Talkin' Verve

1	Grazing in the Grass 5:26
2	Lisa 6:14
3	Black Coffee 2:44
4	The Look of Love 4:18
5	Dreams 3:25
6	Evil Ways 2:40
7	Night Song 2:44
8	Mercy, Mercy, Mercy 2:36
9	Roots 3:19
10	Spanish Grease 2:49
11	Shot Gun/Blind Man, Blind Man 5:14
12	Stuff 2:41
13	Night Walk 3:07
14	Fried Neck Bones and Some Homefries 3:04
15	Sham Time 5:45

Barnes & Noble

After his tenure with Latin jazz legends Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, and Mongo Santamaria, timbals player Willie Bobo formed an innovative band of his own. Replacing piano with electric guitar, he helped to create the '60s "boogaloo" movement, which put a younger audience on the dance floor by juicing up the Latin jazz with a bit of sassy funk and Top 40 shimmer. This collection, culled from six albums, features many of Bobo's best tracks, including "Roots," "Fried Neck Bones and Homefries," and the booty-shaking medley, "Shotgun/Blind Man, Blind Man." It also has the original recording of "Evil Ways," which Carlos Santana covered almost verbatim. Bobo's sound - which placed straight forward jazz horn players over that goose-loose, guitar-driven, percussion-rich rhythm section -- always sounded good coming out of a jukebox; his music had a huge influence on Santana, Earth, Wind & Fire, War, and other nascent rock and funk bands in the late'60s. But few would ever boogaloo with the swinging insouciance of Willie Bobo. Lee Jeske

All Music Guide

Whatever the meaning of the word "talkin," this is still a most valuable release because it succinctly sums up Willie Bobo's Verve recordings, most of which have yet to see the light of the laser. By this time, Bobo had followed Mongo Santamaria into the marketplace as an energetic exponent of the Latin boogaloo, even scoring a minor hit with "Spanish Grease." But Bobo went even further than Mongo toward an accommodation with the '60s scene, adding the R&B-oriented electric rhythm guitar of Sonny Henry, dropping the piano, incorporating strings and even an occasional graceful vocal now and then. While there are a few covers of '60s standards here, like "The Look of Love" and "Grazing in the Grass" -- and he had the great sense to seek out and record a hip-shaking version of Eddie Harris' "Sham Time" -- Bobo's biggest contribution on these tracks was in providing the inspiration for the Latin rock boom to come. "Evil Ways" is almost an exact blueprint for Carlos Santana's career-launching hit version; "Spanish Grease" reappeared uncredited six years later as Santana's "No One to Depend On," and Santana also played Bobo's lowdown "Fried Neck Bones and Some Homefries" in the band's early days. With Bobo's galvanic congas and timbales swinging at all times, few CDs by a single artist capture the ambience of late-'60s jazz radio in the evening as well as this one. Richard S. Ginell