Afro-Cuban jazz is the earliest form of
Latin jazz. It mixes
Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
harmonies and techniques of improvisation. Afro-Cuban music has deep roots in African ritual and rhythm.
[{{cite web, Cuba: Son and Afro-Cuban Music, https://worldmusic.net/blogs/guide-to-world-music/cuba-son-and-afro-cuban-music] Afro-Cuban jazz emerged in the early 1940s with the Cuban musicians
Mario Bauzá and
Frank Grillo "Machito" in the band Machito and his Afro-Cubans in New York City. In 1947, the collaborations of
bebop trumpeter
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
and percussionist
Chano Pozo
Luciano Pozo González (January 7, 1915 – December 3, 1948), known professionally as Chano Pozo, was a Cuban jazz percussionist, singer, dancer, and composer. Despite only living to age 33, he played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz. ...
brought Afro-Cuban rhythms and instruments, such as the
tumbadora and the
bongo, into the East Coast jazz scene. Early combinations of jazz with Cuban music, such as "
Manteca" and "Mangó Mangüé", were commonly referred to as "Cubop" for Cuban bebop.
[{{cite book , last=Fernandez , first=Raul A. , title=From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6WO7YevK_18C&pg=PA62, year=2006, publisher=University of California Press , isbn=978-0-520-93944-8 , page=62]
During its first decades, the Afro-Cuban jazz movement was stronger in the United States than in Cuba.
[{{cite book , last1=Acosta , first1=Leonardo , title=Cubano Be, Cubano Bop: One Hundred Years of Jazz in Cuba , date=2003 , publisher=Smithsonian Books , location=Washington, D.C. , isbn=158834147X]{{rp, 59
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention or public ...
,
[{{cite web , last1=Nastos , first1=Michael G. , title=Afro-Cuban – Kenny Dorham, url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/afro-cuban-mw0000187932 , website=AllMusic , access-date=24 February 2019] In the early 1970s, the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna and later
Irakere brought Afro-Cuban jazz into the Cuban music scene, influencing styles such as
songo.
History
"Spanish tinge"—the Cuban influence in early jazz
Although
clave-based Afro-Cuban jazz did not appear until the mid-20th century, the Cuban influence was present at the birth of jazz.
African-American music began incorporating
Afro-Cuban musical motifs in the 19th century when the
habanera gained international popularity. The habanera was the first written music to be rhythmically based on an African motif. The habanera rhythm (also known as "congo"
[{{cite book , last1=Manuel , first1=Peter , title=Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean , date=2009 , publisher=Temple University Press , location=Philadelphia , page=69]{{rp, 5 or "tango")
[{{cite book , last1=Mauleon , first1=Rebeca , title=Salsa Guidebook: For Piano and Ensemble , date=1999 , publisher=Sher Music , location=Petaluma, California , isbn=0-9614701-9-4 , page=4] can be thought of as a combination of
tresillo and the backbeat.
{{block indent,
\new Staff <<
\relative c' {
\clef percussion
\time 2/4
\repeat volta 2 { g8. g16 d'8 g, }
}
>>
![WC Handy age 19 handyphoto10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/WC_Handy_age_19_handyphoto10.jpg)
Musicians from Havana and New Orleans took the twice-daily ferry between both cities to perform, and the habanera took root.
John Storm Roberts
John Storm Roberts (February 24, 1936 – November 29, 2009) was a British-born, U.S.-based ethnomusicologist, writer and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of Original Music, a mail-order company that distributed world music bo ...
states that the musical genre habanera "reached the U.S. 20 years before the first rag was published".
[{{cite book , last=Roberts , first=John Storm, author-link=John Storm Roberts, title=Latin Jazz , url=https://archive.org/details/latinjazzfirstof00robe , url-access=registration , date=1999 , publisher=Schirmer Books , location=New York , pag]
12
} For more than a quarter-century in which the
cakewalk,
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
were forming, the habanera was a consistent part of African-American popular music.
{{rp, 16 Early New Orleans jazz bands had habaneras in their repertoire, and the tresillo/habanera figure was a rhythmic staple of jazz at the turn of the 20th century. Comparing the
music of New Orleans with the
music of Cuba,
Wynton Marsalis said that the tresillo is the New Orleans clave. "
St. Louis Blues" (1914) by
W. C. Handy
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...
has a habanera/tresillo bass line. The first measures are shown below.
{{Block indent,
{
\new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff <<
\relative c'' {
\clef treble \key g \major \time 2/2
\partial4. d8 d d
8 4. 2
r8 c cis 4.
