Latin jazz

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Latin jazz
Stylistic originsAfro-Cuban jazz:
Afro-Brazilian jazz:
Cultural originsCuba; New York City, United States; and Brazil
Regional scenes
  • Cuba
  • United States
  • Brazil

Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, which includes samba and bossa nova.

Afro-Cuban jazz

Main article: Afro-Cuban jazz

"Spanish tinge"—The Cuban influence in early jazz and proto-Latin jazz

tango [3]) can be thought of as a combination of tresillo and the backbeat. Wynton Marsalis considers tresillo to be the New Orleans "clave," although technically, the pattern is only half a clave.[4]

Tresillo Playⓘ
Habanera rhythm[5]

"

St. Louis Blues" (1914) by W. C. Handy has a habanera-tresillo bass line. 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.[6] Jelly Roll Morton considered the tresillo-habanera (which he called the Spanish tinge) to be an essential ingredient of jazz.[7]
The habanera rhythm can be heard in his left hand on songs like "The Crave" (1910, recorded 1938).

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).[8]

Jelly Roll Morton

Although the exact origins of jazz syncopation may never be known, there is evidence that the habanera-tresillo was there 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.[9] As the example below shows, the second half of the big four pattern is the habanera rhythm.

Buddy Bolden's "big four" pattern

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 [tresillo have] . . . remained one of the most useful and common syncopated patterns in jazz—Schuller (1968).[10]

The Cuban influence is evident in many pre-1940s jazz tunes, but rhythmically, they are all based on single-celled motifs such as

Caravan", written by Juan Tizol
and first performed in 1936, is an early proto-Latin jazz composition. It is not clave-based.

Jazz in-clave

Machito and his sister Graciela

The first

Mario Bauza and recorded by Machito
and his Afro-Cubans the same year, 1943. The tune was initially a descarga (Cuban jam) with jazz solos superimposed, spontaneously composed by Bauzá.

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.[11] The following example is in the style of a 1949 recording by Machito. 2‐3 clave, piano by René Hernández.[12]

"Tanga" in the style of Machito and His Afro‐Cubans (recorded 1949). 2‐3 clave, piano: René Hernández.

The first descarga that made the world take notice is traced to a

Mario Bauza, 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. Bauza leaned over the piano and instructed Varona to play the same piano vamp he did the night before. Varona's left hand began the introduction of Gilberto Valdes' El Botellero. Bauza 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 Bauza composed "Tanga" (African word for marijuana) that evening of 1943.

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 and Birdland between 1948 and 1949, when Howard McGhee, tenor saxophonist Brew Moore, Charlie Parker 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—Salazar (1997).[13]

3-2 clave (Playⓘ) and 2-3 clave (Playⓘ) written in cut-time

Mario 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. 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.[14] 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.

Bobby Sanabria, who was Bauzá's drummer, cites several important innovations of Machito's band:

  • The first band to explore jazz arranging techniques with authentic Afro-Cuban rhythms on a consistent basis giving it a unique identifiable sound that no other band in the genre of Afro-Cuban based dance music had at the time. 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."[15]
  • The first band to explore modal harmony (a concept explored much later by Miles Davis and Gil Evans) from a jazz arranging perspective through their 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 successfully wed jazz big band arranging techniques within an original composition with jazz oriented soloists utilizing an authentic Afro-Cuban based rhythm section in a successful manner. e.g. Gene Johnson - alto, Brew Moore - tenor, composition - "Tanga" (1943).
  • The first Afro-Cuban based dance band to overtly explore the concept of clave counterpoint 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.[16]
Dizzy Gillespie, 1955

Bauzá introduced bebop innovator Dizzy Gillespie to the Cuban conga drummer Chano Pozo. "Manteca" is the first jazz standard to be rhythmically based on clave. "Manteca" was co-written by Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo in 1947. According to Gillespie, Pozo created the layered, contrapuntal guajeos (Afro-Cuban ostinatos) of the A section and the introduction, and Gillespie wrote the bridge. The rhythm of the melody of the A section is identical to a common mambo bell pattern.

Top: opening measures of "Manteca" melody. Bottom: common mambo bell pattern (2-3 clave).

