Artist-Educators, Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, Video and audio
I was thinking of calling this one “What happens when money is invested in music education.” I was also thinking of calling it “The Universality of Afro-Cuban Music.”
You’re looking at the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra.
New Brunswick is a province in the country of Canada. It has less than a million people total and a good number of them are in rural areas.
There may be some Latinos in the province, but my guess is it’s less than 1%.
So how do you explain the existence of this orchestra and this performance?
First, Canada, like every other developed country in the world (except the U.S.) makes a serious investment in music education for youth.
Second, the orchestra’s director Antonio Delgado. His training is rooted in his experience as conductor of the world renowned “Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela” (National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela), a group every music educator should study carefully.
He took this orchestra to a first place win at the prestigious Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Competition in Vienna, Austria.
For the youth orchestra of a small Canadian province to top the European youth orchestras of places like Germany, France and Italy is like the Estonian basketball team winning the NBA finals. It’s an amazing accomplishment – and you’re watching the group that did it – and they did it with Cuban music!
And then there is this…
Japanese people are crazy – but in a very good way!
Honestly, who else would have thought of combining Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with Pérez Prado’s Mambo Number 5?
Still with us?
I hope so.
Here’s the original with some great photos from the Golden Age of the Palladium Ballroom.
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
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Go to Cuba with Jazz on the Tube as your guide:
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Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Latin Jazz, The Cuba-US connection
A mambo version of from the Gym Scene of West Side Story performed by the students of the 2017 Roberto Ocasio Latin Jazz Camp directed by Bobby Sanabria.
Composed by Leonard Bernstein, arranged by Danny Rivera with additional arranging by Bobby.
The dancers are from the Cleveland Ballet.
Thanks to all the sponsors who made the camp and this performance happen.
Here’s our in depth interview with Bobby about the annual Roberto Ocasio Latin Jazz Camp, a great cultural institution that deserves all our support.
– 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
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Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Video and audio
Playlist
1. “Bruca Manigua.” – Orquestra Casino de la Playa.
2. “Que Pena Me Da.” – Machito and his Afro Cubans.
3. “Africanerías” – Machito and his Afro Cubans.
4. “Babalú” with his Orquestra
5. “Celina” with his Orquestra
Miguelito Valdés born Miguel Ángel Eugenio Lázaro Zacarías Izquierdo Valdés Hernández on September 6, 1912 in Havana.
For those who are new to Cuban music, you may think he is imitating Desi Arnez. The opposite is true. Miguelito and his version of Babalú were famous long before Desi came along.
Like his friend Chano, Miguelito was an authentic tough guy and won twenty-three bouts as an amateur boxer.
He was a star singer in Cuba and all over Latin America and was one of the movers and shakers behind Cuba’s legendary Orquesta Casino de la Playa.
In 1940, frustrated by the racial prejudice of Cuba’s music industry where black performers were not allowed opportunities to perform in public venues, he moved to New York City. A light skinned person – his father was Spanish and his mother was Mexican – he was outraged by the prejudice that kept friends like Chano Pozo and Arsenio Rodriguez out of the limelight.
In New York City, he worked with and helped advance the career of Machito and invited Chano Pozo to New York City and in turned helped him with his career.
One highlights of the highlights of that time were two recorded sessions in February of 1947 that featured the Machito Orchestra, Valdés, Chano Pozo, Arsenio Rodríguez, Tito Rodríguez, Garbiel Oller, and Olga Guillot.
Because of Valdés celebrity and show business acumen (not to mention his talent), there’s quite a bit of film of him.
