Qué Rico el Mambo
Pérez Prado and His Orchestra · 1956 · from the album Mambo by the King · written by Pérez Prado
The hit that made mambo a worldwide craze, from the bandleader who turned it into big-band music: Pérez Prado, the King of the Mambo.
- mambo
- trumpet
Pérez Prado first recorded Qué Rico el Mambo in Mexico around 1950. The official upload here, from RCA, is the recording on his 1956 LP Mambo by the King, under the English title the song became known by in the US, Mambo Jambo.
Why it matters
Mambo began in Cuba in the late 1930s, when Orestes López and his brother Cachao added a syncopated closing section to the danzones of Arcaño y sus Maravillas. Cuban pianist Dámaso Pérez Prado took the idea into a big band full of trumpets and saxophones.
In 1949 he moved to Mexico City and signed with RCA Victor, and Qué Rico el Mambo was one of the records that followed. US arranger Sonny Burke heard it in Mexico and recorded his own version back home, where it became a hit, and the mambo craze was on. Prado re-recorded it later as Mambo Jambo.
The mambo craze of the 1950s followed, in the US and far beyond. On2 dancers still call their style “mambo”.
What to listen for
- The trumpets and saxophones trading short, punchy riffs, and the two answering each other. That's what “mambo” meant in a big band, and it's where salsa's mambo section (the part of a song where the horns play riffs over the groove) gets its name.
- Pérez Prado's famous grunts. They're a word: “¡Dilo!”, “say it!”, shouted to push the band on.