The Best Of Cugat
Cover Photos by George Pickow - Three Lions
Cover Photos posed by Abby Lane
Mercury Records PPS 2015 (gatefold) & SR 60870 (single sleeve jacket variation)
1961
From the inside cover: THE MAESTRO – What Paul Whiteman was to symphonic jazz, Guy Lombardo to 'sweet corn' and Benny Goodman to swing, Xavier Cugat has been to the Latin beat in American dance music. For almost three decades, beginning with the appearance of the rumba craze in the very early thirties, Cugi, as he is affectionately known inside the business, has maintained his standing as the foremost interpreter of Latin rhythms. It is a position which has brought him popularity, not only throughout the Americas, but on the Continent as well.
Cugat's long and fabulous musical journey had its beginnings in a cafe in Barcelona, Spain. There, in the twenties, he was found playing the violin by the great Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso. So impressed was the world-famous opera star by what he heard that he retained the young fiddler and took him on a tour to America.
In the course of their joint travels, Caruso discovered that young Cugat's talents reached into areas other than music. The youngster handled a drawing pen as skillfully as the violin bow. Since Caruso was himself an amateur artist, the two amused themselves on their journeys by drawing caricatures. Cugat's caricatures have since appeared in many of the country's large circulation magazines, among them Life.
By the time that Caruso died at the peak of his fabulous career, Cugat decided that his own future as a violinist lacked the horizons of greatness he had hoped for. A job as a cartoonist on The Los Angeles Times seemed to open new, exciting vistas. But the magnetism of music was not so easily neutralized. Before long, Cugat was leading a small six-piece combo. It specialized in rumba rhythms and secured bookings in hotel rooms as a 'relief band' to the name bands of the day.
In 1934 an NBC program "Let's Dance," now regarded as a radio landmark, helped launch the brassy era of swing. It presented the first big, blasting band of Benny Goodman, who became the King of Swing. But the "Let's Dance" show also focussed the spotlight of a coast-to-coast program on the music of two other bands. One was Xavier Cugat, who soon was crowned The Rumba King. It was a well-earned title. The rumba as it was danced in Cuba, its native habitat, was actually too difficult for American dancers, particularly the middle generation that frequented expensive night clubs and hotel rooms. Watching dancers trip over themselves, Cugat worked out a simplified version of the Cuban rumba. He placed the bass conga-drum accent on the fourth beat, giving the Afro-Cuban polyrhythms the simplicity almost of a march step. Now, Americans really took to the rumba. It became the first of a series of Latin dances to sweep the country.
Late in the thirties, the conga became an overnight craze. Associated with Desi Arnaz, the conga was caricatured on the stage and screen in the well-known play My Sister Eileen. In the middle forties, the Brazilian Bombshell Carmen Miranda burst on the American entertainment scene, bringing with her a set of crazy, colorful hats-also the Brazilian dance known as the samba. By the middle fifties, American dancers were unable to resist the mambo, introduced by Machito and popularized by Perez Prado. The mambo (grunt) fad was soon overtaken by interest in the cha-cha-cha, whose vogue has continued through the rock 'n' roll era in the form of the rock-cha-cha. Neither the conga nor the samba-the same is true of the merengue imported from the Dominican Republic-ever commanded the following of the rumba, mambo and cha-cha, although all of them are still to be heart on dance floors.
Cugat's contribution to Latin-American music goes far beyond the popularization of Cuban dance steps. Always on the look-out for new musical talent, he has brought into this country many of Cuba's outstanding instrumentalists. Some of these, like Desi Arnaz, Luis del Campo and Miguelito Valdes, went on to make their own mark as interpreters of Afro-Cuban music.
Dazzling as these stars have been in the Latin-American firmament, they have burned themselves out quickly. Only Cugat has remained 'hot'-a pivotal and permanent sun around which Latin music revolves. His musical appeal has, in fact, been as persistent and universal as the appeal of Afro-Cuban rhythms themselves. Today, after three decades of unceasing activity on radio, TV, stage and screen, he still is in unabating demand wherever dancers congregate-whether it is a South American bistro, a Continental cafe, or the glittering Empire Room of New York's Waldorf-Astoria.
Not the least appealing phase of the Cugat magic in recent years has been the vocalizing and dancing of Abbe Lane, in private life, Mrs. Cugat. Widely known to motion picture audiences here and abroad, Abbe Lane has added a large dimension of visual appeal to the aural magnetism of Cugat's music. (For proof, you need only turn to the front cover of this album and view the six photographs of this remarkable woman.)
