December 1999

From the Inside Out
Archive

2 0 0 1 Joel Dorn Jack Costanzo Sammy Davis Jr. Miles Davis 2000 Rewind Jimmy Smith 2 0 0 0 Floating World/Talking Drum Requiem For A Heavyweight The Majesty of Ra Summer Photographs Arturo Sandoval Koko Taylor Jimmy McGriff Ubiquity Records Loving the Bomb AfriCaribbean Jazz Old Friends And New Discovering Cuba Grammy 2000 Never Can Say Goodbye 1 9 9 9 Livin La Musica Buena Jazz and Electronica California Dreamin' Continual Pulsation Five Decades of Prestige Summertime Blues Musical Adventures International Jazz Day Love Learns to Dance Quincy Jones

By Chris M. Slawecki

You know it’s already out there. It’s a hidden, silent riptide, gathering strength below the surface – but it’s out there even now. Music pundits are already racking their brains and keyboards, each trying to be the first to herald "the next big thing" for the new millennium. It will be here soon enough. Then we’ll all sit around and wonder, "How could I have NOT seen that coming?!"

But before that next "next big thing" gets here, let’s take this last chance to examine some Jazz releases that reflect THE Pop music story of 1999 – the emergence of Latin music from beneath the surface of the mainstream.

Legendary conguero Poncho Sanchez has prospered as the leader of his own jazz band after a fruitful association with Cal Tjader, although some of Sanchez’ recent releases have been…uh, not quite so good as others. But Latin Soul may just be the record that he should have made for years – a live recording of a funky set where, from the percussive opening number, "El Conquero," he simply hauls off, lets the band flow and rocks his ass off. Each freespirit solo by Sanchez, pianist David Torres and others, almost seems to better the previous. And these sweaty, old-school workouts of monster soul-funk jams "Watermelon Man" (the Herbie Hancock tune rock-n-rolled in the ‘60s by Mongo Santamaria, a Sanchez inspiration) and a medley of Eddie Harris’ "Listen Here / Cold Duck Time" just about DARE YOU to NOT shake your groove thing (yeah yeah).

Percussionist Manny Oquendo germinated in bands led by Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez and blossomed in Eddie Palmieri’s conjunto La Perfecta before establishing his own band, Libre. His most recent release with Libre (and such guests as Joe Locke and Steve Turre), Ahora, preserves Oquendo’s tipico sound yet sounds vibrantly current. Three compositions serve as centerpieces for this spicy repast: "El Son" presents the authentic Afro-Cuban sound, a percussive battery of polyrhythms and percolating beats, and "Asia Minor" offers tribute to legendary Latin jazz bandleader Frank "Machito" Grillo. The twelve-minute "Concierto de Oquendo" is this set’s magnum opus, providing a majestic view of the entire Latin jazz panorama: vocal chants and hollers, piano stabs and solos, brass smears and spears, and more pot bangin’ than an Army messhall (or "more shimmies than the refreshments at a Jell-O convention," if you prefer a different food metaphor).

"I’m too Latino to fit into the straightahead world, but I’m not really part of the Latin music scene because I’m too white," muses Irish-Cuban pianist Arturo O’Farrill. Blood Lines is his first outing as a leader, comprised mainly of trio sessions with drummer Horacio Hernandez switching between bassists George Mraz and Andy Gonzalez. O’Farrill’s touch in Coltrane’s "Moment’s Notice" is quicksilver and nimble, and simply lovely in the set-ending classic "Darn That Dream." In between, Mraz’s arced bow solo lends "Pure Emotion" an air of timeless gypsy longing, with Papo Vazquez’s trombone similarly softening "Arturo’s Closet." O’Farrill opens the Cuban classic "Siboney" like he’s popping the top off some smooth Lou Rawls before settling softly into a supple samba. He plays more free and elastic with "Ya Yo," which also features a Blakey-esque big bop break from this funky drummer.

Arturo also appears as producer, musical director and pianist (including a roiling solo track, "Guaguasi Abstracto") for his papa on Heart of a Legend by the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Band. For someone who likes to think he knows a lot about jazz, I was amazed to find out how little I knew about Chico O’Farrill – especially since Heart of a Legend is absolutely one of the most amazing big band releases I’ve ever heard, with more than sixty minutes across fourteen songs and not a bad one in the bunch.

Because trumpet player, bandleader, composer and arranger Chico O’Farrill has been pursuing Latin jazz genius for nearly half a century. He’s orchestrated for Basie, Goodman, and Miller; Dizzy Gillespie’s classic "Manteca" and the monumental "Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite" by Charlie Parker and the Machito orchestra were both Chico O’Farrill arrangements. If you want to know what his music can sound like, imagine Parker in a classic bop quintet, with a Latin orchestra, playing Stravinsky and Debussy. Passionate and enlivening and dramatic and so very musical!

On an album full of great music, some stands above the rest. Heart revisits "Manteca" with a blistering romp where soloists Jim Seeley (trumpet) and Mario Rivera (alto sax) breathe pure fire. "Momentum" suggests a Stan Kenton chart; as the rhythm section, horns and percussion melt into each other, melody becomes indistinguishable from rhythm. The brooding violin solo and drama of "La Verde Campina" could resurrect the gypsy blood in anyone. And the set-ending duet between pianist Arturo and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, "The Journey," presents a beautiful melody, masterfully arranged into simply gorgeous music.

Will that "next big thing" occasion music this good? Here’s hoping we can be that lucky…