Discos Fuentes fire, rare as hens’ teeth, from 1975.
La Torta is first out of the oven, with a Colombian take on Haitian compas which was soundsystem murder, back in the day. The wild Fiebre De Lepra was the 45 — funky wah-wah guitar, makossa-style bass, manic organ, and feverishly insane vocals by Wilson ‘Saoko’ Manyoma and Joe Arroyo — backed with the heavy, strutting El Caterete, based on the 1970 Brazilian recording by Marku Ribas. The off-kilter funk and stomping breaks of Tifit Hayed have created a tropical dance floor favourite in recent years, boasting a massive Latin bass line, tasty Farfisa organ stabs, a bluesy, jazzy piano solo, propulsive cowbell, and daft animal noises.

The debut LP by the godfather of rocksteady, from 1967; choca with many of his signature recordings. Stone-classic songs over cornerstone rhythms, like I’m Still In Love With You, I’m Just A Guy, and Get Ready.
Crucial bunny.

Choca with unrelentingly hard and heavy salsa bangers, school of Willie Colon, this 1973 album is the fifth full-length salsa LP led by Julio Ernesto Estrada Rincón, aka Fruko, and the second credited to Fruko Y Sus Tesos. The singers are Joe Arroyo and Wilson ‘Saoko’ Manyoma; besides salsa, the rhythms are mozambique, conga, bomba, and jala jala.
The stone-cold-killer descarga Salsa Na Ma is here. Phew-wee. Raging dancefloor fire.

Rough, tough salsa brava from 1972.
The soaring, soulful vocals of Edulfamid Molina Díaz front an augmented, more aggressive brass section —introducing another trumpet and two trombones to the lineup— swaggering through a dazzling range of rhythms including guaguancó, bomba, plena, oriza, bolero, cha-cha-chá, descarga, and Latin soul.
Warmly recommended.

‘An affectionate update on the sort of tightly arranged hard-bop album that was a specialty of the Blue Note label from the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s. Frank Lowe has developed a thoughtfully muscular approach to the tenor saxophone that’s exceptionally resourceful and personal, and his bandmates… are similarly animated by both an exploratory bent and a love for the hard-bop tradition. This is Mr. Lowe’s finest album to date’ (New York Times).