3 Great Bands

AMG Review of 3 Great Bands

Tony Wilds
All Music Guide

If Perez Prado had made an album in RCA's Stereo Action series, his four on 3 Great Bands would have been perfect candidates. In fact, two tracks bear some resemblance to Esquivel's Latin-Esque album from that series. Of the other two, "Caravan" is one of the most unusual interpretations of the old warhorse ever recorded. The conga leads a very tense, fast, machine-gun-like attack. The trumpet carries the melody, but never in the cloying or stale "mood jazz" manner of other versions. Prado brings it out of the desert and into a film-noir setting. "L'hippopotame" is breezy and very funny, with a baritone sax groan delivering the low gag note -- a spoof of the Prado grunt? The four Prado tracks make the album essential, at least for the avid Prado fan.