Maria Hinojosa talks with Bobby Sanabria about “West Side Story Reimagined.”
This is our fourth article about this piece.
We did one before the premier.
One before the free streaming performance at Dizzy’s in New York City.
One before the release of the CD and the free outdoor show at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.
Why so much attention?
Because it’s going to be one of the cultural forces of the year, if not the decade.
And remember, you heard about it on Jazz on the Tube first.
– 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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Jack Costanzo started out as a dancer but self-education which included three trips to Havana in the 1940s made him a bongero (bongo master) and he was in instant demand both with jazz and Latin orchestras.
His first exposure to the instrument came when he was 14 years old at a ballroom dance concert in his home town of Chicago.
Costanzo probably did more to introduce the bongos to North American music than any other single artist.
Here’s a short list of some of the artists he collaborated with over the years:
Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Navarro, Frank Sinatra, Desi Arnaz, Rene Touzet, Stan Kenton, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Danny Kaye, Perez Prado, Charlie Barnet, Pete Rugolo, Betty Grable, Harry James, Judy Garland, Patti Page, Jane Powell, Ray Anthony, Martin & Lewis, Frances Faye, Dinah Shore, Xavier Cugat, Tony Curtis and Eddie Fisher.
Some excerpts from an excellent article on Costanzo by George Varga that appeared in the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“I had to learn on my own, which is good, because I developed my own style. It seemed like it came natural. I listened to a lot of music. (Noted Spanish bandleader) Xavier Cugat was big. And, many years later, he hired me.”
“(An) aneurysm did not keep the tireless “Mr. Bongo” from headlining concerts periodically until as recently as late 2015. Nor did it deter him from practicing his drumming at home, nearly every day, until just a few weeks ago.
– 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.
One of the great shining episodes of American music history came to an abrupt end in 1993 when the Village Gate could not maintain in the ferocious Manhattan real estate market (such is the fate of so many creative venues in NYC.) .
When exactly it started is hard to say, but in the early 60s “Symphony Sid” Torin and Jack Hooke teamed up with Art D’Lugoff’s The Village Gate for a series called “Monday Nights at the Gate” that presented straight Latin music performances.
Then in 1965 the Tico All Stars made the scene at the Gate producing one of the greatest Latin jam sessions every recorded – and the rest, as they say, is history. With this crew, how could it fail? Israel Cachao Lopez, Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco, Cándido Camero, Joe Cuba, Jose “Cheo” Feliciano, and the Palmieri brothers (Charlie and Eddie.)
Finding good info about this important but little documented series has been tricky.
Then in a recent conversation with Bobby Sanabria I discovered the marvelous web archive work of artist and photoprapher Francisco Molina Reyes II.
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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Composed by Leonard Bernstein for Broadway 60 years ago, West Side Story has proven to be one of the 20th century’s most durable musical creations.
This March 17, 2018, Bobby Sanabria’s Multiverse, made up of some of the finest musicians working in New York City today, will be performing a “reimagined” version of the work’s timeless melodies using the rhythms of Puerto Rico, Brazil, Venezuela, the Dominican Repubic and other Latin American countries.
Sanabria explains. In the reimagined version…
“…Puerto Rican bomba xicá, yuba and plena are omnipresent. Dominican merengue, Venezuelan joropo, Brazilian bossa nova and samba, funk, New Orleans second line, Cuban bolero and son montuno are now included alongside the show’s original use of Mexican huapango, Cuban mambo, cha-cha-cha, jazz, swing, European waltz and orchestral music.
It represents in full force the rainbow that is our collective Latino and African American culture in New York.”
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.
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.
Bad news: The performance series referred to in this interview has come and gone.
Good news: Brian Pace does a great job capturing what you missed and weaves the music together with illuminating conversation with the maestro.
If you don’t already know the music of Eddie Palmieri, now’s the time to get acquainted with him.
If you do know him, this interview will remind you how deep he is.
Enjoy!
– 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.
Ella Fitzgerald