Perez Prado

Play Radio
Listen to Perez Prado Radio, featuring artists like Perez Prado And His Orchestra, Pérez Prado, Tito Puente, Xavier Cugat and more…

336,956 plays (59,100 listeners)

Shop now at Amazon | Send Perez Prado Ringtones to Cell
More options
Add to my Library
Universally known as the King of the Mambo, Pérez Prado was the single most important musician involved in the hugely popular Latin dance craze. Whether he actually created the rhythm is somewhat disputed, but it’s abundantly clear that Prado developed it into a bright, swinging style with massive appeal for dancers of all backgrounds and classes. Prado’s mambo was filled with piercing high-register trumpets, undulating saxophone counterpoint, atmospheric organ (later on), and harmonic ideas borrowed from jazz. While his tight percussion arrangements allowed for little improvisation, they were dense and sharply focused, keeping the underlying syncopations easy for dancers to follow. Prado played the piano, but was often more in his element as the focal point of the audience’s excitement; he leaped, kicked, danced, shouted, grunted, and exhorted his musicians with a dynamic stage presence that put many more sedate conductors and bandleaders to shame. With this blueprint, Prado brought mambo all the way into the pop mainstream, inspiring countless imitators and scoring two number one singles on the pop charts (albeit in a smoother vein than the fare that first made his name) as the fad snowballed. He was a star throughout most of the Western Hemisphere during the ’50s, and even after his popularity waned in the United States, he remained a widely respected figure in many Latin countries, especially his adopted home of Mexico. Prado is often best remembered for his softer, more commercial work, which has an undeniable kitschiness that plays well with modern-day lounge-revival hipsters.
Read more… Edit

Popular tags: mambo, latin, instrumental, 50s, cuban  See more

Shouts: 33 shouts

Share this artist:

Top Albums

See more

Top Tracks

1
118
2
62
3
57
4
48
5
45
6
41
7
40
8
39
9
36
10
29
11
25
12  
23
13  
20
13
20
15
16
Buy all tracks at Amazon MP3
See more

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).
See all 33 shouts

Videos

See more

Listening Now

Top Listeners

See more

Recent Activity

Related Journals

See more

Groups (14)

See more

More Information

Labels
Other spellings
“Got Last.fm?”

More Last.fm Sites: Blog | Music Manager | Build | Playground (Subscriber VIP zone) | Best of 2011

© 2012 Last.fm Ltd. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | Updated Feb 11, 2009
Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
Text may also be available under the GNU Free Documentation License.