Havana, Cuba. - "Jazz was not born in 1900 in New Orleans, as an unwavering legend claims," says Deborah Morgan, "it is the result of three centuries of confrontation, where many nations were involved. The history of Jazz can be traced back to the arrival of migrants to the south of United States, perhaps since the moment when the first black slaves predestined to work in North America alighted from a Dutch frigate in Jamestown (Virginia)." (Musique en Jeu)
The standards of music in New Orleans resembled those of different Antilleans islands, although with a different environment. These parallels between Cuban and American music helped establish a general standard. Black Cubans, of course, were involved in the development of that southern city and its music.
"Since 1776, there has been talk of the arrival of 3000 Haitians; whereas in 1809 and 1810, over 10 000 Antillean refugees arrived in New Orleans. A population flow was drifting from the Caribbean islands to New Orleans. Most of them were from Santo Domingo (or Haiti, name of the former French colony after independence in 1804); many were black slaves from the same tribes, and their former French masters, who fled the terror of the Haitian revolution and the international conflicts underway in the Caribbean.” (Gilbert Chase)
Fernando Ortiz wrote, "when New Orleans belonged to Spain; there was much communication with Cuba, and 'guaracheras' went from here to sing by the Mississippi."
New Orleans, in times of the colony, had an exotic, hybrid and exciting mixture of musical elements. The city was flourishing with the trade in the seaport area, where raw materials were unloaded. The demand for musical entertainment grew extremely.
Many of those blacks were musicians. They had a double job and were admitted to play for the dancers. With the inauguration of Storyville district (brothel area) in 1897, Jazz became a profession. All this would have a lot to do with the future development of American music, particularly in relation to the origin and growth of Jazz.
A Cuban musician, born in 1863, named Manuel Perez, became a true legend of Jazz. Between 1890 and 1898, he played in different bands, until he founded his own, called Imperial Band. Later on, he visited Chicago and other northern cities and returned to New Orleans at the beginning of the XX century.
Luis and Lorenzo Tio were Cuban-Mexicans. In 1884, they traveled to and settled in New Orleans with the band of the 8th Cavalry Regiment of Mexico. They included several dances, contredanses and Habaneras in their repertoire. Other Cubans went to New Orleans, such as the Palau brothers, Paul Dominguez, Florencio Ramos, Peolops Nuñez, Willie Marrero, Alcides Nuñez and Jimmy Palau, who played in Buddy Bolden's band.
Frank Grillo, Machito, said, "when Cuba was a colony of Spain, there were many independence fighters that fled to New Orleans, including many musicians. That's why New Orleans was always so important."
In 1884-1885, a Mexican band caused sensation at the Cotton World and Industrial Exhibition, with danses and Habaneras (from Havana). The fashionable Habanera rhythm was adopted by several American composers: namely W. C. Handy and Gottschalk. The latter in 1854, and the former in 1900, had both traveled to Cuba. Handy took advantage of Habanera rhythm in his emblematic piece St. Louis Blue.
Pianist Jelly Roll Morton learned to play Habaneras and said: "You can hear the Latin touch in my melodies. In fact, if you are not able to introduce Hispanic nuances in your melodies, you can never have a fair flavor, I mean for Jazz."
In the 1920’s, during the boom of Son, New York became home for a growing number of Latins. Many Cuban musicians went to New York between the two world wars. In 1927, one of those musicians was flutist Alberto Socarras, called the Cuban Duke Ellington. In those days, many sextets began to visit New York with the objective of playing in theaters, ballrooms and recording Cuban Son.
By 1930, Don Azpiazu’s Orchestra, with singer Antonio Machin, recorded El Manisero. The recording and its shows triggered the first boom of Latin music. This paved the way to the music industry of the entire continent. Even the great Louis Armstrong recorded a version of El Manisero.
Alberto Iznaga went from Cuba to New York in 1939, where he played with several orchestras and founded Siboney Orchestra. In the 1940’s, Xavier Cugat, Miguelito Valdes, Desi Arnaz, Vicentico Valdes and Panchito Riset also shined in New York:.
