I spotted this framed poster in a record shop a few months ago.
I'm distantly familiar with the work of NYC-based Afro-Cuban jazz musician Mongo Santamaria (1917-2003) - a name like that is hard to forget! And, though I don't own any of his records, I have certainly enjoyed “..the pounding sound he creates on his instrument” on a number of occasions, so consider me duly chastened.
I’m sure you could spin this off into some kind of think-piece about how “cancel culture” is nothing new, or about the uncomfortable reckonings which often ensue when a music scene or other social/community group discovers that one of their number is a complete arsehole… but I can’t be bothered really.
Instead, I just wanted to take the opportunity to use what I guarantee is the best email header you’ve received this week, and also to share this poster, because I really like the vivid and enraged way in which it is written.
I wish I could still send off for their booklet and get the full skinny on Mongo’s crimes!
Interesting also to note that the writer includes being a “..communist and Fidel Castro lover” amongst his misdeeds, causing me to speculate that this anti-Mongo campaign may have arisen specifically from New York’s Cuban exile community, rather than from the city’s wider (implicitly left wing) jazz scene, whom you would assume would be fairly chill about such political affiliations… some further research to be carried out here, no doubt…