ROCK Sex: Herbie Hancock > Mongo Santamaria > Herbie Hancock

ROCK Sex is all about scratching each other's back; 'you do me, I'll do you'.

Previously I gave examples of how one song can take on new life under different artists, and also how an artist inspires another artist who re-inspires the first artist. Well, today is an example of both.

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Herbie Hanckock was a jolt of new life on the Jazz scene in the early '60s, and he scored an immediate hit from his 1962 debut album penning this hip-swaying classic:

HERBIE HANCOCK -"Watermelon Man" (1962)



Afro-Cuban percussionist MONGO SANTAMARIA was quick to pick up on the Latin Jazz tinge and expand it fully on his classic cover hit. It soon became a standard with great versions by Quincy Jones, Manfred Mann, Maynard Ferguson, and The J.B.'s to follow.

MONGO SANTAMARIA -"Watermelon Man" (1962)



Big Mama Thornton, famed for the original "Hound Dog", made this Blues stride out of it, complete with funny monologue:

BIG MAMA THORNTON -"Watermelon Man" (1970)



Herbie re-invented himself in the early '70s as an afro-futurist, blending tribal instruments with space-age electronics. In similar phoenix fashion he reforged his own classic:

HERBIE HANCOCK & THE HEADHUNTERS -"Watermelon Man" (1973)



You got my back, I got yours.


© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• Cool Funk Roots: PEREZ PRADO's Mambo

• "Oye Como Va!" - Tito Puente > Santana > Kinky


• "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" - Horace Silver > Earth Wind & Fire > Steely Dan > Stevie Wonder > Madlib

• "PHYSICAL GRAFFITI" - Led Zeppelin > Branford Marsalis > Rolling Stones

• "How High The Moon" - Les Paul and Mary Ford > Sarah Vaughan > Charlie Parker > Miles Davis > John Coltrane


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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Cool Funk Roots: PEREZ PRADO's Mambo

Cuban musicians had massive influence on Jazz-Bebop, Pop music, and early Rock in the early 1950s with Mambo music.
(See the film, The Mambo Kings.)

Chief among them was Damaso PEREZ PRADO, whose use of tight contrapunctual horns, dynamic rhythm, and sudden stops and starts are the prototype for James Brown and Funk music. As bandleader, he would get so excited he'd kick the air during a pause and shout, "Dilo!" ('Say it!') Audiences mistook his shout for "Ungh!', inspiring the song "Who Put the Ungh In the Mambo?" If that isn't JB, what is?

This kicked off a Latin throughline in Soul and Funk music that gave us Eddie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria, Santana, WAR, Malo, El Chicano, Azteca, Mandrill, Fania All-Stars, Jorge Ben, Sheila E, Gerardo, Lighter Shade of Brown, Ozomatli, and Los Mocosos.

His "Mambo No. 5" was remade as a big hit by Lou Bega in '99.

PEREZ PRADO -"Mambo No 5" - (1950s, from LP)



PEREZ PADO -"Muchachita"



The Black Eyed Peas sampled the Yma Sumac/ Perez Prado song "Bo Mambo" for their big hit "Hands Up". Here's another great:

Yma Sumac, w/ Perez Prado -"Bo Mambo!" (1955)



For the Love of the Mambo documentary


From Mambo to Hip-Hop: A South Bronx Tale documentary



After The Clash broke up, bassist Paul Simenon formed a Morricone-​esque Rockabilly group called Havana 3AM, named after the Perez Prado album.

HAVANA 3AM -"Hey Amigo" (1991)



"Dilo!":
https://myspace.com/perezparadise

© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• "Oye Como Va!" - Tito Puente > Santana > Kinky

• Herbie Hancock > Mongo Santamaria > Herbie Hancock


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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