Music can be powerful for ethnic identity and ethnic politics in the United States. I’ve heard it suggested that there is a bit of musical dialectic between white and black America and that the mediating space between them is Latin music. I don’t really agree with that theory—though there probably is some value in mining the notion—if for no other reason than the fact that describing people as “Latin” invites perhaps even more diversity than referring to a population as simply “Black” or “White”. And there can be even more ethnic and national politics at play within this pseudo-linguistic category, “Latin.”
So why am I writing about Afro-Cuban music today when I said I would do it next week? Politics! Next Sunday, the New York Puerto Rican Day Parade will take place. And it’s actually not the only huge ethnic festival happening in the area, but more on that part next week. But this week, today, there was the Cuban Festival Parade in North Bergen NJ. Just for some reference, this actually takes place maybe five miles—certainly not ten—from where next week’s Puerto Rican Parade will be. I’ll get more into the politics of it all next week. Things change as immigration patterns and geopolitics change over the last century. Next week, I’ll focus more on Puerto Ricans and things post-1959. This week, I do things more Cuban and things prior to 1959….and John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie.
Im not sure if invite you South to Latin America, East to NYC, North (from me) to North Bergen and Bergenline Avenue or West (from me) to Newark…but I invite you through the orange squiggle nonetheless.
A frequent question asked in the musical context of intra-Latino politics is “Is modern Latin music Puerto Rican or Cuban?” This is loaded political question and to a large extent, it is an irrelevant one because Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Americans, have all been playing in each other's bands since the 30s. And I’ve found that it’s an easy question to become bogged down with. It’s a question applied often to Salsa and in my view it’s also created a kind of revisionist history about Salsa. The folkloric roots for much of what we have called “Latin Music” for decades has been Cuban and at times Brazilian. This has significantly changed since around 1980 when the Latino population in the North East of the United States began to become more diverse. This has also changed significantly as Mexican migration into the US expanded nationally from its traditionally South-Western domain. Of course my main focus on these diaries is Jazz and American music primarily, and when talking about various forms of Latin Music, especially those from the Caribbean, you cannot leave out the role of New York City.
Today, we are talking about a Cuba from another time; a time before Fidel and the Soviet Union; a time before Che. Before I continue, I just want to follow up on the important but misleading question above: After 1959 and through the early 1980s, Puerto Ricans dominate the representation of Latinos in the United States, especially urban USA. This is very much facilitated by cutting the US off from all things Cuban, but there is also massive migration to the mainland from Puerto Rico beween 1940 and 1960. In the 1960s and 70s there is a tremendous amount of innovation and production of expressive culture: Art, Literature, Music…a Spanish-Harlem renaissance. Folkloric roots for music may be Cuban in many cases, but what Puerto Ricans did with music is quite outstanding. Add to this the many Cultural similarities between Cuba and PR (and DR) and one can start to see things as not quite as nationally bound as current politics might suggest.
That said, in the United States…many say it starts with this---
This tune was first recorded in 1927 or 1928, but this version was released in 1930 by Don Azpiazú and his Havana Casino Orchestra. It is considered the first time that authentic Cuban music was released for an American audience. The “Rhumba craze” starts here.
But the truth is also that Jelly Roll Morton said that Jazz always should have that “Latin Tinge”. In this next tune from 1924 you can hear the danza groove once the tune gets past its more ragtime sounding first chorus.
Two things come from this: 1) “inauthentic” Latin music—or perhaps calling it “interpretations of Latin Music by non Latin musicians” is better—has been present in Jazz since its inception. 2) “authentic” Latin music—music played with accurate Latin rhythms and by Latinos—has been influencing Jazz since very early since its inception.
Just a side note…Jelly Roll’s parents were from Haiti. There were waves of migration from Haiti to New Orleans in the latter 1800s. The Haitian influence on the creation of Jazz is yet to be really explored. Not to mention that Wynton Kelly was born in Jamaica and Sonny Rollins’ family is from the West Indies as well. Just a few things to consider…tocamos….
The Lecuona Cuban Boys toured the globe for 40 years. They were among the first to incorporate congas into the orchestra.
And lest we forget Xavier Cugat, January 1, 1900 – October 27, 1990
Notice how the song is about Brazil. Cugat was born in Havana…but this is Pop music and you do what sells. Its hard to imagine many Americans in the 1940s really knowing the difference between Brazilian and Cuban music anyway. You can find many tunes from the 30s and early 40s which are essentially in the same format as the big band hits of the time, but with more percussion and with Latin rhythms. And sometimes in Spanish…or Portuguese. It’s the pop music of the day.
