Ed Lincoln: Cha Cha Cha Espetacular (1960)

This album is credited to "Don Pablo de Havana e sua Orchestra", but Loronix assures us that "Don Pablo" is just one of many pseudonyms used by the busy Brazilian band leader and pianist/organist Ed Lincoln.

Cheese fest, pt. 3: Cheese buns are a popular snack
in many Latin American countries.

We end our little cheese fest with a trip to Brazil. I couldn't say that this session is way above the hundreds of similar cha cha cha albums recorded in Latin America, the USA and even Europe in the late 50s/early 60s. But the arrangements are quite imaginative and varied and the sheer proficiency of the players heard here is pretty obvious: the brass is sharp and spot-on, contrasting nicely with the promimently used solo flute and the percussion is as precise as an atomic clock. Loronix assumes that we hear the mighty Rubens Bassini on bongos, which should be reason enough to grap this for all lovers of percussion.

We don't get any info on the personnel, but it seems to be a rather small ensemble, maybe a dozen players, not a big band, which is just the way i like it.

If you want only one cha cha album for your collection, it may as well be this one. If you already have dozens of cha cha albums, you will want this one, too, anyway.

Don Pablo de Havana (aka Ed Lincoln) e sua Orchestra: Cha Cha Cha Espetacular
Musidisc XPL 1A, 1960

01 Alguém Me Disse (Jair Amorim / Evaldo Gouveia)
02 El Choclo (A. Villoldo / M. Catan)
03 Andalucia (The Breeze And I) (Ernesto Lecuona)
04 Na Baixa do Sapateiro (Ary Barroso)
05 Together Wherever We Go (J. Styne / S. Sondheim)
06 Adios (Enric Madriguera)

07 Mustapha (B. Azzam / Barclay)
08 Aquarela do Brasil (Ary Barroso)
09 La Cumparsita (M. Rodriguez / P. Contursi / E. Maroni)
10 Climb Ev’ry Mountin (R. Rodgers / O. Hammerstein II)
11 Quero Beijar-te as Mãos (Arcênio de Carvalho / Lourival Faissal)
12 Delicado (Waldir Azevedo)

Nothing from this album on youtube.