Everything about Latin Jazz totally explained
Latin jazz is the general term given to music that combines rhythms from African and Latin American countries with jazz and classical harmonies from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and United States.
The two main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian and Afro-Cuban.
One of the contribution of Latins (Latinos in Spanish) to America, Latin jazz was further popularized in the late 1940s.
Dizzy Gillespie and
Stan Kenton began to combine the rhythm section and structure of
Afro-Cuban music, exemplified by
Machito and His Afro-Cubans, whose musical director
Mario Bauza created the first Latin jazz composition "Tanga" on May 31, 1943, with jazz instruments and solo improvisational ideas. On March 31, 1946, Stan Kenton recorded "Machito," written by his collaborator / arranger Pete Rugalo, which is considered by many 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 6th of the same year,
Stan Kenton recorded an arrangement of the Afro-Cuban tune
The Peanut Vendor with members of Machito's rhythm section. In
September of 1947, Dizzy Gillespie collaborated with
Machito conga player
Chano Pozo to perform the "Afro-Cuban Drums Suite" at
Carnegie Hall. This was the first concert to feature an American band playing Afro-Cuban jazz and Pozo remained in Gillespie's Orchestra to produce "Cubana Be, Cubana Bop" among others.
In comparison with traditional jazz, Latin jazz employs
straight rhythm, rather than
swung rhythm. Latin jazz rarely employs a
backbeat, using a form of the
clave instead. The
conga,
timbale,
güiro, and
claves are percussion instruments which often contribute to a Latin sound.
Samba originated from nineteenth century Afro-Brazilian music such as the Lundu. It employs a modified form of the
clave. Bossa Nova is a hybrid music based on the samba rhythm, but influenced by European and American music from Debussy to US jazz. Bossa Nova originated in the
1960s, largely from the efforts of Brazilians
Antonio Carlos Jobim and
João Gilberto, and American
Stan Getz. Its most famous song is arguably
The Girl from Ipanema sung by Gilberto and his wife,
Astrud Gilberto.
Latin jazz music, like most types of jazz music, can be played in small or large groups. Small groups, or combos, often use the
Be-bop 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. In Latin jazz bands, percussion often takes a center stage during a solo, and a
conga or
timbale can add a melodic line to any performance.
Further Information
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