1
2 8
}
>>
\new Staff <<
\relative c {
\clef bass \key g \major \time 2/2
\partial4. r8 r4
g4. g'8 4 g
1
d,4. fis'8 4 fis
4. fis'8 4 fis
}
>>
>> }
Handy noted a reaction to the habanera rhythm included in Will H. Tyler's "Maori": "I observed that there was a sudden, proud and graceful reaction to the rhythm...White dancers, as I had observed them, took the number in stride. I began to suspect that there was something Negroid in that beat." After noting a similar reaction to the same rhythm in "La Paloma", Handy included this rhythm in his "St. Louis Blues," the instrumental copy of "Memphis Blues," the chorus of "Beale Street Blues," and other compositions."
[{{cite book , last1=Handy , first1=W. C. , editor1-last=Bontemps , editor1-first=Arna , title=Father of the Blues: An Autobiography , url=https://archive.org/details/fatherofbluesaut00wcha_0 , date=1941 , publisher=Macmillan , location=New York , page]
99–100
}
Jelly Roll Morton considered the tresillo/habanera (which he called the
Spanish tinge) to be an essential ingredient of jazz.
[{{cite book, last=Roberts, first=John Storm, author-link=John Storm Roberts, title=The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States, url=https://archive.org/details/latintingeimpact0000robe, url-access=registration, year=1999, publisher=Oxford University Press, isbn=978-0-19-512101-8] Morton stated, "Now in one of my earliest tunes, 'New Orleans Blues', you can notice the Spanish tinge. In fact, if you can't manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz—Morton (1938: Library of Congress Recording)." An excerpt of "New Orleans Blues" is shown below. In the excerpt, the left hand plays the tresillo rhythm, while the right hand plays variations on cinquillo.
{{Block indent,
{
\new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff <<
\relative c'' {
\clef treble \key bes \major \time 2/2
f8 4
r8 4
r8
}
>>
\new Staff <<
\relative c {
\clef bass \key bes \major \time 2/2
4. 8~ 4 4
4. 8~ 4 4
4. 8~ 4 4
}
>>
>> }
Although the origin of jazz syncopation may never be known, there's evidence that the habanera/tresillo existed at its conception.
Buddy Bolden, the first known jazz musician, is credited with creating the big four, a habanera-based pattern. The big four (below) was the first syncopated bass drum pattern to deviate from the standard on-the-beat march. As the example below shows, the second half of the big four pattern is the habanera rhythm.
{{Block indent,
\new Staff <<
\relative c' {
\clef percussion
\time 4/4
\repeat volta 2 { g8 \xNote a' g, \xNote a' g, \xNote a'16. g,32 g8 }
\repeat volta 2 { r8 \xNote a'\noBeam g, \xNote a' g, \xNote a'16. g,32 g8 }
}
>>
In ''Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development'',
Gunther Schuller states,
{{blockquote, It is probably safe to say that by and large the simpler African rhythmic patterns survived in jazz... because they could be adapted more readily to European rhythmic conceptions. Some survived, others were discarded as the Europeanization progressed. It may also account for the fact that patterns such as
resillo have.. remained one of the most useful and common syncopated patterns in jazz.
[{{cite book, last1=Schuller, first1=Gunther, last2=Morrison, first2=George, title=Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development, year=1986, publisher=Oxford University Press, isbn=978-0-19-504043-2, url-access=registration, url=https://archive.org/details/earlyjazzitsroot00schu]
The Cuban influence is evident in many pre-1940s jazz tunes, but rhythmically they are all based on single-celled motifs such as tresillo, and do not contain an overt two-celled, clave-based structure. "
Caravan
Caravan or caravans may refer to:
Transport and travel
*Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together
**Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop
*Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals
*Convoy, a group of veh ...
", written by
Juan Tizol
Juan Tizol Martínez (22 January 1900 – 23 April 1984) was a Puerto Rican jazz trombonist and composer. He is best known as a member of Duke Ellington's big band, and as the writer of the jazz standards " Caravan", "Pyramid", and " Perdid ...
and first performed in 1936, is an example of an early pre-Latin jazz composition. It is not clave-based. On the other hand, jazzy renditions of
Don Azpiazú Justo Ángel Azpiazú (Cienfuegos, 11 February 1893 – Havana, 20 January 1943), better known as Don Azpiazú, was a leading Cuban orchestral director in the 1920s and 1930s. His band introduced authentic Cuban dance music and Cuban musica ...
's "
The Peanut Vendor" ("El manicero") by
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
(1930),
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
(1931), and
Stan Kenton (1948), are all firmly in-clave since the 2-3
guajeo provides the primary counterpoint to the melody throughout the entire song.
