Jazz Genre Guides, Latin Jazz - Part Two

In our first guide to Latin jazz, we established how the genre derived in the 1940s from a combination of popular dance music imported from the Caribbean that blended harmoniously with the American jazz styles of the era. This week, we shall explore how musicians and styles of Latin origin were embedded into the jazz scene throughout the 1970s and beyond as artists drew further on national styles and incorporated them into the mainstream through their eclectic use of instrumentation, rhythms and textures.

As stated before, these new sounds were massively popular and captured Western audiences through a string of crazes that occurred on an unprecedented scale. First came mambo, a bombastic genre of big band music that was introduced to American ears by such greats as Tito Puente and Perez Prado in the mid-fifties. This style was typified in its new context by bandleader Cal Tjader, who landed his biggest hit with 1964’s Soul Sauce, an amalgamation of salsa and the cool ‘West Coast’ sound. Ray Barretto, one of the first players to captivate a mainstream audience, would also come to develop another hip blend of danceable Latin-infused soul over the years to come.  

The previously mentioned bossa nova craze which came in the wake of the collaboration of Stan Getz and João Gilberto opened many listeners' ears to Brazilian music for the first time. Not only that, but many players were encouraged by this ardent relationship between the two nations to travel to the United States for the first time, engaging in new musical practices while they were there. One such musician was Airto Moreira, a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist who had risen to prominence in his native home due to his alliance with the Sambalanço Trio and the Quarteto Novo, alongside Hermeto Pascoal. Both musicians can be said to have belonged at one time to the fabled alumni of Miles Davis’ working band – by including musicians from other nations in their lineups, artists were encouraged to explore, rather than imitate, a richer aesthetic that not only encompassed the music but the philosophy behind it as well, which had inspired the likes of Davis and John Coltrane over a decade prior. 

A pivotal figure who carved this style for himself was Chick Corea, who came up through the ranks of playing in Mongo Santamaria’s band in New York. At one time, during the early sixties, the keyboard visionary would intermittently leave his gigs on the bandstand at Birdland to take in the fresh sounds that were delighting Broadway at the time. Having witnessed the likes of Puente, Machito, Barretto and Eddie Palmieri, Corea would always keep a piece of that Latin tinge near to his heart as he went on to perform with various other acts throughout the decade. Realising his brand of avant-garde jazz might appear impenetrable to contemporary audiences, however, Corea quickly backtracked and began to explore his deep affection for the style he had come to know and love. Return To Forever was the bandleader's first foray into Latin jazz proper and the group’s self-titled debut with its fusion of electro-acoustic groove and hispanic balladry was a revelation in terms of musical imagination at the time. Having recruited Moreira and his wife, vocalist Flora Purim, Return To Forever would release another exceptional effort, Light As A Feather, this time adapting Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez into the instant classic ‘Spain’ amongst other groovy efforts that’d been cooked up by the core lineup in collaboration with Stan Getz around the same time. One of the most successful artists in mainstream jazz, Corea would go on to pursue a string of Latin-inspired projects, most notably embodied by the release of My Spanish Heart, as well as its modern-day follow-up, Antidote. 

In spite of the strong Hispanic and Latino links forged within jazz-fusion, it should be noted that, in other circles, the Afro-Cuban influence had not been lost. Arturo Sandoval, who had emerged as a spritely young trumpet player in Cuba, cut his teeth alongside Cubop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie, releasing a Grammy Award-winning album dedicated to his friend and former mentor in 2012. These days, Latin jazz has expanded across the diaspora with players incorporating their unique national colours and cultural epithets along the way. Cuban musicians such as Harold López-Nussa display amazing technique, filtering various influences through the lens of their own cultural identity. Meanwhile, Argentine vocalist Roxana Amed displays her talents through a wide array of styles, owing as much to poetry as she does folksong. Today, Latin jazz allows audiences to comprehend the nuanced world of South America in a manner much unlike before. It is a self-weaving tapestry, including more intricate details as an increasing number of voices are brought to the fold and invited to join in and be represented on the world stage.