Amado Borcelá “Guapachá” (Voz)
Chucho Valdés (Piano y Director Musical)
Carlos Emilio Morales (Guitarra Eléctrica)
Orlando Lopez “Cachaito” (Bajo)
Julio Vento (Flauta)
Papita Ampudia (Pailas)
Cala (Bongos)
Jazz on the Tube Interview with a Havana musician who lived in this scene
Note: A “milliner” is a hat-maker, not a millionaire.
Gilberto Valdés Zequeira was born in Havana on August 16, 1928.
As a kid, he listened to Chano Pozo’s rehearsals in the Colon neighborhood of Havana.
His vocal group had a weekly gig at the San Souci nightclub in Havana and he appeared on Cuba’s pioneering television channel twice a week in the 1950s.
Roy Haynes introduced him to American jazz drumming and gave him his first set of drumsticks.
He performed with his old friend Bebo Valdés when the two of them found themselves in Europe in the early 1960s.
He spent time as the #2 man at Egrem.
He was Dizzy Gillespie’s host when Dizzy visited Havana in 1977.
He introduced Irakere to Columbia Records and toured the world with them as their manager.
He helped save Cuba’s most important jazz club La Zorra y el Cuervo from being turned into a pizzeria.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of Gilberto’s remarkable life.
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
The Jalopy Theater and School of Music website is here: jalopytheatre.org
The complete presentation
This is a talk I gave about something we can all do to appreciate music even more deeply.
Then I give an example of this approach in action in the hands of an inspired educator/performer.
The example happens to come from a genre called “Barrelhouse Blues,” which had its flowering about 100 years ago in the South among African-American youth.
But this approach to music appreciation can be adapted to any genre to good effect. It just takes a little imagination.
It will make a lot more sense when you experience it firsthand.
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Music credit: The Jazz on the Tube podcast theme song is “Mambo Inferno” performed by The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria from the CD ¡Que Viva Harlem!
“Instead of staying three or four days in New Orleans, I ended up staying almost three weeks. And yeah, I started hanging out with the musicians, jamming, and yes, that’s how I fell in love with this city. I remember I went to Austin just to take a flight back.
I moved to New Orleans and a year later I went to Europe for a tour with my band. As soon as I started playing, everybody looked at me and said, “You changed, completely.” I didn’t see that actually, but I feel like when I moved to New Orleans, I removed a lot of chains. I became more free. I don’t calculate my music as much. I grew up in a culture that calculated music, and calculated notes. But here, everything is free. Everything is easy. I gained confidence. I began writing music here. Musicians are amazing here. There’s so, so much talent. And I’m so happy to be here, surrounded by these artists. Everything I write, it sounds beautiful, and that’s because of the generosity and the love and dedication that the musicians have here.
It’s an interesting thing because I don’t play jazz. I’m not a jazz musician. I’m a composer and most of my music, it’s a mixture of many influences, like North African and Middle Eastern, Spanish, Latin, and now there’s jazz. It became a part of my music. It gives my music a lot of breathing room. Freedom.”
– Mahmoud Chouki
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Music credit: The Jazz on the Tube podcast theme song is “Mambo Inferno” performed by The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria from the CD ¡Que Viva Harlem!
