Fabulous Mambo! looks at the more pop-oriented side of the genre, concentrating more on catchy tunes than extended Latin jazz workouts, and featuring more than a few vocal numbers (many sung by the legendary
Beny Moré).
Perez Prado is the most heavily featured performer here, and there are appearances by
Tito Puente, Rafael De Paz,
Noro Morales,
Xavier Cugat, and even
Perry Como. Most of those artists -- Como being an obvious exception -- have individual retrospectives available with purer examples of hot Latin jazz, but there's nothing wrong with the poppier side of the equation either, and
Fabulous Mambo! is an enjoyable representation thereof. ~ Steve Huey