Bobo Motion: Percussion Takes the Lead
Willie Bobo's 1967 Verve record puts Latin percussion front and center, grooving hard without losing its jazz edge.
Bobo Motion came out in 1967 on Verve, and it is one of the records Willie Bobo made when he was most at home as a bandleader. Bobo was a percussionist first, with a long run of work in Latin and jazz settings behind him by then, and this album gives him room to lead rather than simply color the rhythm section.
What you hear is a loose, danceable mix of Afro-Cuban rhythms and soul-jazz grooves. The percussion is busy but never cluttered, and the arrangements leave space for the horns and keyboards to move around it. It's fun more than it is weighty, which is part of its appeal. Listen for the way the rhythms keep shifting underneath the melodies, the kind of push-and-pull that made Bobo's name in the first place.
As a place to start with Bobo, this is a solid pick rather than a definitive one. It shows his instinct for groove and his skill as a bandleader, and it fits neatly alongside the other Verve-era records that defined the late 1960s Latin jazz scene. Fans of that sound will find it satisfying, though listeners new to the style may want to begin with a more widely cited title before coming back to it.
