Afro-Cuban jazz

Dizzy Gillespie was the main developer of early Afro-Cuban jazz

Afro-Cuban jazz is an early form of Latin jazz that mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with harmonies and musical timbre typical of Bebop. It was developed in the early 1940s by both Cuban musicians and Jazz musicians, with Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Machito and Stan Kenton among some of the most notable contributors. The style was originally called "Cubop".^[1] The original musical development largely took place in North America rather than Cuba itself, as Cuban musicians toured in New Orleans and other North American cities.^[2]

History

Afro-Cuban jazz started with the meeting of the Cuban trumpet/saxophonist Mario Bauzá with Dizzy Gillespie in the late 1930s in the Cab Calloway orchestra. In due course Gillespie formed his own big band to try to broaden the appeal of bebop. He asked Bauzá to introduce him to "one of those tom-tom [sic] players" (meaning a conga player). Bauzá introduced Gillespie to the legendary Cuban conguero Chano Pozo. It was in the Gillespie band that Chano Pozo wrote the famous number Manteca.

Gillespie started a movement known as Cubop, which included American jazz greats such as the alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, who, with the tenor player Flip Phillips, was on the original recording of Chico O'Farrill's Afro Cuban Jazz Suite. Another great Cuban conguero famous in jazz circles was Mongo Santamaría, who worked for Pérez Prado, and the vibe player Cal Tjader, before setting up his own Cuban jazz group.

In the mid 1940s the mambo craze originated with the recordings of Perez Prado, who included ideas from Stravinsky and Stan Kenton in his arrangements.^[3] The giants of this era in New York were Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, and Machito and his Afro-Cubans. Mongo Santamaría, like Chano Pozo before him, used Afro-Cuban rhythmic structure and instruments, and moved towards his own kind of Cuban jazz. The great figure of Cuban jazz in the post-World War II era was Armando Romeu Jr, who led the Tropicana's big band for many years. Also important was the great double-bass player Cachao (Israel López), who organized a number of jam sessions in Havana and New York.

Important albums

Machito's Kenya: Afro-Cuban Jazz was released in 1958, when Afro-Cuban jazz was no longer fresh and original, and was slipping into cliché and formula, but as there are not many classic Afro-Cuban jazz albums, this is regarded by Tony Wilds of Allmusic as "essential".^[4]

Dizzy Gillespie Afro

Kenny Dorham Afro-Cuban

Stan Kenton Cuban Fire!

Danilo Perez Motherland

Michel Camilo On Fire

Eddie Palmieri La Verdad

Sebastian Schunke Symbiosis

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Mi gran pasion

Alain Pérez "En el aire"

See also

• Music of Cuba

References

1. ^ Raul A. Fernandez (2006). From Afro-Cuban rhythms to Latin jazz. University of California Press. p. 62. http://books.google.com/books?id=6WO7YevK_18C&pg=PA62&dq=after+the+initial+enthusiasm+for+Afro-Cuban+jazz,+or+Cubop,+in+the#v=onepage&q=after%20the%20initial%20enthusiasm%20for%20Afro-Cuban%20jazz%2C%20or%20Cubop%2C%20in%20the&f=false. Retrieved 17 June 2011. 
2. ^ Thomas Altmann (2005). "Afro-Cuban Jazz". ochemusic.de. http://www.ochemusic.de/artcujaz.htm. Retrieved 17 June 2011. 
3. ^ Acosta, Leonardo 2003. Cubano be, cubano bop: one hundred years of jazz in Cuba. Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.. p86 etc
4. ^ Tony Wilds. "Kenya: Afro-Cuban Jazz - Machito | AllMusic". http://www.allmusic.com/album/kenya-afro-cuban-jazz-r143016/review. Retrieved 17 June 2011.