How are Camilo’s kids doing? You tell me. Here they are with “Perdido.”
There’s good news and bad news here. The good news is the music itself.
This is a high school band (ENA) and these are mostly underclassmen, new to the band and I presume jazz itself.
The band has only been working together since October of 2017 and this was recorded in late January 2018.
The bad news is that, thanks to US politics, this group will not be performing in the Essentially Ellington competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center this spring, something many of us had been eagerly anticipating.
Here’s the band playing a Cuban classic “Son de Loma,” a composition by Miguel Matamoros that pays tribute to the island’s musical fertility…”Mom, I want to know where those singers are from. I find them very gallant.”
The next piece was a surprise.
The audience clamored for the Philharmonic Orchestra of ISA (Instituto Superior de Arte) to play an encore after a performance of a series of pieces by Ray Lerna of the Republic of the Congo at Havana’s Jazz Fest.
They’d run through all of Mr. Lerna’s pieces – so they played one by their beloved theory and composition teacher, our man in Havana Camilo Moreira!
Next, Camilo’s nephew, age 5, tries his hands at the tambores (drums.)
Surprisingly, drums are hard for the young to get their hands on in Cuba (as are trumpets in New Orleans), so I believe Camilo when he says this was his nephew’s first try at them. Not bad.
A parting picture…
Swedish trumpeter and composer Stefan Johnsson, Camilo and his nephew who is clearly ready for show business.
Johnsson collaborated with Camilo and the ENA Jazz Band as part of Havana’s Jazz Fest 2018. (Note: Sweden is one of 188 counties NOT participating in the US economic blockade against Cuba.)
People who buy the Jazz on the Tube Insiders Guide to Cuba are helping support these efforts and more. All profits go to the cause, the cause being helping jazz musicians in Cuba develop their art and pass it on to the next generation.
Great news!
You can now watch this video – and all Spanish language videos – with English subtitles. It’s free!
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.
In 1977, the Carter administration gave permission to a group of US jazz musicians to travel to Cuba the first such trip in the fifteen years after the Revolution there.
Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Ray Mantilla, and David Amram landed in Havana for a 36-hour musical whirlwind.
Now, forty plus years later, Amram is making a long-awaited return trip, this time for a week to perform at the Havana Jazz Festival – an invitation facilitated by Jazz on the Tube.
“El Cumbanchero” was composed by Rafael Hernández Marín, born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico in 1892. He was a member of the “The Harlem Hell Fighters” which fought with such distinction during World War I.
He was recruited along with his brother Jesus by James Reese Europe. He and the rest of his group, the 369th Infantry Regiment, were awarded the French Croix de guerre by the President of France for their heroism in battle.
About these videos
When you watch these videos, you’re seeing the contributions of dozens of people to the cause of raising money for the people of Puerto Rico in their time of great difficulty.
Bobby Sanabria, all the members of his Multiverse Big Band, all the guest artists, and all the camera people and post production people who brought this video to you donated their time for the effort.
Randy Brecker, who is featured in this clip, flew home a day early from China – a 15 hour flight – just to make it in time for this performance.
None of the interactions the guest artists had with the Big Band were rehearsed. There was no time. In these clips, you’re seeing jazz at its finest. “Here’s the tune. Go!” – and out comes artistry.
Now it’s time for little artistry from viewers who have not yet contributed.
It’s time to help
Please share these clips widely and write the people you know who write about jazz and let them know these clips exist. Every jazz fan should be aware of them. 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.
Jazz on the Tube interviews music journalist Tomás Peña.
Peña is editor of JazzdelaPena.com and co-editor/contributing writer to the Latin Jazz Network. He also writes the monthly column “The Latin Side of Hot House” for Hot House Magazine.
In this call, we talk about the mostly unknown and little appreciated contributions of Puerto Rican musicians to the development of jazz from the art form’s very earliest days through its commercial peak and right through to our present era.
Here’s the tune that got Tomás started on Latin jazz.
Wes Montgomery – Bumpin’ on Sunset…
Other musical references
1919 recording of John Reese Europe & the 369th U.S. Infantry “Hell Fighters” Band: “The Darktown Strutters’ Ball.” The band included 18 musicians from Puerto Rico selected for their high level of musicianship
Juan Tizol performs his composition “Caravan” with the Duke Ellington Orchestra
Ray Barretto and band perform Thelonious Monk’s “I Mean You” at his induction ceremony as an NEA Jazz Master (2006)
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.
Music credit: The Jazz on the Tube podcast theme song is “Mambo Inferno” performed by The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria from the CD ¡Que Viva Harlem!
A excerpt of a talk and demonstration by John Santos presented at the National Museum of American History by the Smithsonian Latino Center for Jazz Appreciation Month. (To see the entire talk (well worthwhile!) search YouTube for “Latin Jazz Percussion Workshop with John Santos at the National Museum of American History”)
Santos is a seven-time Grammy-nominated percussionist, US Artists Fontanals Fellow, 2013-2014 SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director, and one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today.
Born in San Francisco, California, November 1, 1955, he was raised in the Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean traditions of his family, surrounded by music. The fertile musical environment of the San Francisco Bay Area shaped his career in a unique way. More information on Santos and his music here: http://johnsantos.com/
Merry Christmas from Jazz on the Tube