie is inaudible and
Thielemans is largely buried in the band. It really does not matter, for
Santamaria's group is quite stirring by itself.
Milton Hamilton's long and inventive, unaccompanied introduction to "Solrito" is a highlight of this highly recommended date. ~ Scott Yanow