Mario Bauzá and Machito
The consensus among musicians and musicologists is that the first jazz piece to be based
in-clave was "Tanga" (1943) composed by Cuban-born
Mario Bauza
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
and recorded by
Machito
Machito (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music. Ginell, Richard S. ''Biography''. Allmusic, 2011/ref> He wa ...
and his Afro-Cubans. "Tanga" began humbly as a spontaneous
descarga (Cuban jam session) with jazz solos superimposed on top.
{{blockquote, The first descarga that made the world take notice is traced to a Machito rehearsal on May 29, 1943, at the Park Palace Ballroom, at 110th Street and 5th Avenue. At this time, Machito was at Fort Dix (New Jersey) in his fourth week of basic training. The day before at La Conga Club, Mario Bauzá, Machito's trumpeter and music director, heard pianist Luis Varona and bassist Julio Andino play El Botellero composition and arrangements of the Cuban-born
Gilberto Valdez which would serve as a permanent sign off (end the dance) tune.
On this Monday evening, Dr. Bauzá leaned over the piano and instructed Varona to play the same piano
he did the night before. Varona's left hand began the introduction of Gilberto Valdés' El Botellero. Bauzá then instructed Julio Andino what to play; then the saxes; then the trumpets. The broken chord sounds soon began to take shape into an Afro-Cuban jazzed up melody. Gene Johnson's alto sax then emitted oriental-like jazz phrases. Afro-Cuban jazz was invented when Bauzá composed "Tanga" (African word for marijuana) that evening.
Thereafter, whenever "Tanga" was played, it sounded different, depending on a soloist's individuality. In August, 1948, when trumpeter
Howard McGhee soloed with Machito's orchestra at the Apollo Theatre, his ad-libs to "Tanga" resulted in "Cu-Bop City," a tune which was recorded by Roost Records months later. The jams which took place at the Royal Roots,
Bop City
Bop City (also known as Jimbo's Bop City) was a jazz club operated by John "Jimbo" Edwards in San Francisco from 1949 to 1965. It was situated in the back room of a Victorian house at 1690 Post Street, in the Western Addition district. During ...
, and Birdland between 1948 and 1949, when Howard McGhee, tenor saxophonist
Brew Moore
Milton Aubrey "Brew" Moore (March 26, 1924 – August 19, 1973), was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.
Early life
He was born in Indianola, Mississippi, United States. Moore's formal musical training began at twelve, first on trombone, then c ...
,
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
and Dizzy Gillespie sat in with the Machito orchestra, were unrehearsed, uninhibited, unheard of before jam sessions which at the time, master of ceremonies Symphony Sid called Afro-Cuban jazz.
The Machito orchestra's ten- or fifteen-minute jams were the first in Latin music to break away from the traditional under-four-minute recordings. In February, 1949, the Machito orchestra became the first to set a precedent in Latin music when it featured tenor saxophonist
Flip Phillips in a five-minute recording of "Tanga." The twelve-inch 78 RPM, part of ''The Jazz Scene'' album, sold for $25.
, author=
Max Salazar
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) (1 ...
(1997).
[{{cite journal , last1=Salazar , first1=Max , title=The Beginning and Its Best , journal=Latin Beat , date=1997 , volume=7 , issue=1]
![Machito and his sister Graciella Grillo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Machito_and_his_sister_Graciella_Grillo.jpg)
The right hand of the "Tanga" piano
guajeo is in the style known as ponchando, a type of non-arpeggiated guajeo using block chords. The sequence of attack-points is emphasized, rather than a sequence of different pitches. As a form of accompaniment it can be played in a strictly repetitive fashion or as a varied motif akin to jazz comping.
[{{cite book , last1=Penalosa , first1=David , title=The Clave Matrix: Afro-Cuban Rhythm: Its Principles and African Origins , date=2010 , publisher=Bembe , location=Redway, California , isbn=1-886502-80-3 , page=256]
The following example is in the style of a 1949 recording by Machito, with René Hernández on piano.
[{{cite book , last1=Moore , first1=Kevin , title=Beyond Salsa Piano; The Cuban Timba Piano Revolution v.2 Early Cuban Piano Tumbao , date=2009 , publisher=Moore Music/Timba.com , location=Santa Cruz, California , isbn=144998018X , page=17]
{{Block indent,
{
\new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff <<
\relative c' {
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 100
\clef treble \key c \major \time 4/4
4 r r r8 ">r ">r4
}
>>
\new Staff <<
\relative c {
\clef bass \key c \major \time 4/4
\bar "., :"
c8 g c,4 bes'8 f bes,4 c'8 g c, bes' r besbes,4 \bar ":, ."
