Perez Prado and His Orchestra : “Prez”

Perez Prado first strolls down the familiar path of Afro-Cuban folk music with such numbers as the sawing and gurgling “Maria Bonita” and the highly descriptive “Cu-Cu-Rru-Cu-Cu-Paloma.” All the more surprising then is the B side, which begins with a version of “Lullaby Of Birdland” which is shaken to the core by hefty conga drum solos. Prado gives up his snappy mambo arrangement of “Flight Of The Bumblebee,” the first jazzed-up version of which was heard to buzz in concert halls in the Forties, performed by the brilliant trumpeter Harry James.