A collection of Havana-to-New York recordings from 1939 to 1961 by the Machito orchestra, one of the hottest and most influential big band Latin orchestras of New York's mambo era. A legend of Cuban music: the first to assemble the essential rhythm trio of conga, bongo and timbales in a Latin orchestra; a group that claimed its Black identity by calling itself "the Afro-Cubans" well before the civil rights movement; and the first to fuse Cuban/Caribbean music with swing jazz in a way that delighted audiences of every background. Plenty has been written about Caribbean and Brazilian music from the 1930s through the '60s, so why not dig into the core of Cuban music right here? It feels way too good! (Original Japanese text by Shhhhh)