Jazz: The New Orleans-Havana-New York Connection
By Alejandro Murillo
Conditions put into motion by European colonialism and the North Atlantic slave trade created the cultural context in which beloved music genres, like salsa, bossa nova, and jazz, were created. The accompanying flux of people and ideas within the Caribbean did play a role in the creation of jazz.
Musical forms generated by slaves on Caribbean plantations also emerged among plantation slave communities in the southern United States. After the end of the slave trade, New Orleans, positioned at the doorstep of the Caribbean, serviced a regular ferry to Havana. In the early 20th century, it was common for bands in both cities to play gigs in the other. Even Jelly Roll Morton added a Spanish tinge to his music style, and Buddy Bolden, considered by many to be the father of jazz, created the “big four” jazz rhythm using the marching band beat and the Cuban habanera rhythm.
Contenders in the New York Scene
Not only did Cuba’s musical traditions influence the development of jazz but Cuban musicians also became major contributors in the ensuing New York jazz scene. Enter Mario Bauza, a Havana-born composer and multi-instrumentalist, who moved to New York in 1933. Bauza was closely intertwined with the stars of the time. He was hired as musical director for Chick Webb's band, got Dizzy Gillepsie into Cab Calloway’s big band, and even used to play poker with Jelly Roll Morton.
Another musical legend to be reckoned with was composer and percussionist Luciano “Chano” Pozo. Like many Afro-Cuban musicians, Pozo partly owed his musical prowess to his association with Abakua and Regla de Ocha (Santeria). After moving to New York in 1947, he was introduced to Dizzy Gillepsie (by Bauza) and became the first conga player to regularly play in a US jazz group. Gillespie remarked that Pozo was the greatest drummer he’d ever heard. A performance at Carnegie Hall, a European tour, and his composition of Manteca, secured Pozo as a pillar in the development of the subgenre, Afro-Cuban jazz.
Luciano "Chano" Pozo
Machito and his Afro-Cubans
Afro-Cuban jazz was created by Bauza and his brother in law, Frank “Machito” Grillo. Together in 1939 they formed the group, Machito and his Afro-Cubans. Musicologists cite Tanga, composed by Bauza in 1943, to be the first Afro-Cuban jazz song which put Cuban instruments and rhythms center stage. Being a time of racial segregation, Bauza was sometimes asked by club owners to drop the Afro-Cuban part of the band’s name. Bauza always refused. Machito and his Afro-Cubans’ 1957 Kenya album was named in commemoration of Kenya’s first elections in which Africans could be elected. Although Bauza’s African heritage was from West Africa, he remarked “Africa is Africa, and freedom is freedom.”
Jazz, the Mafia, and the Revolution
Despite shifting political tides, jazz has been present in Cuba since the very beginning of the 20th century. The first Cuban jazz big band was formed in 1929 - Orquesta Hermanos Castro. (No connection to Fidel.) Outside of Havana, jazz was a common feature in the town of Guantanamo for US sailors visiting from the naval base. During the 1950’s the Tropicana cabaret became Cuba’s jazz center. Their Sunday jazz jam sessions were well known. Also during this time, the North American mafia’s need to launder money and their desire to transform Havana into a tropical Las Vegas led to investment in casinos, hotels, and nightclubs - alongside corruption, prostitution, and drugs. During this time it was common for the best US jazz musicians to be contracted for gigs in Havana, such as Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, and Nat King Cole. Unfortunately, 1950’s Cuba was not without its racial segregation as well. While in Havana to perform at Tropicana in 1956, Nat King Cole was refused accommodation at the iconic Hotel Nacional.
Nat King Cole in Havana
The Cuban revolution, painful memories of a US-backed dictator, and the deteriorating relationship with the US put a historical hold on the flow of musicians between the US and Cuba. Beginning in the 1960s, jazz, the Beatles, rock and roll, and Christmas were mostly banned to protect Cuba from cultural imperialism. Jazz had to be listened to clandestinely in private homes. Even today jazz is not taught in Cuba’s conservatories. Instead, it is learned outside of classrooms, at live performances, and by listening to recordings.
Yet, true to form, Cuba did not cease to churn out incredible jazz talent. In 1967, the Cuban government formed an ensemble that was allowed to play some jazz, the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. Among its ranks was none other than Chucho Valdés who today holds 9 Grammies under his belt. Later Valdés went on to found Irakere, a seminal Afro-Cuban jazz group that innovated Afro-Cuban jazz and won international acclaim.
Today, jazz in Cuba is a cultural priority and a source of national pride. JoJazz, is a yearly competition to showcase and develop Cuba’s young jazz talent. Also to be noted is the extremely popular and high caliber international Jazz Plaza Festival, one of the most significant events of its kind in the Caribbean. Once again, Cuba steps firmly forward to nurture the evolution of jazz.