Biography
Until lately Don Azpiazu had stood as an overlooked giant of popular music. The ensemble he led scored a massive national success in 1930 with “Peanut Vendor,” a release that ignited a decade-long craze for rumba and simultaneously delivered the first American recording of an authentic Latin national style—true music from its country of origin rather than U.S. compositions merely arranged to a Latin beat, as the tangos of the 1920s had been. Azpiazu’s “Peanut Vendor” also placed before American listeners the full array of Cuban percussion instruments that later became standard. His follow-up release, “Green Eyes,” supplied the earliest clear instance of genuine crossover by featuring a North American vocalist. Beyond these innovations, the band itself was simply outstanding by any standard of its time or later.