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Craft Recordings is proud to announce the release of The Complete Cuban Jam Sessions 5-LP and 5-CD box sets on November 9, 2018. Compiled here in their entirety and original format for the first time, the five volumes of Panart’s Cuban Jam Session albums were recorded over a span of almost a decade, from 1956–1964. Together these albums encapsulate a stylistic and historic panorama of Cuban music, from big band son montuno to Afro-Cuban rumba, mambo, cha-cha-chá and country acoustic guajira music. At the same time, they attest to Cuba’s long relationship with popular American music and jazz.

These sessions collectively feature an impressive line-up of renowned pioneers of descarga (improvised jam session), including pianist Julio Gutiérrez, tres player Niño Rivera, flautist José Fajardo and the legendary master bassist and mambo co-creator, Israel “Cachao” López. Participating musicians include the legendary percussionist Tata Güines, trombone master Generoso Jiménez, pioneering Cuban jazz drummer Guillermo Barreto, Cachao’s brother and co-father of the mambo Orestes López, ground-breaking timbales player/drummer Walfredo de los Reyes, Sr., jazz-influenced pianist Pedro Jústiz “Peruchín,” and Cuban scat singer Francisco Fellove, among many others.

The 5-LP set includes 35 tracks on 180-gram audiophile vinyl in tip-on jackets. It offers a 28-page book featuring black-and-white archival images of the featured artists as well as extensive liner notes and musician bios, in English and Spanish, by award-winning Latin music writer, Cuban music specialist and box set co-producer, Judy Cantor-Navas.