}
>>
>> }
Ten innovations by Machito's Afro-Cubans
# The first band to make congas, bongo, and timbales the standard percussion in Afro-Cuban based dance music. The use of broken bell patterns by the bongocero in mambo horn sections, the increased rhythmic vocabulary of the conga drum and its function in a band setting, the increased importance of the timbales in setting up figures played by the horns and accenting them as a jazz drummer would do in a big band. e.g. "Nagüe," also the first recorded example of all three percussion instruments playing as a section.
# The first band to explore jazz arranging techniques with Afro-Cuban rhythms on a consistent basis, giving it an identifiable sound. Cuban big band arranger Chico O'Farill stated, "This was a new concept in interpreting Cuban music with as much (harmonic) richness as possible. You have to understand how important this was. It made every other band that came after, followers."
# The first band to explore modal harmony from a jazz arranging perspective through the recording of "Tanga". Of note is the 'sheet of sound' effect in the arrangement through the use of multiple layering.
# The first big band to explore, from an Afro-Cuban rhythmic perspective, large-scale extended compositional works. e.g. "The Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite" by Chico O'Farill.
# The first band to combine big band arranging techniques within an original composition with jazz oriented soloists using an Afro-Cuban based rhythm section, e.g. Gene Johnson – alto, Brew Moore – tenor, composition – "Tanga" (1943).
# The first multi-racial band in the United States.
# The first band in the United States to use the term "Afro-Cuban" in its name (Machito & The Afro-Cubans), alluding to the West African roots of their music. This was an overlooked contribution by the orchestra to the burgeoning civil rights movement which compelled the Latin and African-American communities of New York to deal with their West African musical roots.
# The first Afro-Cuban dance band to explore clave conterpoint from an arranging standpoint. The ability to weave seamlessly from one side of the clave to the other without breaking its rhythmic integrity within the structure of a musical arrangement.
# Music director Mario Bauzá and lead vocalist Machito promoted a standard of excellence for subsequent band leaders, such as José Curbelo,
Tito Puente, Marcelino Guerra, Tito Rodriguez, and Elmo Garcia. Although it could be argued that
Xavier Cugat established such a standard much earlier with his orchestra at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (1931), the sound emulated by bandleaders in New York City was different from Cugat's. Cugat performed for the high society of New York City, not the Latino community in East Harlem (El Barrio) and the South Bronx. Cugat's music was one they may have heard on the radio, but this community had little access to it.
# The Machito Afro-Cubans provided a forum for progressive musical ideas, compositions, and arrangements. They explored the fusion of Afro Cuban music with jazz arranging and jazz-oriented soloists in a multiracial framework.
Bauzá developed the 3-2/2-3 clave concept and terminology. A chord progression can begin on either side of clave. When the progression begins on the three-side, the song or song section is said to be in 3-2 clave. When the chord progression begins on the two-side, it is in 2-3 clave.
{{rp, 133–137
{{Block indent,
\new RhythmicStaff {
\clef percussion
\time 2/2
\repeat volta 2 { c4.^\markup { "3-2 son clave" } c8 r4 c r c c r }
}
{{Block indent,
\new RhythmicStaff {
\clef percussion
\time 2/2
\repeat volta 2 { r4^\markup { "2-3 son clave" } c c r c4. c8 r4 c }
}
In North America, salsa and Latin jazz charts commonly represent clave in two measures of
cut-time (2/2); this is most likely the influence of jazz conventions.
[{{cite book , last1=Mauleon , first1=Rebecca , title=Salsa Guidebook for Piano and Ensemble , date=1993 , publisher=Sher Music , location=Petaluma, California , isbn=0-9614701-9-4 , page=52]
When clave is written in two measures (above), changing from one clave sequence to the other is a matter of reversing the order of the measures. Bauzá balanced Latin and jazz musicians in Machito's band to realize his vision of Afro-Cuban jazz. He mastered both types of music, but it took time for him to teach the jazz musicians in Machito's band about clave. When trumpeter
Doc Cheatham joined the band, Machito fired him after two nights because he couldn't cope with clave.
{{rp, 78
{{blockquote, When Mario first utilized Edgar Sampson to write the very first drafts of arrangements for the Machito and his Afro-Cubans, he would draw three sticks for Sampson underneath the bar with the three-side and two sticks underneath the bar with the two-side. This way he would always know rhythmically where he was in the chart and supervise Sampson who was unaware of the clave concept in Cuban music. Mario utilized Sampson's harmonic mastery and Mario utilized his rhythmic mastery. Sampson asked Mario, "Why does it have to be this way?" Mario told me that he looked at Sampson and said "This is what makes Cuban music Cuban!"
{{rp, 248
Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo
Mario Bauzá introduced bebop innovator Dizzy Gillespie to the Cuban conga drummer, dancer, composer, and choreographer
Chano Pozo
Luciano Pozo González (January 7, 1915 – December 3, 1948), known professionally as Chano Pozo, was a Cuban jazz percussionist, singer, dancer, and composer. Despite only living to age 33, he played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz. ...
