This montage of the October 23 Benefit for Puerto Rico at Poisson Rouge (the old Village Gate) was created and contributed by the very talented Garbriel Moreno of Tableaux Multimedia.
Select video of the actual concert will be coming soon. Watch for it here.
Jazz and Latin music have been brothers for as long as jazz has been an art form
Jelly Roll Morton laid it out:
“If you can’t manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz.”
In 1930, Don Azpiazu knocked down the doors of American popular music with The Peanut Vendor.
Machito and his musical hermano (and real life brother-in-law) Mario Bauzá kicked it into high gear with one of the greatest big bands ever to rock a jazz stage.
Then in 1947, thanks to an introduction by Bauzá, bepop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie teamed up with Chano Pozo to create a model for collaborations between Latin and Jazz musicians that has been going strong ever since.
Started by the Mario Bauzá’s rhythm section and jazzman Sonny Fortune, Monday night at the Gate was THE place to go with crowds lining up around the block to get in.
On Monday October 23, 2017, in support of the people of Puerto Rico, many of the giants who were part of this legendary time came back for a once-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be-repeated reunion with Bobby Sanabria‘s big band Multiverse.
Over time, we will be releasing video of this historic event.
Meanwhile, this is what it’s all about…
No sightseers please. We need givers right now. Please read how you can help.
As bad as the situation was in New Orleans after Katrina – and it was dire – conditions in Puerto Rico are exponentially worse. Approximately 60,000 New Orleanians were stranded in the city for nearly a week.
Over a month after the Hurricanes Irma and Maria, over 3 MILLION Puerto Ricans were still without electric power and medical and other basic services and many still have no access to potable water or reliable food supplies. Improvements are slow and difficult and resources of all kinds are needed.
We ask every Jazz on the Tube subscriber to do whatever they are able – share these pages, spread the word, contact your Congress people, donate money.
Where to send help
We have vetted this short list thoroughly and these are our current recommendations (as of December 18, 2018)
PRIMA (Puerto Rican Independent Musicians and Artists)
In cooperation with Pregones/PRTT
PRIMA is a collective of musicians and artists on the island of Puerto Rico. Their mission is to help sustain the independent music community in Puerto Rico which has suffered catastrophic losses as the result of Hurricane Maria.
PRIMA is partnered with the NYC based non-profit Pregones Puerto Rican Traveling Theater which has been dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican artists in all disciplines for decades.
Contributions to this fund are distributed by PRIMA to artists in need on the island and are tax-deductible.
Any amount, large or small, is welcome and will be put to good use by people who are on the ground, know the needs, and are dedicated to helping the musicians of Puerto Rico.
This organization founded in 1990 has a clearly defined program for bringing and distributing emergency aid throughout Puerto Rico and has already delivered over 1.5 million pounds of emergency provisions to distribution centers throughout the island.
They are well organized, committed, focused on Puerto Rico, and in it for the long haul.
Charity Navigator which rates charities on fiscal responsibility and transparency has rated this group 95.47 out of a possible 100 which is the equivalent of AAA+ in the non-profit accountability world.
This group provides medical, financial, legal, and vocational services to jazz, blues and roots musicians in the United States. Their exact plans and programs for helping Puerto Rico are at this time not known because they have not disclosed them.
If you want to contribute to this group specifically for Puerto Rico relief, we recommend you do so by CHECK ONLY and include a cover letter stating your intention and with a memo to the effect written on your check.
Note: On its website, the Foundation says it reserves the right to use donations it receives for any purpose at its sole discretion.
Jazz Foundation of America
322 West 48th Street, 6th Floor ·
New York, NY 10036
(212)245-3999 · info@jazzfoundation.org
Some facts
1. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and have been since 1917.
2. The U.S. government has the material, personnel, transportation, infrastructure and expertise to address this situation on a massive and rapid scale. That it has not done so is a decision based on the assumption by those in control of these public resources that there will be no political consequences for failing to do so.
If you disagree with this deliberate government policy of minimal emergency aid, please contact your political representatives and tell them you want to see meaningful help for the people of Puerto Rico.
Where to send help
We have vetted this short list thoroughly and these are our current recommendations (as of December 18, 2018)
PRIMA (Puerto Rican Independent Musicians and Artists)
In cooperation with Pregones/PRTT
PRIMA is a collective of musicians and artists on the island of Puerto Rico. Their mission is to help sustain the independent music community in Puerto Rico which has suffered catastrophic losses as the result of Hurricane Maria.
PRIMA is partnered with the NYC based non-profit Pregones Puerto Rican Traveling Theater which has been dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican artists in all disciplines for decades.
Contributions to this fund are distributed by PRIMA to artists in need on the island and are tax-deductible.
