Jazz trumpeter Marty Sheller made his professional debut in 1958, and that fall he joined a combo led by tenor saxophonist Hugo Dickens, a bandleader who performed jazz, R&B, and Latin music. Sheller next hooked up with Louie Ramirez and they collectively formed a group whose intent was to interpret jazz songs with a Latin rhythm section. Sheller first met Mongo Santamaria at a club in the Bronx in 1961; the latter had embraced a Latin jazz sound with a front line of trumpet, alto saxophone, and tenor saxophone. At Sheller's first rehearsal with Santamaria, Herbie Hancock brought in an arrangement of a tune he'd recently recorded for Blue Note -- "Watermelon Man" -- changing the original phrasing. "Watermelon Man" became a Top Ten pop hit featuring Sheller's famous trumpet solo, inspired by Melvin Lastie's funkier solo from the Barbara George AM radio R&B pop hit "I Know."