OK Jazz Authenticité Volume 1 – Orchestre O.K. Jazz, 1975

🎵🇨🇩🎸🎶🎹 The OK Jazz orchestra was founded in 1956, and is of course best known for being Franco Luambo’s orchestra. He was originally joined by a number of well-known Congolese musicians, including Jean-Serge Essous and Vicky Longomba. The orchestra – which took its name from the OK bar where it played regularly – lived a life of its own, releasing rumba after rumba in the form of 45s. In the early 60s, Verckys joined the orchestra and soon Essous and Longomba left. The orchestra grew to around twenty members and took the definitive name of TPOK Jazz. In 1975, the African label released a compilation of the early 45s. Four volumes were released under the aptly named  » Authenticité « , of which this is the first. Here you can hear rumba evolve from its Cuban origins to its Congolese avatar, over the course of tracks and years. An essential anthology of the early days of Congolese rumba! OK Jazz existed until 1993.