. The brief collaboration of Gillespie and Pozo produced some of the most enduring Afro-Cuban jazz standards.
"
Manteca" (1947), co-written by Gillespie and Pozo, is the first
jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive lis ...
to be rhythmically based on clave. According to Gillespie, Pozo composed the layered,
contrapuntal
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...
guajeos (Afro-Cuban
ostinato
In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...
s) of the A section and the introduction, while Gillespie wrote the bridge. Gillespie recounted: "If I'd let it go like
hanowanted it, it would've been strictly Afro-Cuban, all the way. There wouldn't have been a bridge.... I ... thought I was writing an eight-bar bridge. But after eight bars I hadn't resolved back to B-flat, so I had to keep on going and ended up writing a sixteen-bar bridge."
{{rp, 77 It was the bridge that gave "Manteca" a typical jazz harmonic structure, setting the piece apart from Bauzá's modal "Tanga" of a few years earlier. Arrangements with a "Latin" A section and a swung B section, with all choruses swung during solos, became common practice with many "Latin tunes" of the jazz standard repertoire. This approach can be heard on pre-1980 recordings of "
Manteca", "
A Night in Tunisia
"A Night in Tunisia" is a musical composition written by Dizzy Gillespie around 1940–42, while Gillespie was playing with the Benny Carter band. It has become a jazz standard. It is also known as "Interlude", and with lyrics by Raymond Leveen w ...
", "Tin Tin Deo," and "
On Green Dolphin Street."
Gillespie's collaboration with Pozo brought African-based rhythms into bebop, a
post-modernist art form. While pushing the boundaries of harmonic improvisation, ''cu-bop'' as it was called, also drew more directly from Africa, rhythmically.
Early performances of "Manteca" reveal that despite their enthusiasm for collaborating, Gillespie and Pozo were not very familiar with each other's music. The members of Gillespie's band were unaccustomed to
guajeos, overly swinging and accenting them in an atypical fashion. Thomas Owens observes: "Once the theme ends and the improvisation begins, ... Gillespie and the full band continue the bebop mood, using swing eighths in spite of Pozo's continuing even eighths, until the final A section of the theme returns. Complete assimilation of Afro-Cuban rhythms and improvisations on a harmonic ostinato was still a few years away for the beboppers in 1947."
{{rp, 77 On a live 1948 recording of "Manteca," someone is heard playing the 3-2
son clave
The clave (; ) is a rhythmic pattern used as a tool for temporal organization in Cuban music. In Spanish, ''clave'' literally means key, clef, code, or keystone. It is present in a variety of genres such as Abakuá music, rumba, conga, son, m ...
pattern on claves throughout a good portion of this 2-3 song.
The rhythm of the melody of the A section is identical to a common mambo
bell pattern:
{{Block indent,
{
\relative c' {
\time 2/2 \key bes \major
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 108
f4 aes aes8 bes r ~">bes->~bes aesf besr ">aes->r bes }
}
1940s –1970s
In early 1947
Stan Kenton recorded "Machito," written by his collaborator / arranger
Pete Rugolo.
[Roberts (1999: 73).{{incomplete short citation, date=August 2021, reason=There are 2 Roberts 1999.] Some consider the piece to be the first Afro-Cuban jazz recording by American jazz musicians. John Storm Roberts observes that the piece "has no Latino instrumentalists on it, a lack of that is obvious; the crisp, fast montuno with which the piece opens is weighed down by not-so-adept drumming from Shelly Mann."
Later, on 6 December of the same year, Kenton recorded an arrangement of the
son
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...
"
The Peanut Vendor" with members of Machito's rhythm section. Kenton continued to work with Afro-Cuban rhythms and musicians for another decade; the 1956
Kenton Kenton may refer to:
Places Canada
*Kenton, Manitoba
South Africa
*Kenton-on-Sea
United Kingdom
*Kenton, Devon
*Kenton, London
**Kenton station, Kenton Road, Kenton, London
*Kenton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
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**Kenton ra ...
album ''
Cuban Fire!
''Cuban Fire!'' is an album by Stan Kenton and his orchestra released in 1956 by Capitol Records. This was Stan Kenton's big band's first full-length recording of Afro-Cuban-styled music. The LP charted for four weeks in ''Billboard (magazine), Bi ...
'' was written as an Afro-Cuban suite by
Johnny Richards.
![Mongo Santamaria 1969](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Mongo_Santamaria_1969.JPG)
Cuban percussionist
Mongo Santamaría first recorded his composition "
Afro Blue" in 1959. "Afro Blue" was the first jazz standard built upon a typical African three-against-two (3:2)
cross-rhythm, or
hemiola.
