Overview
Objectives
Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to do the following:
- Recognize some of the key American and Cuban jazz artists and their contributions to Latin jazz
- Recognize some of the international figures in jazz who contribute to the globalization of jazz
- Recognize some of the recent jazz artists, both mainstream and progressive, whose art continues to fuel the debate about the future of jazz—and what jazz is
Afro-Cuban Jazz
In the late 1960s and 1970s, a number of progressive Cuban musicians were exploring ways of synthesizing the influences of free jazzA style of jazz characterized by an absence of pre-set chord progressions. and fusionA musical genre blending jazz and rock and roll music., while simultaneously drawing upon Cuban folk music as well as their rich island tradition of Afro-Cuban percussion. Three of these musicians — keyboardist Chucho Valdes, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and alto saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera — formed the group Irakere in 1973. Irakere soon gained a reputation as Cuba's most talented and progressive musical group. After a performance at the 1978 Newport Jazz Festival, Irakere became the first post-1959 Cuban band to sign a U.S. recording contract. The band's self-titled 1979 album won a Grammy Award that year.
Pianist/keyboardist/composer Chucho Valdes (b. 1941) was Irakere's bandleader for more than a quarter century. In 2009, he formed Chucho Valdes and the Afro-Cuban Messengers. His new group's album Chucho's Steps ♫ won the 2011 Grammy Award for best Latin jazz album. Chucho's artistic brilliance and steadfast commitment to Afro-Cuban music continue to affirm the vitality of Latin jazz.
While Chucho Valdes has maintained his Cuban citizenship, D'Rivera and Sandoval chose a different course. D'Rivera defected in the early 1980s and relocated to the United States. Sandoval left Irakere at that time to lead his own bands for nearly a decade before defecting to the United States.
Alto saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera (b. 1948) has made New York his home. His 1981 album Paquito Blowin' launched his U.S. career as saxophonist and bandleader, a career that has continued well into the new century. Paquito's band on this album features a number of talented fellow expatriates, notably percussionist Daniel Ponce on congas.
Paquito D'Rivera combines his smooth tone with fluid post-bop phrasing, offering an occasional nod to his early forays into free jazz — all the while drawing upon elements of Afro-Cuban jazz that are essential to his music. The piece "Chucho" exhibits these qualities. D'Rivera's tune is actually a sophisticated 12-bar blues progression, played twice (0:09-0:40). He solos on alto sax over the next four choruses (0:40-1:40) in virtuosic fashion. Then we hear from Hilton Ruiz, who offers an inspired piano solo for six choruses (1:43-3:12). Before the return to the head, we're treated to two choruses of D'Rivera and Ruiz trading fours with the percussionists, starting with D'Rivera on flute (3:10-3:40).
"I Heard it Through the Grapevine" has been recorded by several different artists, including Gladys Knight and the Pips, Marvin Gaye, and Roger Troutman, who all had #1 R&B hits with their versions, making this the only song to hit #1 on R&B charts for 3 different artists.
