Dance Music CDs

Anyone in the mood to take a musical trip around the world had

Summary: Anyone in the mood to take a musical trip around the world had to look no further than the international section of their nearest record outlet There they d find the latest Seeco product by indigenous singers such as Lydia Scotty Haitian Nemours Jean Baptiste Argentinean Leo Marini and Spanish flamenco queen Lola Flores travelogue recordings by Arturo Chaite covering various European locales romantic French and Italian ballads as played by pianist Pierre Dorsey and The Aldo Bruschi Ensemble respectively and tropical jazz from talented José Melis a Seeco mainstay who moonlighted as music director for TV s Jack Paar talk show The label s two top selling artists both hailed from Havana Cuba Vicentico Valdés formerly the featured singer with Tito Puente s orchestra thrilled millions of female hearts with his smooth ballad style while Celia Cruz delivered world famous rhumbas with her unique brand of industrial strength vocalizing Housing the exotic treasures that Seeco marketed were eye catching album sleeves that in true Latin style often depicted busty beauties dressed in costumes that barely concealed their feminine charms Much like those bulging bodices the Seeco Tropical tape library is full to overflowing with a wealth of Latin music styles What follows is a brief look at those styles which were favored in the United States and the Seeco artists who specialized in them A world music label long before the term had been coined Seeco was the direct forerunner of present day companies like Putumayo and Island Records Although originally intended as strictly a Latin music label by the late 1950s its artist roster had diversified to include jazz music hall and cabaret artists such as Cy Coleman Elsa Maxwell Billy Maxted Tony Scott continental sex kitten Eartha Kitt and cocktail pianist Hildegarde The Polyphonics a trio of eclectic harmonica wizards recorded for Seeco A Celebrity Series was launched which featured comedian Alan King and Broadway star Chita Rivera among others Seeco s A R department was run by jazz based arranger producers such as Joe Cain Morty Hillman and Jerry Shifrin Nevertheless Latin music in its most exotic varieties be it Spanish French or Portuguese in origin remained the bread and butter of Seeco Tropical Sidney Siegel surely wouldn t have wanted it any other way TANGO The early part of the 20th century found wealthy Americans mesmerized by the tango an Argentinean import with links to a Cuban rhythm called habanera Played on violin guitar and accordion tango music inspired a sensuous dance among the lower classes of Buenos Aires it quickly acquired a bad reputation because prostitutes danced to it in slit skirts while wearing no underwear Qué escándolo The famed professional dance team of Irene and Vernon Castle cleaned up the tango imported it to the United States during World War I and promoted it to such an extent that its popularity swept the nation during the 1920s Superstar Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat got his start playing tango accompaniment for early Hollywood movies as well as for high society parties on the West Coast Edmundo Rivero and Hugo Del Carril were perhaps the best known of several tango specialists who cut sides for Seeco and authentic tango artistry can readily be found on Rivero s Tropical album El Gran Cantante Argentino Seeco Records was devoted to the kind of Latin music that Siegel loved Rival labels would spring up in later years most notably Tico Records in 1948 which tended to specialize in the New York Latin sound of the most popular mambo bands Seeco and its sister label Tropical created a niche for itself by seeking out no pun intended and recording only the most authentic sounds and if that meant traveling to some far flung locale to record so be it Seeco s catalogue included not only Afro Cuban music the foundation of mambo but also native music from the French Antilles South America Western Europe the Caribbean and all over the Latin diaspora Over the next 25 years Sidney Siegel would aggressively pursue distribution deals and fresh talent in Cuba Puerto Rico Colombia Haiti The Dominican Republic Mexico Spain and Argentina His upstart independent label became famous both inside and outside the United States due to the pedigree of its product The sleeve of each new release proclaimed in bold letters The Finest In Latin American Recordings While a fair amount of dross was issued by his label Siegel did his best to make the claim ring true Glenn Miller Count Basie Benny Goodman and other legendary bandleaders plied the beat that set Americans Lindy Hopping in the 30s and 40s However the popularity of big bands waned during the years immediately after the end of World War II The end of the swing era saw the rise of superstar balladeers like Sinatra Tony Bennett Perry Como Nat King Cole and Rosemary Clooney However people still wanted to dance as much as ever To satisfy this demand rhythm and