Of course folks could get a little adventurous
Its exotic, but also somewhat safe. Why safe?
Desi is somewhat bad ass really. His ideas for Desi-Lu studios were brilliant: Television sound stage in LA, three cameras, film not live. Wearing the drum instead of sitting to play it is considered more African. But…damn…he sure is white lookin’. As African as Cuba can be, about a quarter of a million Spaniards immigrated to the island in the early 20th century. This had an effect on the demographics of the island and is one of two reasons why some folks say it is the most Spanish nation in Latin America; the other being the fact that it was the last one to gain independence from Spain.
There is a great love for things Latin in American popular music during the 30s and 40s. And to that extent, it influences other forms of popular music at the time…again, largely indistinguishable from Jazz in the 30s and 40s.
And then comes Machito, February 16, 1908–April 19, 1984, and Mario Bauza April,28 1911 – July 11, 1993. In 1940, the two together formed a group called the Afro-Cubans. Machito the band leader, Bauza the group’s musical director.
This next one, written by Bauza, is often considered the first Afro-Cuban Jazz recording
This music was very influential on a couple of fairly important musicians.
And Bird’s buddy, this guy…
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993, is obviously one of the most revered figures in jazz, innovative and with major historical importance. My first impressions of Dizzy were of a grand-fatherly figure on television with cheeks like Kermit the Frog should have had. Dizzy’s life was not tragedy. It was beautiful. Dizzy got married in 1940 and the two remained married until he passed. I’ve been told that this marriage was the force that kept him from the self destruction to which so many of his peers succumbed. The only public funeral I’ve ever been compelled to attend was Dizzy’s.
A number of my friends have worked with his daughter, vocalist Jeannie Bryson, but I’ve not met her. I did meet her husband, guitarist Coleman Mellett. Coleman was the guitarist in Chuck Mangione’s group when he died in a plane crash on the way to Buffalo, NY on February 12th of 2009 along with saxophonist Gerry Niewood. (I could try and be dramatic here and write “Jazz will always take its price eventually”….but bleh, you gotta be happy when talking about Dizzy!)
I’m not going to get into the whole history of Dizzy….starts with big bands, joins Cab Calloway in 1939.
Wikipedia--
Gillespie was fired by Calloway in late 1941, after a notorious altercation between the two. The incident is recounted by Gillespie, along with fellow Calloway band members Milt Hinton and Jonah Jones, in Jean Bach's 1997 film, The Spitball Story. Calloway did not approve of Gillespie's mischievous humor, nor of his adventuresome approach to soloing; according to Jones, Calloway referred to it as "Chinese music". During one performance, Calloway saw a spitball land on the stage, and accused Gillespie of having thrown it. Gillespie denied it, and the ensuing argument led to Calloway striking Gillespie, who then pulled out a switchblade knife and charged Calloway. The two were separated by other band members, during which scuffle Calloway was cut on the hand.
He writes for Woody Herman and Ella, joins Earl Hine’s orchestra. meets Charlie Parker, assists in creating Be-Bop, writes Jazz standards such as Groovin High, Woody n You and Night in Tunisia. And Dizzy loves Afro-Cuban music.
In 1947, Mario Bauza introduces Dizzy to Cuban born percussionist Chano Pozo, January 7, 1915 - December 3, 1948. Pozo sang Dizzy an idea he had and Dizzy added a few bits and what came out was Manteca.
Afro-Cuban Jazz becomes highly associated with BeBop
But Pozo maintains serious Cuban Roots
Pozo and others (including Desi with Babalu!) are incorporating some drumming and vocalizations from Santeria, the Cuban form of the West African Orisha religions found in the parts of Latin America and the Caribbean where the African influence is high and the Europeans were Catholic (mostly). However, the music you hear is no more sacred than the gospel you hear in the music of Ray Charles. The sacred music is influential, the musical devices are brought in, but it is secular. Voudoo, Candomble, Santeria…they are not interchangeable, though they are quite similar. It is interesting to note that after the religions that worship the God of Abraham, Hinduism, and Buddhism, Orisha worship is next on the list in popularity. And if you told me there were more orisha worshippers than Buddhist, I’ld believe you. In a 50 mile radius of where I sit at this very moment in Jersey City Heights, I know there are thousands…perhaps tens of thousands…of folks who practice some form of this or another. Of course many would self identify as Catholic first, but it still is rather fascinating to agnostic anthropologist me.
