Featuring rare “Remastered” Beny Moré

Beny Moré was arguably the most loved singer-performer in pre-revolution Cuba. The multi-talented Beny Moré was not, by any means, all Cuba has ever been able to muster up, there are so many more. Many have heard of Machito, Mario Bauza, Mongo Santamaria, Chico O’Farrill, Perez Prado, Celia Cruz, Cachao, Bebo Valdez, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval and others because they were able to escape the brutal grip of the totalitarian Castro regime but there are multitude of others who were not as lucky as them and were not unable to flee.

Beny Moré was outstanding, that’s for sure but so was the superiority of Cuban music in the early 50’s and this rare “remastered” album proves it over and over. The album itself is not rare at all, for it is actually a “best of” type of album. The rareness is the fact that it is remastered! Somehow, the great music conservatives have forgotten about the Pre-Castro Cuban Musicians in Cuba. But then again, the Castro regime has not allowed any “Freedom of Expression” in Cuba for the last 52 years.

I will be featuring this album indefinitely on Jazz Con Class so the listeners could learn more about these forgotten musicians. There is more in the works. Check the schedule link to see when it will be airing, Enjoy!

Biography of Beny Moré:

Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez, 24 August 1919, Santa Isabel de las Lajas, La Villas Province, Cuba, d. 19 February 1963. An outstanding singer (‘his voice was like a bambo in the wind’, said Cuban writer Miguel Barnet in 1984), band leader, composer and arranger, the inimitable Moré, nicknamed ‘El Bárbaro del Ritmo’ (the Barbarian of Rhythm), is still idolized and the subject of tributes nearly three decades after his death. Moré worked with various groups, duos and trios before arriving in Havana in the early 40s. There he performed in the cafes and bars of the capital’s bohemian society; sang with Cuarteto Cordero and Sexteto Cauto and debuted on Radio Mil Diez. In the mid-40s he joined the group of Miguel Matamoros (leader, composer, guitarist, vocalist; writer of the immortal ‘Son De La Loma’ and other classics), with whom he made his recording debut and travelled to Mexico. Matamoros returned to Cuba, but Moré remained and recorded prolifically with the orchestras of Cubans, Mariano Mercerón, Arturo Núñez (with whom he had his first major hit ‘Mucho Corazón’) and Pérez Prado, and Mexican composer Rafael de Paz, among others. With Prado, he toured Mexico and performed at Carnival in Panama.

After his 1950 return to Cuba, Beny worked with the orchestras of Mariano Mercerón (again), Pacho Alonso, Fernando Alvarez and Bebo Valdés. In 1953, Moré organized a 21-piece…..Learn More