{{rp, 26
The song begins with the bass repeatedly playing 6 cross-beats per each measure of {{music, time, 12, 8, or 6 cross-beats per 4 main beats—6:4 (two cells of 3:2). The following example shows the original
ostinato
In music, an ostinato (; derived from Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include ...
"Afro Blue" bass line. The slashed noteheads indicate the main beats (not bass notes), where you would normally tap your foot to "keep time."
{{Block indent,
\new Staff <<
\new voice \relative c {
\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"acoustic bass"
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 105
\time 12/8
\clef bass
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { d4 a'8~ a d4 d,4 a'8~ a d4 }
}
\new voice \relative c {
\override NoteHead.style = #'cross
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4. g g g }
}
>>
In the mid-1940s, the
mambo
Mambo most often refers to:
*Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form
*Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music
Mambo may also refer to:
Music
*Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particular ...
craze originated with the recordings of
Perez Prado, who included jazz elements, and ideas from
Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
in his arrangements.
{{rp, 86
Guajeos (Afro-Cuban ostinato melodies), or guajeo fragments are commonly used motifs in Latin jazz melodies. For example, the A section of "Sabor" is a 2-3 onbeat/offbeat guajeo, minus some notes. The following excerpt is from a performance by
Cal Tjader.
{{Block indent,
{
\relative c'' {
\time 2/2 \key a \major
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 108
b4 cis8 b r fis r b r4. b8 r2
b4 cis8 b r fis r b r4. b8 r2
d4 e8 d r a r d r4. d8 r2
d4 e8 d r a r d r8 d4.-> cis4-> c->
}
}
1980s New York City
{{More citations needed section, date=November 2018
Afro-Cuban jazz has been for most of its history a matter of superimposing jazz phrasing over Cuban rhythms. In the 1980s a generation of New York City musicians had come of age playing both
salsa
Salsa most often refers to:
* Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments
* Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music
* Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music
Salsa or SALSA may also refer to:
A ...
dance music and jazz.
In 1967 brothers
Jerry
Jerry may refer to:
Animals
* Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National
* Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
and
Andy González at the ages of 15 and 13 formed a Latin jazz quintet inspired by Cal Tjader's group.
[{{cite book , last1=Boggs , first1=Vernon W. , title=Salsiology: Afro-Cuban Music and the Evolution of Salsa in New York City , date=1992 , publisher=Greenwood Press , location=New York , isbn=0313284687 , pages=297–298] with Jerry on congas and Andy on bass. During 1974–1976 they were members of one of
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive.
Early life
Pal ...
's experimental salsa groups. Andy González recounts, "We were into improvising... doing that thing
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
was doing—playing themes and just improvising on the themes of songs, and we never stopped playing through the whole set."
{{rp, 290
While in Palmieri's band, the González brothers started showing up in the ''
DownBeat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
'' Readers' Poll. In 1974, the González brothers and
Manny Oquendo founded the salsa band Libre and experimented with jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms. Libre recorded Charlie Parker's "
Donna Lee
"Donna Lee" is a bebop jazz standard attributed to Charlie Parker, although Miles Davis has also claimed authorship. Written in A-flat, it is based on the chord changes of the jazz standard "(Back Home Again in) Indiana". Beginning with an unusua ...
" as a
danzón
Danzón is the official musical genre and dance of Cuba.Urfé, Odilio 1965. ''El danzón''. La Habana. It is also an active musical form in Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Written in time, the danzón is a slow, formal partner dance, requiring se ...
, Miles Davis's "
Tune Up Tune up may refer to:
* Service (motor vehicle)
* "Tune Up", a Miles Davis jazz standard
* ''Tune-Up!
''Tune-Up!'' is an album by saxophonist Sonny Stitt recorded in 1972 and released on the Cobblestone label.Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...
's "Little Sunflower" as a mambo. In the 1980s, Tito Puente began recording and performing Latin jazz. The González brothers worked with Puente as well as
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
.
McCoy Tyner hired the brothers when he played Afro-Cuban jazz. Other New York musicians included
Bobby Sanabria
Bobby Sanabria (born June 2, 1957) is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, producer, educator, activist, radio show host of Puerto Rican descent who specializes in jazz and Latin jazz.
Biography
Sanabria was born in the South ...
,
Steve Turre
Stephen Johnson Turre (born September 12, 1948, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz trombonist and a pioneer of using Conch (instrument), seashells as instruments, a composer, arranger, and educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. For ...
,
Conrad Herwig
Lee Conrad Herwig III (born 1959) is an American jazz trombonist from New York City.
