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about this song
Mongo Santamaria recorded his composition "Afro Blue" in 1959 when playing with the Cal Tjader Sextet. The first recorded performance was on April 20, 1959, at the Sunset Auditorium in Carmel, California, with Santamaría on percussion. "Afro Blue" was the first jazz standard built on a typical African 3:2 cross-rhythm, or hemiola. The song begins with the bass repeatedly playing six cross-beats per measure of 12:8 or six cross-beats per four main beats—6:4 (two cells of 3:2).