Stan Kenton: The Peanut Vendor (1947)

More well known that the first popular American version recorded by Don Azpiazus Orchestra in 1931, this arrangement was the beginning of Kentons lifelong commitment to the exploration of Afro-Cuban music. Both the Azpiazu and Kenton renditions of this song, which celebrates the life of the pregonero (street vendor), were hugely popular in their respective eras. Because the Kenton band was already highly regarded, his recording reached a wider American audience. One of the most distinctive features of this track is the hypnotic repetition of the backgroundvery common in Afro-Cuban music, but not in American jazzover which soloists and percussionists elaborate and improvise varying patterns.