Jazz From Lincoln Center
Con Alma
Final Draft, November 14, 1998
by Paul Chuffo
(c) & (p) 1998 Murray Street Productions
and Jazz at Lincoln Center, all rights reserved
1) Music: Azulito, 9/12/98 concert, from melody
2) Vox: Ray Santos
"Mario and Machito, I would say, were the first band
to actually get into that groove, of combining the jazz solos with the Afro-Cuban rhythms
and actually getting arrangements to go with that beat and to lean over to that jazz
crowd."
Vox: Steve Berrios
"That music doesn’t call for being so precise on
individual notes, but you have to be precise in the general feeling of the music. //
It’s one thing reading out the notes and everything’s written out well, but just
to make it alive, and speak that language, it takes more than what’s written on the
paper"
3) Bradley:
‘MACHITO’ WAS KNOWN AS "THE DUKE ELLINGTON
OF AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ." IN THE 1940'S, HE LEAD NEW YORK’S TOP "LATIN"
DANCE BAND --- BUT HE ALSO FORGED A NEW MUSIC FROM AFRO-CUBAN RHYTHMS AND JAZZ.
THE SOPHISTICATION AND ENERGY OF THAT COMBINATION TOOK HIS
BAND FROM THE DANCE HALL TO THE CONCERT HALL. AND LIKE DUKE ELLINGTON, MACHITO’S
MUSIC WAS ALWAYS MADE "CON ALMA" --- WITH SOUL.
WE’LL EXPLORE THE LEGACY OF MACHITO, DIZZY GILLESPIE,
AND AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ, AS CHICO O’FARRILL AND RAY SANTOS LEAD THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ
ORCHESTRA --- "CON ALMA." ON THIS EDITION OF JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER.
I’M ED BRADLEY.
4) Music: Tanga, Machito Orchestra from Original Mambo
Kings CD
5) Bradley:
FRANK ‘MACHITO’ GRILLO [gr-EE-oh] WAS A POPULAR
SINGER IN CUBA IN THE 1930'S. AT THE END OF THAT DECADE, HE FOLLOWED HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW
MARIO BAUZA TO NEW YORK, WHERE HE FORMED A LATIN DANCE BAND WITH BAUZA AS MUSICAL
DIRECTOR. BUT MACHITO AND BAUZA WERE NOT SATISFIED PLAYING JUST TYPICAL LATIN BOLEROS AND
RUMBAS. SO BAUZA STARTED ADDING JAZZ ELEMENTS FROM THE BIG BAND VOCABULARY HE ACQUIRED
PLAYING TRUMPET WITH CAB CALLOWAY AND CHICK WEBB.
THIS MUSICAL ALCHEMY LED BAUZA TO THE FIRST TUNE RECOGNIZED
AS "LATIN JAZZ" --- HIS 1943 "TANGA."[tahn-GAH]
6) Vox: Arturo O’Farrill, Jr.
"That’s like an oral tradition, that piece// it
grew over the years, like it was a jam, and then different sections got added, and it just
grew like that into an arrangement."
7) Bradley:
PIANIST ARTURO O’FARRILL, JR.
8) Vox: Arturo O’Farrill, Jr. (continued)
"I can’t think of many pieces in the jazz
repertoire,// in the big band repertoire, that involve no// written music. And that played
over 50 years developed into a real piece."
9) Bradley:
"TANGA" TRADITIONALLY STARTS WITH A PIANO RIFF
AND A SIMPLE MELODY. THE REST OF THE ARRANGEMENT DEPENDS ON THE RHYTHMIC IMAGINATION OF
THE MUSICIANS PLAYING IT.
AT ALICE TULLY HALL, THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA
PLAYS SOME OF MARIO BAUZA’S ORIGINAL RIFFS AND MAKES UP A FEW OF THEIR OWN.
HERE’S "TANGA."
10) Music: Tanga (Bauza), from 9/12/98 concert, 7:49
11) Bradley:
AN IMPROVISED ARRANGEMENT OF MARIO BAUZA’S
"TANGA." WYNTON MARSALIS WAS THE SINGER, ARTURO O’FARRILL, JR. PLAYED
PIANO, WITH TED NASH ON SOPRANO SAX AND VICTOR GOINES ON TENOR.
MAJOR SUPPORT FOR JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS
PROVIDED BY DISCOVER CARD. IT PAYS TO DISCOVER.
12) Music: Machito dance chart
13) Bradley:
MOST NIGHTS, MACHITO AND HIS AFRO-CUBANS WERE THE HOUSE
BAND AT NEW YORK’S PALLADIUM BALLROOM, SPURRING DANCERS ON WITH THE RHYTHMS OF
CHA-CHA’S, SON MONTUNOS [sohn - mon-TOO-knows] AND, ESPECIALLY, MAMBOS.