Cuban professor Raul Fernandez wrote in his book Latin Jazz that Latin (Cuban) Jazz is a combination of two musical traditions: American Jazz and Cuban timbres (and their Caribbean touch). "Cuba provides its rhythmic complex: Habanera, Son, rumba, guaracha, mambo, chachacha and jam sessions. The African sap lies at the root of Jazz and Caribbean music."
This Cuban combination was brewing since the early 1940’s. In his book Descarga, Leonardo Acosta said: "By 1942, the main Bop musicians, then the avant-garde of Jazz, took an interest in Afro-Cuban rhythms and approached Cubans Mario Bauza and Frank Grillo (Machito). One of them was Dizzy Gillespie, who had played in “jam sessions” with Mario Bauza and Noro Morales. He also worked with Alberto Socarras’ orchestra. Gillespie often went to the Park Plaza and sat down to play with Machito."
In 1940, Bauza and Frank Grillo put together Machito and his Afro-Cubans Orchestra. The experience became a fusion - as we say now – of black, white, crossbred, Jazz and Cuban rhythms. We know very well that the profuse Cuban rhythmic, full of sounds and timbre variables, enriched and nurtured the fabulous Jazz.
Based on data provided by scholar Luc Delannoy, Machito trained the orchestra at the Spanish Harlem, in New York, since July 1940. After many rehearsals, they debuted on December 3, at the Park Palace Ballroom, on the corner of 110 St. and Fifth Avenue, Harlem. The repertoire consisted of guarachas, Sones and rumbas, to underpin his attachment to Cuban tradition.
Machito stepped on stage with his golden maracas, the band expanded to five saxophones, three trumpets, two trombones and a conga drum. "Our idea," Bauza explained, "was to have an orchestra that could compete with American orchestras and their sound, but at the same time, would play Cuban music. Therefore, I hired kids who used to write arrangements for Cab Calloway and Chick Web. I wanted them to give me that particular sound."
Instead of the conventional drumkit, the Afro-Cubans used Latin percussion. They hired a 17-years-old kettledrummer and dancer named Ernest Anthony (Tito Puente) who would eventually become the king of Latin kettledrum. Tito learned from Cuban percussionists, especially those of the 1900 Jazz Club and the effects played by legendary percussionist El Chori, at La Choricera, one of the seedy cabarets on Marianao Beach.
Afro-Cubans was the first orchestra to introduce Jazz harmonies and "solos", simultaneously using a complete section of Afro-Cuban percussion, such as conga drums, bongo, clackers, maracas and rasping gourd. They all produced a range of overlapping rhythms, in a sensational polyrhythm that left the Americans bewildered. They played conga drums on 6/8, kettledrums on 2/4 and bongo on 5/4.
In the summer of 1942, according to Delannoy, the Afro-Cubans band was hired by cabaret La Conga, on 50 St. It was the first time that an orchestra of Latin American black musicians played in downtown Manhattan. The different audiences forgot their differences and whites, blacks, crossbreeds, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Jazz fans, dancers and fans of Cuban and Caribbean music all got together.
On the opening night, Mario Bauza invited colossal Miguelito Valdes to sing fashionable themes. The success was such that the owner of the club, Jack Harris, proposed to Machito a contract of undetermined duration. The Cuban project in the United States became so important that even Frank Sinatra became a friend of Machito’s. He used to go and listen to him at the Brazil Club, in California, and they even sang together with the orchestra.
“A Cuban genius, like Mario Bauza, created, in 1943, the composition Tanga, the first recorded testimony, the sonority heraldry of that kind of Cuban Jazz, culmination of a creative process. Its dissemination caused the effect of a bomb, with unprecedented success.” (Luc Delannoy)
To round up the story; in 1947, the myth of conga drums, colossal musician Chano Pozo, arrived in New York. The Cuban drummer joined Dizzy Gillespie, fused the transitory with the eternal and created an invincible alliance. They recorded themes like Manteca, a classic of Latin Jazz. They played in the Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, in explosive encounters, a sort of rhythmic holocaust that revolutionized Bop and influenced the music that would appear in the future.
The musical alliance between USA and Cuba began in the distant days of the colony and, in spite of wars and blockades, has remained alive against all odds. The 34th Jazz Plaza International Festival welcomed American friends, respectful of Cuban music and musicians.
Translated by Pedro A. Fanego