On March 31, 1946, Stan Kenton recorded "Machito," written by his collaborator / arranger Pete Rugolo, which is considered by some to be the first Latin jazz recording by American jazz musicians. The Kenton band was augmented by Ivan Lopez on bongos and Eugenio Reyes on maracas. Later, on December 6 the same year, Stan Kenton recorded an arrangement of the Afro-Cuban tune "The Peanut Vendor" with members of Machito's rhythm section. Kenny Dorham "Minor's Holiday", "Basheer's Dream",[17] Hank Mobley "Recado Bossa Nova" and Sabu Martinez jazz tune developed Afro-Cuban jazz from 50s to 60s.[18]

Mongo Santamaria, 1969

Cuban percussionist

Mongo Santamaria first recorded his composition "Afro Blue" in 1959.[19]
"Afro Blue" was the first jazz standard built upon a typical African three-against-two (3:2)
cross-rhythm, or hemiola.[20] The song begins with the bass repeatedly playing 6 cross-beats per each measure of 12/8, or 6 cross-beats per 4 main beats—6:4 (two cells of 3:2). The following example shows the original ostinato "Afro Blue" bass line. The slashed noteheads indicate the main beats
(not bass notes), where you would normally tap your foot to "keep time."

"Afro Blue" bass line, with main beats indicated by slashed noteheads

Bossa nova

favelas of Rio. Certain similar elements were already evident, even influencing Western classical music like Gershwin's Cuban Overture which has the characteristic 'Latin' clave rhythm. The influence on bossa nova of jazz styles such as cool jazz
is often debated by historians and fans, but a similar "cool sensibility" is apparent.

Bossa nova was developed in Brazil in the mid-1950s, with its creation being credited to artists including

Vinícius de Moraes
(lyrics) and Antonio Carlos Jobim (music). The song was soon after released by Gilberto.

The initial releases by Gilberto and the internationally popular 1959 film

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim
). Since that time, the bossa nova style maintains a lasting influence in world music for several decades and even up to the present.

The first bossa nova single to achieve international popularity was perhaps the most successful of all time, the 1964 Getz/Gilberto recording "

The Girl From Ipanema", edited to include only the singing of Astrud Gilberto
, Gilberto's then wife. The genre would withstand substantial "watering down" by popular artists throughout the next four decades.

An early influence on bossa nova was the song "

Europa di notte by Alessandro Blasetti; the song was distributed in Brazil and covered later by Brazilian artists Eumir Deodato (Los Danseros en Bolero – 1964) and Caetano Veloso (Outras Palavras – 1981). In 2005, Henri Salvador was awarded the Brazilian Order of Cultural Merit, which he received from singer and Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil, in the presence of President Lula
for his influence on Brazilian culture.

The so-called "bossa nova clave" (or "Brazilian clave") is played on the snare rim of the drum kit in bossa nova. The pattern has a similar rhythm to that of the son clave, but the second note on the two-side is delayed by one pulse (subdivision). The pattern is shown below in 2/4, as it is written in Brazil. In North American charts it is more likely to be written in cut-time.

Bossa nova snare rim pattern (Playⓘ)

According to drummer

Antonio Carlos Jobim, who developed the pattern, considers it to be merely a rhythmic motif and not a clave (guide pattern). Jobim later regretted that Latino musicians misunderstood the role of this bossa nova pattern.[21]

Beyond Latin jazz

Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira
Naná Vasconcelos playing the Afro-Brazilian Berimbau

Brazilian percussionist

avant garde Brazilian musicians such as Hermeto Pascoal
, to enter the North American jazz scene.

Another innovative Brazilian percussionist is

Don Cherry and Collin Walcott, which released three albums in 1978, 1980 and 1982.[22][23][24]
While Vasconcelos uses Afro-Brazilian rhythms and instruments, he like Airto, transcend the categories of Brazilian jazz and Latin jazz.

Comparing Latin jazz with straight-ahead jazz

In comparison with straight-ahead jazz, Latin jazz employs

bongos, and claves are percussion instruments often used in addition to, or in place of the drum kit
.