JAZZ MELODIES OFTEN FIT COMFORTABLY INTO THE MAMBO BEAT.
WITH THEIR FORCEFUL PERCUSSION SECTIONS AND JAZZ HARMONIES, MAMBOS WERE PERFECT FOR JAZZ
SOLOISTS TO TRY THEIR HAND AT PLAYING LATIN MUSIC.
RAY SANTOS DID JUST THAT WITH A SONG BY JAZZ PIANIST RAY
BRYANT. WHEN SANTOS JOINED THE MACHITO BAND IN 1956, HE ADAPTED BRYANT’S "CUBAN
FANTASY" TO THE MAMBO STYLE.
FOUR DECADES LATER, SANTOS CONDUCTS THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ
ORCHESTRA ON "CUBAN FANTASY."
14) Music: Cuban Fantasy, 9/12/98 concert, 5:56
15) Bradley:
RAY SANTOS’ ARRANGEMENT OF RAY BRYANT’S
"CUBAN FANTASY." THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA FEATURED JOE TEMPERLEY ON
BARITONE SAX, RYAN KISOR ON TRUMPET AND ARTURO O’FARRILL, JR. ON PIANO.
BY 1950, THE MACHITO BIG BAND, WITH ITS COMBINATION OF
AFRO-CUBAN RHYTHM AND JAZZ, WAS READY TO PLAY MUSIC THAT MOVED BEYOND THE DANCE HALLS AND
JAZZ CLUBS.
COMPOSER AND ARRANGER CHICO O’FARRILL WAS READY TO
DELIVER. HE HAD COME TO NEW YORK FROM CUBA, WHERE HE GREW UP ON TRADITIONAL DANCE RHYTHMS.
HE ALSO HAD A PASSION FOR JAZZ AND WAS NOW WRITING CHARTS FOR STAN KENTON AND BENNY
GOODMAN.
BUT ARRANGER RAY SANTOS ALSO HEARS O’FARRILL’S
YEARS OF FORMAL CLASSICAL TRAINING.
16) Vox: Ray Santos
"You can tell by his technique that he’s very;
heavy into classical music. You can hear a little Debussy here, a little Stravinsky there,
but he listens, yeah."
17) Bradley:
YOU CAN HEAR THIS CLASSICAL INFLUENCE IN
O’FARRILL’S FIRST MAJOR WORK FOR MACHITO, "THE AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ SUITE."
IT IS A LONG PIECE WHERE EACH MOVEMENT IS BASED ON A DIFFERENT AFRO-CUBAN DANCE RHYTHM.
BUT IT USES THEME AND VARIATION LIKE CLASSICAL MUSIC, AND A HARMONIC APPROACH COMMON TO
JAZZ MUSICIANS OF THE TIME.
18) Vox: Ray Santos
"Stravinsky was quite in vogue among the jazz
players// in the late 40's and all throughout the 50's. They loved his harmonies. And the
same thing with Ravel and Debussy --- beautiful harmonies. And can get quite exciting, you
know, build the tension, and relax the tension//, which is the meat and potatos of our
music --- that tension and relaxation.// And when you fit all that stuff into the clave
and Afro-Cuban percussion, you get a new kind of music, there."
19) Bradley:
FIFTY YEARS AFTER WRITING THIS PIECE, CHICO O’FARRILL
TAKES IT TO THE CONCERT HALL. O’FARRILL CONDUCTS THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA ON
THE "AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ SUITE."
20) Music: Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite, 9/12/98, 13:42
21) Bradley:
CHICO O’FARRILL CONDUCTED THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ
ORCHESTRA ON HIS "AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ SUITE." MARCUS PRINTUP WAS ON TRUMPET, TED
NASH PLAYED FLUTE, WITH RON WESTRAY ON TROMBONE, AND THE PERCUSSION SECTION OF STEVE
BERRIOS ON TIMBALES, JOSEPH GONZALEZ ON BONGOS AND ROLAND GUERRERO ON CONGAS.
22) Music: Peanut Vendor, 9/12/98 concert
23) Bradley:
MAJOR SUPPORT FOR JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS
PROVIDED BY
DISCOVER CARD. IT PAYS TO DISCOVER.
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT COMES FROM NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO MEMBER
STATIONS AND N-P-R, WHOSE CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE: THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS AND
THE LILA WALLACE-READER'S DIGEST FUND, HELPING PEOPLE TO MAKE THE ARTS AND CULTURE AN
ACTIVE PART OF THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES. WE ALSO RECEIVE PRODUCTION FUNDS FROM THE CORPORATION
FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.
