Merengue! By Cugat! Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra. Columbia CP 733. 1955. “Rarely before have dances taken so swift and so firm a hold on the North American public as the merengue and the cha-cha, two new and highly invigorating rhythms from the Caribbean. The rhumba was far more slow to exert its spell, and even the mambo and samba were not quite up to these dancing pleasures.” Just so you know, my spell check says it’s spelled “meringue” and “rumba.” And also just so you know, I’ve never heard of the merengue and I don’t know how to pronounce it.
If you know your lounge music, then you know Xavier Cugat. Kinda like Esquival, it’s a Latin form of lounge. If you are a lounge fan, be sure to check out the Retro Cocktail Hour. I love it.
