The latest offering from the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra (MSMACJO) — ¡Qué Viva Harlem! (Jazz Heads 2014) under the direction of Bobby Sanabria — received 4.5 stars from Downbeat reviewer Scott Yanow. The third cut on the album is Eugene Marlow’s “Let There Be Swing.”
“Let There Be Swing” is intended as an homage to the many swing chart composers of the 1930s-1940s, the height of the swing era in the United States. “Let There Be Swing” was premiered in its current form and orchestration by the George Gee Swing Band at New York City’s “Swing 46” in April 2006. Now in the hands of the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Maestro Sanabria provides a “Latin-tinge” layer that gives extra life and energy to the piece.
¡Qué Viva Harlem! is the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra’s third album. Earlier releases include the critically acclaimed Tito Pueñte masterworks Live!!! (2012) and the Grammy-nominated Kenya Revisited Live!!! (2008).
All three CDs are available at the MSM campus store. The earlier two CDs are also available online at Amazon. (See links above). Proceeds support the MSM student scholarship fund.