Biography
Herwig began his career in Clark Terry's band in the early 1980s and has been a featured member in the Joe Henderson Sextet, Tom Harrell's Septet and ...
,
Hilton Ruiz,
Chris Washburn, Ralph Irizarry,
David Sánchez, and Dave Valentine. Latin jazz musicians in San Francisco included
John Santos
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
'
Machete Ensemble
The Machete Ensemble was a Latin jazz band whose 21-year organization ended with its final concert on November 12, 2006, when it closed the 2006 San Francisco Jazz Festival. KQED News reported that "it seemed like everyone who was ever part of the ...
,
Rebeca Mauleón
Rebeca Mauleón (born April 16, 1962) is an American pianist, composer, arranger and writer, specializing in Salsa music, salsa and other Latin music (genre), Latin American and Afro-Caribbean music.
Career
Mauleón was born in Santa Monica, Ca ...
,
Mark Levine,
Omar Sosa
Omar Sosa (born April 10, 1965) is a jazz pianist from Cuba.
Biography
A native of Camagüey, Cuba, Sosa studied percussion at the Escuela Nacional de Musica and Instituto Superior de Arte. In the 1980s he started the band Tributo, recording alb ...
, and
Orestes Vilato
In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and ...
.
Jan L. Hartong's Nueva Manteca is based in
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
, Netherlands, and
Yilian Cañizares
Yilian Cañizares is a Cuban-Swiss musician who has been described as one of the most incredible talents of the new generation of Cuban musicians.
Biography
Yilian Cañizares was born in Havana, Cuba, and studied violin there, following the Rus ...
in
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...
, Switzerland.
[{{Cite news , url= http://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/zuercher_kultur/die-gunst-der-goetter-1.18150997 , title=Die Sängerin und Geigerin Yilian Cañizares in Moods , newspaper=]Neue Zürcher Zeitung
The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...
, date=16 September 2013 , access-date=12 June 2015
The Cuban branch
"Jazz bands" began forming in Cuba as early as the 1920s. These bands often included both Cuban popular music and popular North American jazz, and show tunes in their repertoires. Despite this musical versatility, the movement of blending Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz was not strong in Cuba itself for decades. As Leonardo Acosta observes: "Afro-Cuban jazz developed simultaneously in New York and Havana, with the difference that in Cuba it was a silent and almost natural process, practically imperceptible".
{{rp, 59Cuba's contribution to the genre came relatively late, beginning with the band
Irakere.
{{blockquote, With Irakere, a new era in Cuban jazz begins in 1973, one that will extend all the way to the present. At the same time, this period represents the culmination of a series of individual and collective efforts from our so-called transition period, which will end with the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. Irakere was in part a product of the Moderna, as its founding members completed their musical training in that orchestra and also played jazz in the different quartets and quintets that were created with the OCMM. Among the founders of Irakere were pianist
Chucho Valdéz, its director since the beginning,
ndsaxophonist
Paquito D'Rivera, who acted as assistant director".
{{rp, 211
"Chékere-son" (1976) introduced a style of "Cubanized" bebop-flavored horn lines, that departed from the more "angular"
guajeo-based lines typical of Cuban popular music.
{{blockquote, "Chékere-son" is an extremely interesting one. It's based on a legendary 1945 Charlie Parker bebop composition called "Billie's Bounce." Almost every phrase of the Parker song can be found in "Chékere-son" but it's all jumbled together in a very clever and compelling way. David Peñalosa sees the track as a pivotal one – perhaps the first really satisfying fusion of clave and bebop horn lines".
[{{cite web , title=History and Discography of Irakere – 1976 – Areíto 3660 & 3926 , url=http://www.timba.com/encyclopedia_pages/1976-are-to-3660-3926 , website=timba.com , access-date=24 March 2019 , date=23 March 2011]
The horn line style introduced in "Chékere-son" is heard today in Afro-Cuban jazz, and the contemporary popular dance genre known as
timba. Another important Irakere contribution is their use of
batá and other Afro-Cuban folkloric drums. "Bacalao con pan" is the first song recorded by Irakere to use batá. The tune combines the folkloric drums, jazzy dance music, and distorted electric guitar with
wah-wah pedal.
According to Raúl A. Fernández, the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna members would not have been allowed by the orquesta to record the unconventional song. The musicians travelled to Santiago to record it. "Somehow the tune made it from Santiago to radio stations in Havana where it became a hit; Irakere was formally organized a little bit later".
Several of the founding members did not always appreciate Irakere's fusion of jazz and Afro-Cuban elements. They saw the Cuban folk elements as a type of nationalistic "fig leaf", cover for their true love—jazz. They were obsessed with jazz. Cuba's Ministry of Culture is said to have viewed jazz as the music of "imperialist America." Pablo Menéndez, founder of
Mezcla
Mezcla is a music group from Cuba.
