The Mantecas - Yes or No The Mantecas

The Mantecas represent one of the finest concentrations of experience and talent in Latin and Jazz music ever to be based in the UK.
A pure uplifting Latin Jazz music celebration.
Limited edition 250 copies: not-to-be-missed!
Recorded at different locations in London during 2025/26

On their fabulous fourth album, The Mantecas (formerly Manteca) have moved the needle all the way in the direction of Latin jazz (or jazz latino).

In their early years, the London-based eight-piece played a mix of salsa, Cuban timba, boogaloo, Latin funk and descarga (jazzy, improvised Latin jam session), with plenty of vocals, strictly geared for the dance floor. Along the way, the jazz-descarga aspect emerged as a stronger force, though all sorts of other ingredients, from afrobeat to Afro-Cuban, cumbia to samba, ebbed and flowed throughout.

Although there’s nothing new with the concept of doing an album of instrumental Latin tracks in a jazz mode that’s still dance-friendly (Machito, Sabú Martínez, Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez all waxed jazz latino albums like that long ago), what’s new here is The Mantecas’ very fresh and confident interpretation of the idiom.

And while they share something in common with the accessible, danceable Latinized soul jazz of someone like Mongo Santamaría or Willie Bobo, as well as the Afro-Cubop roots of Chano Pozo, they also bring to mind the more jazz-oriented improvisational legacy of Pozo’s amigo Dizzy Gillespie, which is reflected in The Mantecas’ explorations of a handful of 20th Century modern jazz giants as they rework timeless classics by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Oliver Nelson and Wayne Shorter.

For this release, all seven tracks are essentially Latin renditions of jazz standards or are Latin jazz originals.

There’s a mix of jazz and Latin rhythmic structures, instrumentation, arranging, and sensibilities at play, and it’s a very natural sounding mélange. Like their previous albums, some of the tunes feature a club-ready blend of hot and cool, in a Latinized British acid jazz / soul jazz way.

Pablo “DJ Bongohead” Yglesias, 2026