blues and western swing came into their own on the West Coast and in the southern and midwestern United States respectively Meanwhile on the East Coast swingin mambo sounds fit the bill Jeweler Sidney Siegel noticed the growing popularity of Latin dance music during the height of the war It was reportedly in 1943 that he poured the assets of his Casa Siegel jewelry store into the founding of a record label His earliest releases were marketed in Canada due to wartime vinyl rationing by the late 40s he d launched a full fledged American operation MARIACHI Mexican music is a combination of Native American and European elements Emigrants from the north of Spain brought their folk ballad tradition to Mexico and the French who briefly controlled the country during the 19th century brought the waltz and the polka These forms can still be heard in the Tejano music popular among Spanish speaking Americans in the southern United States Ultimately Mexico became world famous for its beautiful and melancholy ranchera ballads as performed by guitar trumpet violin and accordion ensembles known as mariachis Mariachi music and artists were always welcome at Seeco as were the compositions of famed Mexican composers like María Grever Agustín Lara and José Alfredo Jiménez In fact the great Jiménez was briefly part of Seeco s artist roster The label s other Mexican music exponents included Tony Pizarro the Johnny Rodríguez Trio Mariachi México the celebrated Trío Los Panchos and popular 1940s film stars Tito Guizar and Chucho Martínez Gil Most of the aforementioned may be sampled on the Tropical anthology Canciónes De México SWING RHUMBA El son an infectious music based on a five beat rhythm pattern was developed in the Cuban countryside during the late 19th century By the 1920s it had migrated to Havana and formed the basis of rhumba a style of music and dance that grew out of neighborhood street festivals While initially taken up by impoverished Cuban city dwellers the rhumba gradually became popular in polite society Seven piece musical ensembles formed to play this new music one of the most popular was Septeto Nacional led by composer and guitarist Ignacio Pineiro Pineiro and his group cut a critically acclaimed album for Seeco in 1958 Americans vacationing in Cuba acquired a taste for this exotic new sound and brought it home with them Rhumba also reached the United States via the great Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona in songs such as Say Sí Sí known in Spanish as Para Vigo Me Voy and Malagueña Anyone in the mood to take a musical trip around the world had to look no further than the international section of their nearest record outlet There they d find the latest Seeco product by indigenous singers such as Lydia Scotty Haitian Nemours Jean Baptiste Argentinean Leo Marini and Spanish flamenco queen Lola Flores travelogue recordings by Arturo Chaite covering various European locales romantic French and Italian ballads as played by pianist Pierre Dorsey and The Aldo Bruschi Ensemble respectively and tropical jazz from talented José Melis a Seeco mainstay who moonlighted as music director for TV s Jack Paar talk show The label s two top selling artists both hailed from Havana Cuba Vicentico Valdés formerly the featured singer with Tito Puente s orchestra thrilled millions of female hearts with his smooth ballad style while Celia Cruz delivered world famous rhumbas with her unique brand of industrial strength vocalizing Housing the exotic treasures that Seeco marketed were eye catching album sleeves that in true Latin style often depicted busty beauties dressed in costumes that barely concealed their feminine charms Much like those bulging bodices the Seeco Tropical tape library is full to overflowing with a wealth of Latin music styles What follows is a brief look at those styles which were favored in the United States and the Seeco artists who specialized in them A world music label long before the term had been coined Seeco was the direct forerunner of present day companies like Putumayo and Island Records Although originally intended as strictly a Latin music label by the late 1950s its artist roster had diversified to include jazz music hall and cabaret artists such as Cy Coleman Elsa Maxwell Billy Maxted Tony Scott continental sex kitten Eartha Kitt and cocktail pianist Hildegarde The Polyphonics a trio of eclectic harmonica wizards recorded for Seeco A Celebrity Series was launched which featured comedian Alan King and Broadway star Chita Rivera among others Seeco s A R department was run by jazz based arranger producers such as Joe Cain Morty Hillman and Jerry Shifrin Nevertheless Latin music in its most exotic varieties be it Spanish French or Portuguese in origin remained the bread and butter of Seeco Tropical Sidney Siegel surely wouldn t have wanted it any other way TANGO The early part of the 20th century found wealthy Americans mesmerized by the tango an Argentinean import with links to a Cuban rhythm called habanera Played on violin guitar and