Chano Pozo was shot and killed on December 2, 1948 in the Rio Bar at 111th St and Lenox Avenue in Harlem. The Rio Bar no longer exists—even the small triangular block where it was has been removed. Pozo's killer was a local bookie nameed Cabito. Pozo had accused Cabito of selling him poor quality dope and Cabito retaliated.
Legend has it that Manteca was playing on the jukebox as Chano died.
Dizzy Continues on
I personally consider this next one to be one of the greatest recordings of all time
And we can’t forget this one
The US still has a fascination for things Cuban in the 1950s
I feel like I write this in every diary, but “things are getting long”. And I have every intention of continuing this next week. Here are some major Cuban musicians who came to the public’s notice in the 1950s.
Israel “Cachao” López, September 14, 1918 – March 22, 2008, was a bassist and composer who also remains highly influential in latin music.
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez, April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003 is to some the greatest congero of the 20th century.
And of course this great jazz standard
Mongo is highly involved in the bugaloo music to come in the early 1960s. He also plays often with Tito Puente, but Im saving Tito for next week. OK...just one....
Armando Peraza, May 30, 1924 – April 14, 2014, another great percussionist who moved from Havanah to NYC to have success playing in the group led by George Shearing, August 13, 1919 – February, 14 2011
Armando had quite a bit of crossover success as well since he hooked up with some guitar player back in the early 70s
There are many great great Cuban musicians playing Latin Jazz. Be it in the 1940s/50s/60s/90/2010’s. This diary is merely an overview, as well as a bit of a Dizzy Gillespie love fest. But its important to notice how things change. Watch the last year or two of I Love Lucy (or rather, the Lucy and Desi comedy hour or whatever its name changed to)…the ones where they move to Ct. “Ricky” stops being Cuban and starts being Latin.
And of course this happens.
But back to Cuba, Puerto Rico next week.
The Cuban revolution is complicated. I have to remind students that things are not quite so simple as “Castro Bad!” Heck, I remember attending a talk in spring 2001 where folks were discussing what W’s Cuba policy was going to be. In the context of the talk, they noted how that during the Clinton years the US Coast Guard and its Cuban equivalent worked together to police the Caribbean for narcotrafficking. What I also tell students is that, while I love a good Will Smith movie as much as anyone else, Bad Boys II is stupid and the suggestion that Castro is earning money off of cocaine trafficking in absurd. But people do not have freedom of speech or of the press in Cuba. I know men in their 50s who grew up poor in Hudson County NJ where as they would have grown up middle class had there been no revolution. I know people in their 50s who spent a lovely childhood in Cuba and were ripped away into exile at 9, 10, 11 years old to the USA. They have some unresolved anger issues. It’s absurd that Castro remained in power for so long and now Raul runs things. Fidel should have opened Cuba to elections in the 1970s, his historical legacy would be different if he had. I know Cubans who refuse to vote for a Democrat because of “Kennedy’s failure” to liberate Cuba. I also know Cubans who read Daily Kos every day. “Cuban” is a nationality and an ethnicity, not a psychology or a personality.
In my opinion, Cuba is the United States’ brother/sister and we spent a good portion of the 20th century manipulating them and using them. They are the estranged family member with whom we really need to bury the hatchet and put the past behind us. And at this point in history, the problem is US. But will THIS congress and swallow their pride and end the embargo and open relations? Frankly, if I was in Cuba today watching US politics…I’ld want to stay as far away from political terror organization known as the GOP and their Democratic enablers as I possibly could. And…good God…the potential for an opening of relations with Cuba would give Chris Christie a national microphone due to the Republican leaning Cuban population here in NJ. It’s a sad state of affairs…but now is probably not the time to try and fix these relationships. It’s probably always time to talk about it, but any policy beyond “talking” is going to go absolutely no where.
And as far as music goes, Cuba has not stood still.
This is a good place to stop for now. This is half a conversation, I will return to this next week. There are definitely some folks left to acknowledge like Tito Puente and Willie Bobo and Eddie and Charlie Palmeirie and La Lupe and Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco and Willie Colon and…..crap, I think I might need two more diaries to get out what’s on my mind here……
As always, thank you for listening and for you support. Thank you to the community spotlight/diary rescue people. Please support your local Jazz musicians and all local live music….heck, try going Salsa dancing! Canta mi gente.