13. Machito – Kenya

These were truly the days of Mambo.

Once more, I was way out of my depths with this one, but at least this album is nice enough to define its own genre  – Afro-Cuban Jazz – on the cover, so I at least know what I was heading into, right?

This is an album that sounds latin, but never backs down from the vibrant percussion long enough for you to forget its African roots. As albums in this list go, Machito is an underdog apparently, and it’s not one I can imagine replaying any time soon, but it’s soulful, and it gets the job done.