FOR MORE ABOUT MACHITO, CHICO O’FARRILL, RAY SANTOS,
AND AFRO-CUBAN MUSIC, CHECK OUR WEBSITE AT YOU CAN E-MAIL TO , OR WRITE TO US AT JAZZ
FROM LINCOLN CENTER, NEW YORK CITY 10023.
23) Bradley: (continued)
YOU'RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED
BRADLEY.
(Midbreak :10)
BY 1954, AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ WAS A WELL ESTABLISHED STYLE.
MACHITO AND HIS AFRO-CUBANS HAD BECOME A FIXTURE IN THE JAZZ CLUBS, AND THE ROSTER OF JAZZ
MUSICIANS VENTURING INTO AFRO-CUBAN RHYTHMS CONTINUED TO GROW.
THAT’S WHEN JAZZ IMPRESARIO NORMAN GRANZ AGAIN
ENLISTED ARRANGER CHICO O’FARRILL. IT WAS SIX YEARS SINCE THE SUCCESS OF "THE
AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ SUITE," AND O’FARRILL HAD CONTINUED TO WRITE FOR MACHITO AND
OTHER BIG BANDS.
THIS TIME, HE GOT TO WRITE FOR ONE OF HIS IDOLS, DIZZY
GILLESPIE.
O’FARRILL CREATED A NEW SUITE BASED ON
"MANTECA," WRITTEN BY DIZZY GILLESPIE WITH CHANO POZO AND WALTER GIL FULLER.
THE ORIGINAL 1954 RECORDING OF THIS SUITE FEATURED
GILLESPIE’S BIG BAND WITH MACHITO’S RHYTHM SECTION CONDUCTED BY CHICO
O’FARRILL.
THIS IS THE FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE COMPLETE WORK SINCE
THEN --- AT ALICE TULLY HALL, CHICO O’FARRILL CONDUCTS THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ
ORCHESTRA AND ITS GUEST PERCUSSION SECTION ON THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE "MANTECA
SUITE" --- "MANTECA THEME."
24) Music: Manteca Theme, 9/12/98 concert, first
movement 4:32
25) Bradley:
THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH "MANTECA
THEME," ARRANGED AND CONDUCTED BY CHICO O’FARRILL.
26) Vox: Ray Santos
"He’s got fantastic technique. He can take//
(sings Manteca riff) a riff like that and build a whole suite on it."
27) Bradley:
ARRANGER AND MACHITO BAND ALUMNUS RAY SANTOS.
28) Vox: Ray Santos (continued)
"Plus the bridge (sings bridge) and get a whole
movement on just that bridge that Diz and Walter Fuller got on Manteca. Chano’s
riffs, also."
29) Bradley:
THE FIRST SECTION OF CHICO O’FARRILL’S SUITE WAS
A RENDITION OF THE MANTECA THEME. THE NEXT TWO SECTIONS ARE VARIATIONS ON THAT MELODY.
IN THE SECOND MOVEMENT, O’FARRILL KEEPS THE RHYTHMS
THE SAME, BUT REVERSES THE ORDER OF THE NOTES. HE THEN EXPANDS THE MIDDLE SECTION OF THE
SONG INTO A FULL BALLAD.
29) Bradley: (Continued)
THE THIRD MOVEMENT GETS TRICKY, THOUGH. O’FARRILL
CHANGES THE GROOVE AND REVERSES THE RHYTHMS. THE NOTES ARE IN THE ORIGINAL ORDER, BUT WITH
AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT EFFECT.
"CONTRASTE" AND "JUNGLA"[JUNN-gluh] ARE
MOVEMENTS TWO AND THREE OF O’FARRILL’S "MANTECA SUITE."
30) Music: "Contraste" and
"Jungla", 9/12/98 concert, from "Manteca Suite," 2:46 + 4:21
31) Bradley:
"CONTRASTE" AND "JUNGLA" FROM THE
"MANTECA SUITE." CHICO O’FARRILL CONDUCTING THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ
ORCHESTRA AT ALICE TULLY HALL.
AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ IS BASED ON LAYERS OF RHYTHM. SO TIMBALES,
CONGAS AND BONGOS WERE BROUGHT IN FOR THIS CONCERT TO AUGMENT THE SOUND OF THE LINCOLN
CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA.
THE ORIGINAL "MANTECA SUITE" WAS WRITTEN FOR
MACHITO’S PERCUSSION SECTION. AND STEVE BERRIOS, WHO HAS PLAYED PERCUSSION IN THE
BANDS OF MONGO SANTAMARIA AND TITO PUENTE, HELPED BRING THE LATIN RHYTHM AND THE ORCHESTRA
TOGETHER.
