Anselmo Sacasas (23 November 1912 - 22 January 1998) was a Cuban jazz pianist and bandleader.

He was a member of the "Orquesta Casino de la Playa" with Miguelito Valdés from 1937 to 1940 and the bandleader of "Anselmo Sacasas and his Orchestra" from 1942 to 1947.

In later life Sacasas worked as musical director at the San Juan Hotel in Puerto Rico.

Discography:

In the Hall of the Mambo King (2002 CD)
1942-1944 (1996 CD)
Sol Tropical "1945-1949"
Anselmo Sacasas "1942-44" (Harlequin, 1996)

Smooth, ebullient dance music from the former arranger of the Orquesta Casino de la Playa. These wartime recordings were made for RCA while Sacasas lived in New York—they are poppy and "Americanized," but sweet nonetheless. Lots of strong vocal tracks, notably those featuring Ruben Gonzalez and Cuso Montoya, who are both robust and rich-sounding in their youth. This disc has excellent sound quality, a notch or so above many similar archival releases. The music is notably punchy, an early and quite vigorous edition of the classic mambo sound, though without the super-shrill brass tone that other artists later adopted. (Note: Tumbao Records has also reissued some of Sacasas' work, along with that of the Orquesta Casino de la Playa.)

Anselmo Sacasas "Poco Loco: 1945-1949" (Tumbao, 1995)

Before forming his own group, pianist Sacasas crossed paths with many of the leading lights of Cuban popular music—Tito Puente, Xavier Cugat, the Orquesta Casino de la Playa, Miguelito Valdes, etc. These post-war recordings dovetail with the Interstate Music disc of Sacasas' 1942-1944 band; both CDs feature bubbly dance music, which is alternately suave and tinny. With the great Ruben Gonzalez on vocals, no less! There's quite a bit of overlap between this and the 1942-44 album reviewed above, though each has several songs not included on the other, so both albums are worth picking up. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.