– 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
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Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, The Cuba-US connection, Video and audio
Playlist
01. Introducción por Mario Bauza y Billy Taylor
02. Manteca, … con Dizzi Gillespie, 1942
03. Blen, Blen, Blen… canta Miguelito Valdés & Orq. Casino de la Playa, 1940
04. Ariñañara… Chano Pozo
05. Muna Sanganfimba…. Chano Pozo
06. Guaguina Yerabo…. Miguelito Valdés & Orq. Havanna Riverside, 1940
07. Anana Boroco Tinde… Miguelito Valdé & Xavier Cugat & Waldorf Astoria Orchestra
08. Blen, Blen, Blen.. Antonio “Cheche” De La Cruz & Orquesta Casino de la Playa, versión 1941.
09. Parampampin…. Panchito Riset con el Cuarteto Caney, 1941
10. Parampampin….. Tito Rodriguez & Marcano y su Grupo, 1942
11. Bang, Que Choque…. Chano Pozo
12. Rómpete…. Miguelito Valdés con Machito y la Afro-Cubans, 1942
13. Nague…. Chano Pozo
14. Zarabanda…. Reinaldo Valdés “El Jabao” & Orq. Hermanos Palau 1943.
15. Ampárame…. Cascarita & Julio Cueva y su Orquesta, 1946.
Fans of American jazz know about the Chano Pozo’s famous collaboration with Dizzy Gillespie, but there is much more to his life and career.
Chano was born Luciano Pozo González on January 7, 1915 in a very poor neighborhood in Havana.
In his early teenage years, he was introduced to Santería, also known as “La Regla de Ocha”, an Afro-Caribbean religion derived from the beliefs of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He was also involved in the Abakuá secret society and Palo which has its roots in the Congo.
Pozo was a colorful, energetic character engaged in all kinds of activities, some legal, some less-than-legal, but he was best know for his drumming, dancing and the award winning compositions he wrote for Carnival parades.
One of these tunes “La Comparsa de los Dandys” is to this day a kind of unofficial theme song for the city of Santiago de Cuba and is a familiar standard at many Latin American carnivals.
Chano was involved in the battle to break the color barrier in the Cuban music industry which at the time excluded dark skinned black from professional opportunities.
In 1947, he moved to New York City for better opportunities encouraged by his friend Miguelito Valdés.
That same year he met Dizzy, recorded with him and many others, and went on tour in Europe. A year later, his promising life was cut short in a pointless act of violence on a New York City Street.
Many of the tunes on this playlist feature Chano’s friend Miguelito Valdés on vocals.
– 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
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Go to Cuba with Jazz on the Tube as your guide:
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Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Video and audio
1. “Lo Que le Pasó A Luisita (Guaguancó)” – With his Orchestra
2. “Serende” – with Chano Pozo and the Machito and his Afro-Cubans
3. “Rumba Guajira”
4. “Mambo Abacua”
5. “Pa Que Gocen”
If you want to be conversant with Cuban popular music standards there are over a dozen Arsenio Rodriquez you must learn.
But that’s not all.
1. In an era of “plunk, plunk,” he told his bass players to make their instruments sing thus becoming one of the creators of the bass riff.
2. He put the clave back into the son after it had been gradually watered down in the 1920s and 30s.
3. He created the practice of using layered, contrapuntal parts using piano (bottom line), tres (second line), 2nd and 3rd trumpets (third line), and 1st trumpet (fourth line), all locked into the clave.
4. He invented the Latin horn section, being the first to double, then create a triple trumpet section.
5. He substituted the piano for the tres, exploding the contrapuntal and harmomonic possibilities of Cuban popular music.
6. He had his bongo player use a cencerro (‘cowbell’) during montunos (call-and-response chorus sections)
7. He included the conga in the line up of his band, the first to do so.
If his music sounds familiar and not terribly innovative, it’s because so many thousands of Latin musicians have copied from his playbook over the decades that they’ve completely normalized his revolutionary breakthroughs.
The more you know about the evolution of Cuban music in the 20th century, the more you’ll appreciate what a giant Arsenio was. And there’s a lot more than to his story that I covered here.
– 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
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Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, Latin Jazz, The Cuba-US connection, Video and audio
Interview
Download the mp3 here
Ken McCarthy talks with Martin Cohen
Click here to visit Martin Cohen’s Congahead channel
More videos
Making the first bongo drum
A conga accident that led to a success
How Latin Percussion got its endorsement
Click here to visit Martin Cohen’s Congahead channel
– 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.
Go to Cuba with Jazz on the Tube as your guide:
Click here for details