Mama Inez
Tea For Two
Tequila
Taboo
Sway
Amor
Amapola
El Cumbanchero
Ba-Tu-Ca-Da
Misirlou
It Happened In Monterey
Always In My Heart
Cugat's long and fabulous musical journey had its beginnings in a cafe in Barcelona, Spain. There, in the twenties, he was found playing the violin by the great Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso. So impressed was the world-famous opera star by what he heard that he retained the young fiddler and took him on a tour to America.
In the course of their joint travels, Caruso discovered that young Cugat's talents reached into areas other than music. The youngster handled a drawing pen as skillfully as the violin bow. Since Caruso was himself an amateur artist, the two amused themselves on their journeys by drawing caricatures. Cugat's caricatures have since appeared in many of the country's large circulation magazines, among them Life.
By the time that Caruso died at the peak of his fabulous career, Cugat decided that his own future as a violinist lacked the horizons of greatness he had hoped for. A job as a cartoonist on The Los Angeles Times seemed to open new, exciting vistas. But the magnetism of music was not so easily neutralized. Before long, Cugat was leading a small six-piece combo. It specialized in rumba rhythms and secured bookings in hotel rooms as a 'relief band' to the name bands of the day.
In 1934 an NBC program "Let's Dance," now regarded as a radio landmark, helped launch the brassy era of swing. It presented the first big, blasting band of Benny Goodman, who became the King of Swing. But the "Let's Dance" show also focussed the spotlight of a coast-to-coast program on the music of two other bands. One was Xavier Cugat, who soon was crowned The Rumba King. It was a well-earned title. The rumba as it was danced in Cuba, its native habitat, was actually too difficult for American dancers, particularly the middle generation that frequented expensive night clubs and hotel rooms. Watching dancers trip over themselves, Cugat worked out a simplified version of the Cuban rumba. He placed the bass conga-drum accent on the fourth beat, giving the Afro-Cuban polyrhythms the simplicity almost of a march step. Now, Americans really took to the rumba. It became the first of a series of Latin dances to sweep the country.
Late in the thirties, the conga became an overnight craze. Associated with Desi Arnaz, the conga was caricatured on the stage and screen in the well-known play My Sister Eileen. In the middle forties, the Brazilian Bombshell Carmen Miranda burst on the American entertainment scene, bringing with her a set of crazy, colorful hats-also the Brazilian dance known as the samba. By the middle fifties, American dancers were unable to resist the mambo, introduced by Machito and popularized by Perez Prado. The mambo (grunt) fad was soon overtaken by interest in the cha-cha-cha, whose vogue has continued through the rock 'n' roll era in the form of the rock-cha-cha. Neither the conga nor the samba-the same is true of the merengue imported from the Dominican Republic-ever commanded the following of the rumba, mambo and cha-cha, although all of them are still to be heart on dance floors.
Cugat's contribution to Latin-American music goes far beyond the popularization of Cuban dance steps. Always on the look-out for new musical talent, he has brought into this country many of Cuba's outstanding instrumentalists. Some of these, like Desi Arnaz, Luis del Campo and Miguelito Valdes, went on to make their own mark as interpreters of Afro-Cuban music.
Dazzling as these stars have been in the Latin-American firmament, they have burned themselves out quickly. Only Cugat has remained 'hot'-a pivotal and permanent sun around which Latin music revolves. His musical appeal has, in fact, been as persistent and universal as the appeal of Afro-Cuban rhythms themselves. Today, after three decades of unceasing activity on radio, TV, stage and screen, he still is in unabating demand wherever dancers congregate-whether it is a South American bistro, a Continental cafe, or the glittering Empire Room of New York's Waldorf-Astoria.
Not the least appealing phase of the Cugat magic in recent years has been the vocalizing and dancing of Abbe Lane, in private life, Mrs. Cugat. Widely known to motion picture audiences here and abroad, Abbe Lane has added a large dimension of visual appeal to the aural magnetism of Cugat's music. (For proof, you need only turn to the front cover of this album and view the six photographs of this remarkable woman.)
Mama Inez
Tea For Two
Tequila
Taboo
Sway
Amor
Amapola
El Cumbanchero
Ba-Tu-Ca-Da
Misirlou
It Happened In Monterey
Always In My Heart
Yes Cugat is excellent! This sis a GREAT cover!!! WOW!
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