I drove up to the Cocomo ballroom in San Francisco to see the Pacific Mambo Orchestra on the recommendation of a friend in the group, trombonist Jamie Dubberly. It was circa 2010 and PMO was just starting out. As it turned out, Jamie had a sub that night, but hearing the wall of sound enveloping the room and the dancers gave me a taste of what it must have been like back in the Palladium era. But the "left coast" knows no geographic boundaries when producing the big band sounds reminiscent of Machito and the "Two Titos". The Pacific Mambo Orchestra is an aggregate of top-notch San Francisco musicians with their own individual, impressive resumes. The skillful arrangements are generated from within the ensemble, including the writing talents of co-leaders Christian Tumalan (piano) and Steffen Kuehn (trumpet), with contributions from Aaron Lington (sax). Their first CD, PMO, received a Grammy in a category that included Latin heavyweights Mark Anthony and Carlos Vives. Their debut recording offers a variety of Latin jazz instrumentals, salsa vocal compositions and a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed". Three-Two Music is the first company to offer the printed arrangements from PMO.  

   One may reminisce about what it must have been like in the days of the Palladium with Machito and Tito Rodriguez, but if you were at the Cocomo in San Francisco a couple of years ago, you can say you were there to witness the beginning of PMO's successful journey.