Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, Video and audio
Filmed at Café Central in Madrid.
I haven’t been to Madrid in Spain yet, but it looks like it’s a good place to enjoy Cuban music.
Not long ago, we featured Chicas de Habana who are based there.
Here’s another young Cuban group in Madrid having fun with Gandinga, Mondongo y Sandunga, the classic Frank Emilio composition.
“Having fun” is a lesson some North American musicians could learn from their Cuban brothers and sisters.
Enough with the long faces. Music can be profound and fun at the same time.
Personnel:
Luis Guerra, piano
Yuvisney Aguilar, timbales
Reinier “El Negrón”, contrabajo
Juan Viera, congas
Michael Olivera, bongó
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
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Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, Video and audio
Released by the Cuban National Film Institute in 1964
There’s a myth in some people’s mind that Cuban jazz began with musicians like Chucho Valdes and Arturo Sandoval.
With all due respect to those gentlemen, no.
The show starts at the 00:35 point after a brief piano prelude and then a second group comes on at 5:30. This music is from the early 1960s
The tune is “Gandinga, Mondongo y Sandunga” written by Frank Emillio.
Personnel
Frank Emilio, piano
Guillermo Barreto, drums
Tata Güines, congas
Orlando “Papito” Hernández, bass
Gustavo Tamayo, güiro
Hot enough for you?
The group is described as “Quinteto Instrumental de Musica Moderna.”
The film segues into another piece that features the dancer Ana Glorioa and Milacho Rivero’s percussion group
Released in 1964 by the Cuban National Film Institute which was formed in 1959.
I’ve been told, and I have no reason to doubt it, that the Cuban government frowned on jazz in the 60s and 70s. If that’s true, how do we explain this film which clearly celebrates jazz?
Here are many of the same gentlemen – about 20 years later – playing under the name “Los Amigos”
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
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Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, Video and audio
Filmed June 1, 2013 at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in San Francisco
The jam (“descarga”) is based on Cachao’s “Las Boinas.”
The Cuba-based band Havana D´Primera is led by Cienfuegos-born trumpet player Alexander Abreu.
Back home, this very popular band is known for its “Timba” music, a combination of salsa, American funk/R&B, and the strong influence of Afro-Cuban folkloric music.
Sabrosa.
Personnel:
Alexander Abreu – leader, vocals, trumpet
Tony Rodríguez – piano
Avis Tobías – bass
Harold Díaz Escobar – teclado
Keisel Jiménez – drums/percussion
Guillermo del Toro Varela – drums/percussion
Mauricio Gutiérrez Upman – drums/percussion
Amaury Pérez Rodríguez – trombone
Jannier Rodríguez – coro
Enrique Luis Pérez – coro
Rogelio Nápoles – guitar
Uyuni Martínez Romero – trumpet
Orlando Jesús Vázquez – trumpet
Angel Batule – sound engineer
– 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:
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Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, Video and audio
I think Dizzy would have loved this band and this version of the classic he wrote with Chano Pozo.
Chicas de la Habana are, well, chicas de la Habana, young women from Havana.
They’re currently based in Madrid, Spain.
As is the case for so many outstanding Cuban musicians, it’s not easy finding information about them, but their music speaks for itself.
Great news!
You can now watch this video – and all Spanish language videos – with English subtitles. It’s free!
Click here for instructions on how to turn on English subtitles.
– 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.
Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, The Cuba-US connection, Travel to Cuba, Video and audio
You’ve got to hand it to Harvard. They’ve got money and in this case they knew how to spend it.
This short video is an excellent musical and visual survey of some of the best that the western part of Cuba has to offer music lovers.
Cuban saxophonist, percussionist and composer Yosvany Terry directs the jazz bands at Harvard where he is also a Visiting Senior Lecturer on Music.
He arranged to bring the school’s jazz band and other students to Cuba for a nine day tour.
They hit all the hot spots: Güines, the home of the birthplace of percussion genius Tata Güines; Mantanzas, where they heard the danzon group Orquesta Típica Miguel Failde and the rumba super group Los Muñequitos de Matanzas; and Havana where they met and played with Cuba jazz patriarch Bobby Carcassés, chekeré master Don Pancho Terry, trumpeter Julito Padrón, and bass player Gastón Joya.
They also visited three conservatories in Havana, Guillermo Tomás, Amadeo Roldán, and the National Schools for the Arts (La Ena), something casual tourists can’t do.
Great news!
You can now watch this video – and all Spanish language videos – with English subtitles. It’s free!
Click here for instructions on how to turn on English subtitles.
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
Afro-Cuban culture, Blog, Cuba, Cuban Jazz, Latin Jazz, The Cuba-US connection, Video and audio
In 1985, on his second trip to Havana, Dizzy Gillespie was accompanied by a documentary film crew.
The resulting film “A Night in Havana: Dizzy Gillespie in Cuba” captures Dizzy’s spirit like few other films.
The film includes beautifully shot concert footage of his performance at Havana’s Fifth International Jazz Festival, his adventures touring Havana and his reflections on Afro-Cuban and Afro-American culture.
As everyone knows, Dizzy liked to kid around.
He was also deep and not afraid to speak his mind as the film shows.
Featured musicians include: Nasyry Abdul Al-Khabyyr, drums; Sayyid Abdul Al-Kabir, reeds; Walter Davis, Jr., piano; John G. Lee, bass; Danny ‘Big Black’ Rey, congas; Gonzalo Rubalcaba; piano, and Arturo Sandoval, trumpet.
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
Merry Christmas from Jazz on the Tube