Any amount, large or small, is welcome and will be put to good use by people who are on the ground, know the needs, and are dedicated to helping the musicians of Puerto Rico.
This organization founded in 1990 has a clearly defined program for bringing and distributing emergency aid throughout Puerto Rico and has already delivered over 1.5 million pounds of emergency provisions to distribution centers throughout the island.
They are well organized, committed, focused on Puerto Rico, and in it for the long haul.
Charity Navigator which rates charities on fiscal responsibility and transparency has rated this group 95.47 out of a possible 100 which is the equivalent of AAA+ in the non-profit accountability world.
This group provides medical, financial, legal, and vocational services to jazz, blues and roots musicians in the United States. Their exact plans and programs for helping Puerto Rico are at this time not known because they have not disclosed them.
If you want to contribute to this group specifically for Puerto Rico relief, we recommend you do so by CHECK ONLY and include a cover letter stating your intention and with a memo to the effect written on your check.
Note: On its website, the Foundation says it reserves the right to use donations it receives for any purpose at its sole discretion.
Jazz Foundation of America
322 West 48th Street, 6th Floor ·
New York, NY 10036
(212)245-3999 · info@jazzfoundation.org
Bobby Sanabria explains what’s in store for the audience this Monday, October 23 at Poisson Rouge in New York City: an unprecedented meeting of Jazz and Latin superstars to benefit Puerto Rico.
August 2017, Jazz on the Tube brought Havana jazz educator Camilo Moreira to New York City and the Bronx to experience US jazz and meet his Latin jazz “uncles” and “cousins” in the U.S. first hand for the first time. (Camilo has been up before but always with heavy work loads that didn’t permit him to do any of his own explorations.)
Bobby Sanabria kindly took us around the Bronx to learn about the mostly unknown history of this most important and under-appreciated hotbed for musical innovation in America. We also hit the clubs and other resources like the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, the Bronx Music Heritage Center and the Schomburg Center in Harlem.
The Bronx: One of the most innovative music communities on earth.
Coltrane, Monk, Miles, Dizzy, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, and others all found audiences in the borough’s vast network of live music venues as did Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Celia Cruz, Mongo Santamaria, and many others.
Bobby Sanabria, Mike Amadeo, and Camilo at Casa Amadeo. Amadeo, proprietor of the oldest Latin music store in the Bronx, is the author of over 300 songs written for and performed by the likes of Celia Cruz, Danny Rivera and Cheito Gonzalez.
An original mint condition disk of the super hit of 1930, “El Manisero” (The Peanut Vendor), the first million seller in Latin music history.
The remaining facade of one of over one hundred live theaters, concert halls and night clubs that used to dot the Bronx.
The South Bronx in 1976 when presidential Jimmy Carter candidate visited for a photo op. Devastated by highways built through the community, bank redlining, the heroin epidemic launched by the Vietnam War and calculated government neglect, this immigrant and working class community was plunged into social and economic chaos. The sense of unease felt by the outsiders, including New York City’s mayor at the time, is palpable in this photo.
The Puerto Rican community fought back against long odds on many fronts. The “Three Sisters” (Las Tres Hermanas) Evelina Lopez Antonetty, Lillian Lopez, and Elba Cabrera took leadership roles in the arts, libraries and the public school system demanding and winning equal treatment for the Bronx.
Bobby shares some details of the history of the Bronx’s Puerto Rican community at the Bronx Music Heritage Center where he is Co-Artistic Director.
Camilo stands with Las Tres Hermanas in front of the Casita Maria Community Center.
Here’s the text of the plaque Camilo is standing in front of in the first picture:
This neighborhood has been the incubator to more different styles of music than any other area in New York City. A home for Jazz, Doo Wop, R&B, and Latin music in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s, the area continues to be a home to many of the innovators of Hip Hop.
On any given night from the 1940’s through the 60’s, one could see and hear jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Maxine Sullivan, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker, Helen Merrill, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Nancy Wilson, Henry “Red” Allen and Elmo Hope perform in any one of the area’s many music venues.
These clubs, such as Blue Morocco, Club 845, The Tropicana, The McKinley Theater, Freddie’s, The Embassy Ballroom and The Hunt’s Point Palace also gave rise to Doo-Wop and R&B greats such as the Chantels, The Crickets, The Limelighters, Arthur Crier, The Chords, The Morrisania Revue, The Wrens, Mickey and Sylvia and the Jimmy Castor Bunch. Local Latin Jazz and Salsa stars who could also be heard here included Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Machito, Celia Cruz and Mongo Santamaria.
These celebrated musicians lived, worked and played here and pioneered new genres of music and dance that continue to inspire future generations.
Merry Christmas from Jazz on the Tube