Latin Satin

by Tony Wilds The last of the monaural-only Victor LPs, Latin Satin is otherwise distinguished as Prado's cha cha cha album. Prado himself has been quoted as doubting any difference between the mambo and cha cha cha. Here he is doing something deliberate. For the most part, he is infusing sluggish, dance-tempo tunes with as full a blare of trumpets as in any of his mambos. So it is unlike most cha cha cha albums. This strategy is taken to an extreme, and to comedic effect in "Tabu." Here, the "wah wah" of the horn seems to parody every old movie with a cheesy, Latin-orchestra segment. It is as if he is cramming as much Havana, 3 a.m. as he can into a dismissable "for dancing" project. Is it a dig at Cugat?