The Complete Cuban Jam Sessions

Listen to five legendary albums.

People have asked me me if the legendary Panart Cuban Jam Sessions are available for streaming. Yes! They can be hard to find, so here I’ve put them together into a playlist. When the sessions were first recorded in Havana’s studio in the 1950s, they were the innovative, improvisational expressions of musicians in Havana who were as curious about American jazz as they were proficient in all styles of Cuban music. These albums influenced the New York Latino artists who would become known as the Fania All Stars. Coveted original copies can still today be found in the record collections of several generations of jazz and Latin players and aficionados.

“There were about twenty people in the room at the time. On a table there was rum and Spanish cognac…no food…It was like a big party. There was nothing written down.” Walfredo de los Reyes, from my liner notes for The Complete Cuban Jam Sessions box set (Concord/Craft Recordings).

I was thrilled and honored to be nominated for a Grammy in 2020 in the Album Notes Category for my essay for The Complete Cuban Jam Sessions vinyl box set, which marked the first time that these five sought-after albums were compiled together, and beautifully remastered. The box is still available online through Amazon, where I’m very proud of all of the great reviews. Or you can find it through your favorite independent record store.

Listen on Qobuz:

Listen on Spotify:

To learn more about the story of these legendary recordings and their legacy, listen at the link below to an interview that I did with NPR’s Felix Contreras on the show alt.latino when the set came out in 2018.

https://www.npr.org/sections/altlatino/2018/10/04/654037061/cuban-treasures-unearthed-panart-records-unveils-remastered-jam-sessions