Off-Genre: Cha Cha Loco

Joe Jackson: Cha Cha Loco

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This week’s theme presents a unique challenge. Often, when an artist steps outside their comfort zone, they fall on their face. So the task is to find the good stuff. That means finding an artist who can stretch out successfully. Joe Jackson is usually one of these. He is known for new wave rock. But Jackson has incorporated reggae into his sound, (Fools in Love), and he recorded an entire album of old jazz songs. Only his sort of new age instrumental album fell flat. Still, Latin jazz?

That’s right. On Cha Cha Loco, Joe Jackson asked his band, normally a great rock group, to go Latin. It didn’t hurt that he was assisted by a great horn section. But any way you look at it, this really worked.