Formats

Latin jazz music, like most types of jazz music, can be played in small or large groups. Small groups, or combos, often use the bebop format made popular in the 1950s in America, where the musicians play a standard melody, many of the musicians play an improvised solo, and then everyone plays the melody again. Prominent Latin jazz big bands include Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Bobby Sanabria's Multiverse Big Band, Raices Jazz Orchestra, Mambo Legends Orchestra, Pacific Mambo Orchestra, as well as others. In Latin jazz bands, percussion is often featured in solos. Contemporary Latin jazz pieces by musicians such as Hermeto Pascoal are mostly composed for these small groups, with percussion solos as well as many wind-instrumentals.[25]

Latin Jazz as Global Music

Most jazz histories emphasize the narrative that jazz is exclusively an American music—a style created by African Americans in the early 20th century, fusing elements of African rhythm and improvisations with European instrumentation, harmonies, and formal structures. The influences of musics from the Caribbean and Latin America—save

Ken Burns' popular documentary film Jazz, make little mention of Latin jazz.[28] More recent scholarship has challenged this paradigm, arguing that music from the Caribbean and Latin American were essential to the emergence of early New Orleans jazz, to the music's Post-War development in New York City, and to the continued evolution of jazz in twenty-first century urban centers. Proponents of this view advocate for the inclusion of influential Caribbean band leaders including Frank Machito Grillo, Mario Bauzá, Chico O'Farrill, Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, and Jerry and Andy Gonzalez in the broader jazz cannon.[29][30] From this perspective, all jazz, including Latin Jazz, is not viewed as a uniquely American expression, but rather as "a global music" that is "transcultural in its stylistic scope."[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ Manuel, Peter (2009: 69). Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  2. ^ Acosta, Leonardo (2003: 5). Cubano Be Cubano Bop; One Hundred Years of Jazz in Cuba. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Books.
  3. ISBN 0-9614701-9-4
    .
  4. ^ "Wynton Marsalis part 2." 60 Minutes. CBS News (26 June 2011).
  5. ISBN 959-10-0048-0
    .
  6. ^ Father of the Blues: An Autobiography. by W.C. Handy, edited by Arna Bontemps: foreword by Abbe Niles. Macmillan Company, New York; (1941) pages 99, 100. no ISBN in this first printing
  7. ^ Roberts, John Storm 1979. The Latin tinge: the impact of Latin American music on the United States. Oxford.
  8. ^ Morton, "Jelly Roll" (1938: Library of Congress Recording) The Complete Recordings By Alan Lomax.
  9. ^ Marsalis, Wynton (2000: DVD n.1). Jazz. PBS
  10. ^ Schuller, Gunther (1968: 19) Early Jazz; Its Roots and Musical Development. New York: Oxford Press.
  11. ISBN 1-886502-80-3
    .
  12. ISBN 144998018X
  13. ^ Salazar, Max (1997). "The Beginning and Its Best" Latin Beat Magazine v.7 n. 1.
  14. ISBN 0-9614701-9-4
    .
  15. ^ Notes from The Mambo Inn -The Story of Mario Bauza. PBS documentary (1998).
  16. ^ Bobby Sanabria, posting to the Latinjazz discussion list (2008). [1]
  17. ^ "Afro-Cuban - Kenny Dorham | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  18. ^ "Hank Mobley discography".
  19. ^ "Afro Blue," Afro Roots (Mongo Santamaria) Prestige CD 24018-2 (1959).
  20. ISBN 1-886502-80-3
    .
  21. ^ Bobby Sanabria cited by Peñalosa (2009: 243). The Clave Matrix.
  22. ^ Allmusic Biography
  23. ^ Palmer, Robert (1982-06-28). "Jazz Festival - A Study Of Folk-Jazz Fusion - Nytimes.Com". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  24. ^ Robert Palmer (1987-09-03). "Jazz: Don Cherry". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  25. S2CID 217508944
    .
  26. ISBN 978-0135098851
    .
  27. OCLC 26850817
    .
  28. ^ Kelley, Robin. "Into the Mist: Thoughts on Ken Burns's Jazz". ISAM Newsletter. 30, no.2 (Spring 2001): 8–15.
  29. OCLC 40256200
    .
  30. OCLC 1125295202
    .
  31. OCLC 1125295202
    .

Bibliography

External links
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