Reuploaded 11/28/2025
Can't delay this vacation's end any longer. This is the final countdown...only ten countries left & I'll have made it around the world in musick. There were times when I was mightily apprehensive, but it looks like I'm gonna make it. Thanks to everyone who has come along for the journey & thanks to all of you who are still somewhere behind out there, checking things out. Without further delay...
We touch down in Panama & at once realize what a transitional land it is, situated between South & North Americas, eastern sea & western ocean, Afro-Latin jazz & funky US soul.
Panama! focuses on the fertile 1960s & 70s, & showcases this variety & versatility of styles & temperaments perfectly. The compilation begins with the strong descarga jam led by sax-man Jose ‘Chombo’ Silva. With his Sonny Rollins tone, Silva lays down a rhythmic Antillean Beguine as Rafael Labasta adds searing Cuban-style trumpet to the hot rhythm pounded out by piano, upright bass, & percussion. It’s Afro-Cuban/Puerto Rican/Salsa jazz at its finest.
There are other directions represented, too: soul-funk workouts exemplified by the likes of The Exciters, Los Fabulosos Festivals, & Los Mozambiques; Papi Brandau Y Sus Ejecutivos’s accordion-driven cumbia; Los Silvertones’s smooth mento; or Lord Cobra’s Calypso classic “Rocombey” with its tale of love & Voodoo .
Soundways has released Panama!2 & Panama!3 as well, check them out. (see comments for links)
Tracklist –
Panama esta bueno y…Ma - Los Exagerados
Exciters Theme – The Exciters
Nana Nina – Bush y sus Magnificos
Soy solo para ti – Victor Boa y su Musica
Maltrato – Freddy y sus Afro Latinos
Viva Panama – Papi Brandao y sus Ejecutivos
Old Buzzard – Los Silvertones
El Mensaje – Los Fabulosos Festivals
New Bag – The Exciters
Descarga Tentacion – Bolita y su Tentacion Latina
Con los Caballeros – Los Caballeros de Colon
Let Me Do My Thing – Los Dinamicos Exciters (feat. Ralph Weeks)
Viva Tirado – Los Mozambiques
Mambologia – Maximo Rodriguez y sus Estrella Panamenas
Rocombey – Lord Cobra & Pana-Afro Sounds
Here is a few extra bonus cuts from bands featured on Panama! that you might like.
Bush y Su Combo los Magnificos’ “Los Magnificos” is a deep guaguanco complete with rolling piano, mighty horns, & vocals from Chombo Castro. The flip-side of "Nana Nina".
Bush y Su Combo los Magnificos – Los Magnificos theme, Sol Records 7”, 197?.
Three more tunes from Los Exciters. These are from Lo Mejor de los Dinamicos Exciters LP from some time in the 70s.
Tracks –
Morning
Say Amor
Puerto Rico
Carlos Garnett is a Panamanian jazz saxophonist, composer,
arranger, & jazz group leader. Garnett was born on December 1, 1938, in Red
Tank, Panama Canal Zone. He became interested
in jazz music after hearing Louis Jordan's & James Moody’s music in film shorts.
He taught himself to play the saxophone as a teenager & played for soldiers
from the nearby United States Army base. In 1957 he started playing in calypso
& Latin music groups. He has gone on
to international fame. He played in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, with Charlie
Mingus, & Miles Davis.
On Black Love, the musicians are: Carlos Garnett –
vocals & tenor, alto, & soprano saxophone; Reggie Lucas – electric
guitar; Charles Sullivan – trumpet; Mauricio Smith – flute; Onaje Allan Gumbs –
piano; Alex Blake & Buster Williams – bass; James Mtume – congas; Guilherme
Franco – percussion; & Jabali-Billy Hart & Norman Connors – drums; with
Ayodele Jenkins & Dee Dee Bridgewater – vocals & backing vocals; &
Carlos Chambers – yodeling on “Mother of the Future”.
Carlos Garnett – Black Love, Muse Records MR 5040, 1974.
Side A –
Black Love
Ebonesque
Banks of the Nile
Side B –
Mother of the Future
Taurus Woman
Enjoy,
NØ