accordion tango music inspired a sensuous dance among the lower classes of Buenos Aires it quickly acquired a bad reputation because prostitutes danced to it in slit skirts while wearing no underwear Qué escándolo The famed professional dance team of Irene and Vernon Castle cleaned up the tango imported it to the United States during World War I and promoted it to such an extent that its popularity swept the nation during the 1920s Superstar Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat got his start playing tango accompaniment for early Hollywood movies as well as for high society parties on the West Coast Edmundo Rivero and Hugo Del Carril were perhaps the best known of several tango specialists who cut sides for Seeco and authentic tango artistry can readily be found on Rivero s Tropical album El Gran Cantante Argentino Seeco Records was devoted to the kind of Latin music that Siegel loved Rival labels would spring up in later years most notably Tico Records in 1948 which tended to specialize in the New York Latin sound of the most popular mambo bands Seeco and its sister label Tropical created a niche for itself by seeking out no pun intended and recording only the most authentic sounds and if that meant traveling to some far flung locale to record so be it Seeco s catalogue included not only Afro Cuban music the foundation of mambo but also native music from the French Antilles South America Western Europe the Caribbean and all over the Latin diaspora Over the next 25 years Sidney Siegel would aggressively pursue distribution deals and fresh talent in Cuba Puerto Rico Colombia Haiti The Dominican Republic Mexico Spain and Argentina His upstart independent label became famous both inside and outside the United States due to the pedigree of its product The sleeve of each new release proclaimed in bold letters The Finest In Latin American Recordings While a fair amount of dross was issued by his label Siegel did his best to make the claim ring true Glenn Miller Count Basie Benny Goodman and other legendary bandleaders plied the beat that set Americans Lindy Hopping in the 30s and 40s However the popularity of big bands waned during the years immediately after the end of World War II The end of the swing era saw the rise of superstar balladeers like Sinatra Tony Bennett Perry Como Nat King Cole and Rosemary Clooney However people still wanted to dance as much as ever To satisfy this demand rhythm and blues and western swing came into their own on the West Coast and in the southern and midwestern United States respectively Meanwhile on the East Coast swingin mambo sounds fit the bill Jeweler Sidney Siegel noticed the growing popularity of Latin dance music during the height of the war It was reportedly in 1943 that he poured the assets of his Casa Siegel jewelry store into the founding of a record label His earliest releases were marketed in Canada due to wartime vinyl rationing by the late 40s he d launched a full fledged American operation MARIACHI Mexican music is a combination of Native American and European elements Emigrants from the north of Spain brought their folk ballad tradition to Mexico and the French who briefly controlled the country during the 19th century brought the waltz and the polka These forms can still be heard in the Tejano music popular among Spanish speaking Americans in the southern United States Ultimately Mexico became world famous for its beautiful and melancholy ranchera ballads as performed by guitar trumpet violin and accordion ensembles known as mariachis Mariachi music and artists were always welcome at Seeco as were the compositions of famed Mexican composers like María Grever Agustín Lara and José Alfredo Jiménez In fact the great Jiménez was briefly part of Seeco s artist roster The label s other Mexican music exponents included Tony Pizarro the Johnny Rodríguez Trio Mariachi México the celebrated Trío Los Panchos and popular 1940s film stars Tito Guizar and Chucho Martínez Gil Most of the aforementioned may be sampled on the Tropical anthology Canciónes De México SWING RHUMBA El son an infectious music based on a five beat rhythm pattern was developed in the Cuban countryside during the late 19th century By the 1920s it had migrated to Havana and formed the basis of rhumba a style of music and dance that grew out of neighborhood street festivals While initially taken up by impoverished Cuban city dwellers the rhumba gradually became popular in polite society Seven piece musical ensembles formed to play this new music one of the most popular was Septeto Nacional led by composer and guitarist Ignacio Pineiro Pineiro and his group cut a critically acclaimed album for Seeco in 1958 Americans vacationing in Cuba acquired a taste for this exotic new sound and brought it home with them Rhumba also reached the United States via the great Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona in songs such as Say Sí Sí known in Spanish as Para Vigo Me Voy and Malagueña

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