Steve Coleman in Matanzas (2017) with members of Rumba Timba. The group is made up of some of the younger members of Los Muñequitos de Matanzas. Luis Cancino Morales on the bells.
2016 marked Steve Coleman’s 20th year of exploring and playing in Cuba.
It all started with Coleman’s interest in the philosophical underpinnings of music and how complex cultural ideas are transmitted through music.
Anyone interested in this subject has to look to Africa and anyone in North America interested in African culture would do well to take a prolonged trip to Cuba.
Why Cuba?
For one thing it’s closer, but more importantly for historical reasons the concentration and variety of African cultural systems in Cuba is unprecedented anywhere on earth – even in Africa itself.
Coleman’s first visit to Cuba was in January 1996 where he wisely went straight to Mantazas one of the wellsprings of Afro-Cuban Culture.
This was followed up by a twelve day long collaboration in Havana with AfroCuba de Matanzas in February of the same year.
This initial collaboration culminated in a performance at the Havana Jazz Festival and a recording session at Egrem which produced the album “The Sign and The Seal by Steve Coleman and The Mystic Rhythm Society.
Here’s a documentary shot during the years right before Coleman went to Cuba (1993 to 1995).
In addition to being a composer, band leader, and instrumentalist, Coleman is also an educator.
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
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It’s billed as “the largest celebration of Cuban culture in the U.S. since the 1950’s” – and it may well be true.
This year’s New Orleans Jazz Fest will include over 150 Cuban musicians, artists and craftsman, a large number of whom will be visiting the United States for the very first time.
Events will be at the Cultural Exchange Pavilion.
Performances on the Cuban Stage every day from 11:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Friday, April 28
The Pedrito Martinez Group
Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro of Cuba
Grupo Caury of Cuba
Saturday, April 29
Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro of Cuba
Grupo Caury of Cuba
Telmary y Habana Sana of Cuba
The Pedrito Martinez Group
Conga Los Hoyos of Cuba
Abdullah Ibrahim (Not Cuban but don’t miss him!)
Sunday, April 30
Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro of Cuba
Telmary y Habana Sana of Cuba
Conga Los Hoyos of Cuba
Grupo Caury of Cuba
Lakou Mizik (Haiti)
Gente de Zona
Thursday, May 4
The Pedrito Martinez Rumba Project featuring Roman Diaz
Changüí Guantánamo of Cuba
Conga Los Hoyos of Cuba
Friday, May 5
The Pedrito Martinez Rumba Project featuring Roman Diaz
Adonis y Osain del Monte of Cuba
Changüí Guantánamo of Cuba
Saturday, May 6
Los Van Van
The Pedrito Martinez Rumba Project featuring Roman Diaz
Adonis y Osain del Monte of Cuba
Changüí Guantánamo of Cuba
Septeto Santiaguero of Cuba
Conga Los Hoyos of Cuba
Sunday, May 7
Chucho Valdes Quintet,
Adonis y Osain del Monte of Cuba
Daymé Arocena of Cuba
Septeto Santiaguero of Cuba
Changüí Guantánamo of Cuba
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
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Sundays Noon to 3 PM
‘Cuban Bridge” with Toni Basanta
An erudite and enjoyable three hours from one of the world’s most enthusiastic and informed experts on Cuba’s music past, present, and to come
Every Sunday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm (Central Time)
The Latin Jazz Brunch with Henry Brun Airs from: San Antonio, Texas and also streams live online and is archived. The program has been on the air for 15 years.
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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Cuban percussion master Cándido de Guerra Camero (“Candido”) with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in New York City in 1950
A surprising number of hard core jazz fans have never seen this picture and would not be able to explain its historical context or significance.
– 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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In January, March, and November of 2016, musician, musicologist, and author of “Cuba and its Music” Ned Sublette took groups to Cuba for intensive ten day in depth music tours.
It was billed as a road trip to sacred spaces in Western Cuba.
Attendees included musicians, producers, musicologists, scholars and others interested in Cuba’s culture, music and history.
I was on the March 2016 trip.
It’s possible that someone could have arranged an equivalent trip, but I don’t know how.
Drawing on his own three decades plus of experience and study in Cuba and working in collaboration with the Cuban music wizard-goddess Cary Diez, Ned arranged at least two different performances for us every day – in Havana, in Matanzas and many places west.
For those who didn’t make one of the trips, Ned’s produced a program with highlights for his long term colleagues at Afropop Worldwide.
The program features Congo, Abakuá, Yoruba, and Arará music of Cuba, as well as rumba, recorded live by Los Güiros de San Cristóbal (Regla); Ta Makuende Yaya (Quiebra Hacha); Grupo Tambores Yuka (Viñales); Afro Cuba de Matanzas, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, and Rumba Timba (Matanzas); Omo Layé and Iyawaré Ochún (Colón); and Ojundegara (Jovellanos).
Amazingly, what appears in this hour long program is only the tip of the iceberg.
For example, there’s no mention of our visits to smoking hot jazz clubs or the magical evening we spent with the danzon orchestra El Piquete Tipico Cubano.
You’d be hard pressed to find all this music in the bin of even the most enlightened record shop in the U.S. or Cuba, let alone hear it live in the intimate settings Ned arranged.
Enjoy!
If you’re interested in Cuba and its music and want to learn more, consider signing up for my low volume list (no more than one email per week) of educational emails.
Each one comes with a little (but sometimes a lot) of commentary and a lot of great music.
– 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.
Thelonious Monk