Latin Soul

The brief Latin soul movement of the 1960s and early 1970s included a variety of styles that reflected the affinity between Puerto Ricans and African Americans in New York, combining the Afro-Cuban rhythms of mambo with soul and jazz music.

Though Latin boogaloo is sometimes included, the term Latin Soul is more often used to refer to songs that are more stylistically close to R&B. This includes ballads with English lyrics and bolero rhythm, such as Joe Cuba’s To Be With You sung by Jimmy Sabater (1962). Joe Bataan’s more up-tempo dance numbers of the 1970s—including The Bottle (1975) and Rapo Clapo (1979)—also typified Latin Soul and had an important influence on both the burgeoning salsa scene of New York and the disco genre which emerged in the 70s.