Mezcla
Mezcla has been a part of the Cuban music scene for the past twenty-five years.
Mezcla was featured in the Smithsonian Institution's documentary on Latin Jazz ''La Combinacion Perfecta''.
The band has pa ...
, recalls: "Irakere were jazz musicians who played stuff like 'Bacalao con pan' with a bit of a tongue in cheek attitude—'for the masses.' I remember Paquito d'Rivera thought it was pretty funny stuff (as opposed to 'serious' stuff)" (2011: web).
In spite of the ambivalence by some members towards Irakere's Afro-Cuban folkloric/jazz fusion, their experiments changed Cuban popular music, Latin jazz, and salsa.
Another important Cuban jazz musician is pianist
Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Gonzalo Rubalcaba (born May 27, 1963) is an Afro-Cuban jazz pianist and composer.
Early life
Rubalcaba was born Gonzalo Julio González Fonseca in Havana, Cuba
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The ...
, whose innovative jazz guajeos revolutionized Cuban-style piano in the 1980s. Like the musicians of his generation who founded the timba era, Rubalcaba is a product of the Cuban music education system. He studied both piano and drums. Rubalcaba began his classical musical training at Manuel Saumell Conservatory at age 9, where he had to choose piano; he moved up to "middle-school" at Amadeo Roldan Conservatory, and finally earned his degree in music composition from Havana's Institute of Fine Arts in 1983. By that time he was already playing in clubs and music halls in Havana.
Many Cuban jazz bands, such as the saxophonist Tony Martinez's group, perform at a level few non-Cubans can match rhythmically. The clave matrix offers infinite possibilities for rhythmic textures in jazz. The Cuban-born drummer
Dafnis Prieto
Dafnis Prieto (born July 31, 1974) is a Cuban-American drummer, composer, bandleader, and educator.
Career
In his home town of Santa Clara, Cuba, Prieto studied percussion and guitar. During his teens, he moved to Havana to study at the Nati ...
in particular, has been a trailblazer in expanding the parameters of clave experimentation. Afro-Cuban singer
Daymé Arocena has been described as a "cross between
Celia Cruz
Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during t ...
and
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...
".
[{{cite web , url=https://www.npr.org/2015/12/07/458447213/npr-musics-50-favorite-albums-of-2015 , title=NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums Of 2015 , website=NPR , access-date=2017-04-28]
Clave license
More than a half century ago, Mario Bauzá developed arranging in-clave to an art. Another name for clave is guide-pattern, and that is how Bauzá related to it. He taught Tito Puente, and Puente's arrangers learned from him.
{{rp, 248
The techniques were passed down from one generation to the next. Many educated Cuban musicians reject the idea of 3-2/2-3 clave.
Dafnis Prieto
Dafnis Prieto (born July 31, 1974) is a Cuban-American drummer, composer, bandleader, and educator.
Career
In his home town of Santa Clara, Cuba, Prieto studied percussion and guitar. During his teens, he moved to Havana to study at the Nati ...
and Alain Pérez reject the concept.
{{rp, 249 Many younger musicians reject the concept of "clave rules". Pérez states, "I just don't treat the clave as a study or a profound analysis conceived around where it overlaps and where it comes in. I didn't learn it in that way".
[{{cite web , last1=Martínez , first1=Pepe , title=Entrevista – Alain Pérez – 2002 – Madrid – Alain Pérez Interview Part 2 , url=http://www.timba.com/artist_pages/alain-p-rez-interview-part-2 , website=timba.com , access-date=24 March 2019 , language=es]
Bobby Sanabria laments the pervasiveness of this attitude in Cuba. "The lack of clave consciousness in Cuba is starting to be felt more and more where the rhythmic equilibrium established by the clave direction is being sacrificed due to lack of knowledge in how to work with it from an arranging standpoint by young arrangers especially in the timba movement"
{{rp, 251 Perhaps
Juan Formell
Juan Climaco Formell Cortina (August 2, 1942 – May 1, 2014) was a Cuban bassist, composer, and arranger, best known as the director of Los Van Van. He was a creator of popular danceable music and credited with bringing electronic instrumentatio ...
, founder of
Los Van Van, summed up this contemporary Cuban clave attitude best. "We Cubans like to think we have 'clave license'...and we don't feel obsessed about the clave as many others do".
[{{cite book , last1=Mauleon , first1=Rebeca , title=101 Montunos , date=1999 , publisher=Sher , location=Petaluma, California , page=16]
References
{{Reflist
{{Jazz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afro-Cuban jazz
Afro-Cuban culture
Cuban styles of music
Jazz genres