32) Vox: Steve Berrios
"I think it was a good learning experience on my part
and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra’s part, because they didn’t know that
music.// (skip a bit) I was a taskmaster. I was called in to teach them the feeling of
that music. It involved breaking down the different phrasing of each individual section.
They were approaching it like they were playing Duke Ellington’s music or Count
Basie’s music, which is great, but it has another little twist playing Machito’s
music or Chico O’Farrill’s music."
33) Bradley:
AFTER PLAYING CHICO O’FARRILL’S UNORTHODOX
VERSION OF "MANTECA," THE ORCHESTRA REACHED A MOVEMENT OF THE SUITE THAT WAS
MORE FAMILIAR. IN THE RUMBA FINALE, O’FARRILL PENNED A BIG BAND SWING CHART THE WAY
HE DID FOR BASIE, KENTON AND GOODMAN.
THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA LETS LOOSE ON THE MANTECA
SUITE’S "RUMBA FINALE, PART ONE."
34) Music: Rumba Finale, Part I, 9/12/98 concert, from
"Manteca Suite," 7:11
35) Bradley:
"RUMBA FINALE, PART ONE" FROM THE "MANTECA
SUITE," THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA FEATURING WYNTON MARSALIS ON TRUMPET AND
WALTER BLANDING, JR. ON TENOR. ARRANGED AND CONDUCTED BY CHICO O’FARRILL.
WE’LL CLOSE OUT OUR PROGRAM WITH "CON ALMA."
IT’S ANOTHER OF DIZZY GILLESPIE’S AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ VENTURES --- A BALLAD MEANT TO
BE PLAYED LIKE ITS NAME, "WITH SOUL." IN IT, WE CAN ALSO HEAR HOW A WHOLE
GENERATION OF MUSICIANS ARE KEEPING THE AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ OF DIZZY, CHICO AND MACHITO FRESH.
AT ALICE TULLY HALL, WYNTON MARSALIS AND ERIC LEWIS LEAD
THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH LANGOROUS SOLOS ON "CON ALMA."
36) Music: Con Alma, 9/12/98 concert 5:42 play under
credits
37) Bradley:
WYNTON MARSALIS ON TRUMPET AND ERIC LEWIS ON PIANO WITH
DIZZY GILLESPIE’S "CON ALMA."
THE LINCOLN CENTER JAZZ ORCHESTRA FEATURED SPECIAL GUESTS
ARTURO O’FARRILL JR. ON PIANO, STEVE BERRIOS ON TIMBALES, JOSEPH GONZALEZ ON BONGOS,
AND ROLAND GUERRERO ON CONGAS, WYNTON MARSALIS, MARCUS PRINTUP, RYAN KISOR AND SENECA
BLACK ON TRUMPETS; WAYNE GOODMAN, RON WESTRAY AND WYCLIFFE GORDON ON TROMBONES; VICTOR
GOINES, TED NASH, WESS ANDERSON, WALTER BLANDING, JR. AND JOE TEMPERLEY ON REEDS; ERIC
LEWIS ON PIANO; CARLOS HENRIQUEZ ON BASS; AND HERLIN RILEY WAS THE DRUMMER.
THE CONDUCTORS WERE RAY SANTOS AND CHICO O’FARRILL.
JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS PRODUCED BY JAZZ AT
LINCOLN CENTER AND MURRAY STREET ENTERPRISE IN NEW YORK. THE PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER PAUL CHUFFO AND EDITED BY LAUREN KRENZEL. OUR SENIOR PRODUCER IS STEVE
RATHE.
THE CONCERT RECORDINGS WERE MADE BY SANDRA PALMER GRASSI
WITH REMOTE FACILITIES PROVIDED BY EFFANEL MUSIC.
OUR POST PRODUCTION ENGINEER IS DAVID GOREN AT STEPHEN
ERICKSON’S.
{alt} OUR POST PRODUCTION ENGINEER IS STEPHEN ERICKSON.
37) Bradley: (Continued)
THE PRODUCTION TEAM INCLUDES GWENDOLYN DEAN, ROB GRADER,
ANDREW ROSENBLUM, AND TRACEY PULLO.
THANKS ALSO TO THE JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER PRODUCTION STAFF,
THE RADIO FOUNDATION, EFFANEL MUSIC AND THE STAGE CREW AT ALICE TULLY HALL.
THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN
CENTER IS ROB GIBSON. THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR IS WYNTON MARSALIS.
I’M ED BRADLEY. THIS IS NPR, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO.