Afro Cuban Jazz Club

		Afro Cuban Jazz Club

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---Women of Afro Cuban Jazz Club---
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Africa is often called "the motherland;" the birthplace of humans. It's also likely that the continent is where our unique habit of making music was born. From the living traditions of Africans to the archeological record of Ancient Egypt and its surrounding areas, music has played a key role in African civilization from its birth.

Musically, Africa can be divided in 5 regions: North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. These areas all share common histories and cultural traits that bind them into coherent musical regions —but also allow for an amazing number of styles and variations within each region.

Africando Group
One of the most famous groups in Africa is Africando. For many years, Africando has been playing the traditional Cuban Salsa of the 20s and 30s throughout African countries; they combine Cuban Salsa with the flavor of very exciting African sounds. Since the mid-1990s, trans-Atlantic salsa sensation Africando has been putting the "Afro" back into Afro-Cuban music

Bembeya Jazz Band
One of Africa's greatest dance bands, Bembeya Jazz's signature four-guitar section still shines, crowned by the sterling lead-guitar work of Sekou Bembeya Diabaté. The music of New Orleans and Afro Cuban sounds. BEMBEYA Jazz play worldwide and many affirm that Bembeya Jazz Band has added new rithms to Afro Cuban music.

Afro-Cuban Jazz represents unique sounds, which was started in 1930s Cuba. Afro-Cuban Jazz was played in the U.S. directly after the "bebop" period.

Afro-Cuban Jazz includes rhythmic components from the genres of salsa, songo, son, mambo, rumba and cha cha cha. Although Jazz had long had what Jelly Roll Morton called the Spanish Tinge through the interchange of musicians from Havana and New Orleans during the late 19th and early 20th century, it never actually used the Afro-Cuban rhythmic components or percussion instruments. A good example of this style would be the song "Caravan" by Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol.

The Heart of Africa is Alive and Beating in Cuba. -Dizzie Gillespie.
Afro Cuban music was developed by Cuban musicians of African descent in a transition from the drum sounds of Africans in 16th century Cuba, and passed through generations to the more modern sounds of the 19th and 20th century compositions. Cubans have always embraced this long tradition as a sacred-like jewel in their history. Dizzie Gillespie expressed the sentiment of Afro Cuban traditions when he said, "The heart of Africa is alive and beating in Cuba". This has remained true to this day.

Les Fetishes
A new sound came to being with a "marriage" of Afro Cuban music and the legendary sounds of New Orleans during the 1940s and true Afro-Cuban Jazz was born with the meeting of Dizzy Gillespie and arranger Mario Bauzá and in the late 1940s in the Cab Calloway orchestra. In due course Gillespie formed his own big band and very successfully tried to broaden the appeal of bebop. He asked Bauzá to introduce him to "one of those tom-tom [sic] players (meaning a conga player)". Bauzá introduced Gillespie to the legendary Cuban conguero Luciano "Chano" Pozo.

It was in the Gillespie band that Chano Pozo wrote the song "Manteca" that is considered the first piece of true Afro Cuban Jazz.

This produced a movement known as "Cubop" that included American Jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, who was on the original recording of Chico O'Farrill's sophisticated programatic Afro Cuban Jazz Suite. Another great Cuban conguero famous in Jazz circles was Mongo Santamaria, who worked for many years with the American vibe player Cal Tjader. Other American bop players who played in the Afro Cuban genre include Billy Taylor started Afro-Cuban bands in later years, also Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Sound of New Orleans
Mongo Santamaria, like Chano Pozo before him, utilized Yoruba's rhythmic structure and instruments. In the mid 1950s the mambo dance craze swept the United States. This movement was New York based, primarily, but of course was influenced by the music of Cuba, not to mention the instrumentation of American big-band swing. Among the giants of this era was Machito and His Afro Cubans. In those days, record companies used the term "instrumental mambo" for what we would call "latin Jazz." In modern times the group Los Hombres Calientes carries on the tradition, led by Irvin Mayfield and Bill Summers.

African Pop Styles stand out above all others for their impact and enduring popularity. In the '50s Africa experienced an international rumba craze, and bands from Senegal to the Congo were adapting the Afro-Cuban style to local tastes. In the '70s, a hot, guitar-based sound called soukous—itself an evolution of Congolese rumba—sprang out of the Congo (called Zaire for most of that decade) and took the continent by storm. In the later '70s and 1980s, Jamaican reggae hit Africa like a tidal wave, propelled by the music's message of pan-African uplift and Bob Marley's historic 1980 concert in Harare, Zimbabwe. And in recent decades, rap MCs have sprouted up all over Africa, with particularly fertile hip-hop scenes in Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa.

Nothing Is Beyond Bounds
It should be noted that Afro Cuban rhythms are based on the unique African sounds of the drums like Djembe and Conga, maracas sound developed after the African Shekere and Afro Cuban sounds are also based on the original sounds from the Congo, Nigeria, Lucumí* and Arará*. Afro Cuban music is full with religious and profane sounds. Nothing is beyond bounds.

Cuban Lucumí Dancer
Lucumí* and to a lesser extent Arará* rituals styles permeated into the Cuban popular music mainstream. Batá drums are a set of three double-headed, hourglass-shaped drums. The largest iyá (mother), [E-Yah], is the master drum. The iyá calls the rhythms in, calls changes and conversations.

Next in size, the itótele (means: follows completely), [E-Toe-Teh-Lay], follows the direction of the iyá answering the conversation calls and rhythm changes. The smallest drum okónkolo [O-Kon-Ko-Lo], sometimes referred to as Omele [O-May-Lay (strong child)], for the most part plays ostinato patterns, also changing rhythms from the calls of the iyá. Yes, drums "converse" with each other in musical terms.

The Iyesá are a Lucumí "nation" still recognized as having a distinct musical style. Iyesá drums are played with sticks, usually in groups of three, with a fourth drum added for certain "toques" (sounds) Their combined rhythmic patterns are more unified than the three-way conversation among the batá drums. Agogó, or dance gongs, of different pitches that play interlocking patterns accompany these drums.

African Art
*The Lucumi (oloku mi, meaning my friend) is the Cuban version of the original Yoruba language and religion. The exact spelling of words may vary from person to person due to the fact that the religion has been passed down verbally throughout the centuries. An intrinsic part of Lucumí are Patakis (legends) and rituals.

The word Lucumí came from the original Africans in Cuba in order to disguise the Yoruba language which became a forbidden expression during the Spanish domination of Cuba by the Spanish "conquistadores" and the forced conversion of Africans to Catholic beliefs.

The people known in Cuba as the Arará came from Dahomey, what is today the Benin Republic in Nigeria's coastal Bight of Benin, and not recognized as a republic by Nigeria. A minority overshadowed by the Lucumí,

African influence in the United States' musical genres is evidenced by a whole spectrum of developments that permenated mainstream society as well. More Modern African sounds began in the early 19th century through today as Gospel, Spirituals, Blues, Banjo, Jazz, Juke joint, Rhythm and blues, among many others. Notably, Jazz and Rock'n'Roll are based on African sounds.

Street Musicians
Cuban Rhythms. Cuban dancing rhythms; mixings of Bolero, Bembé-(Bembé bailables y Rompe Tambó), Chá-Chá-Chá, Charangas, Comparsas (Conga groups), Congas, Cumbanchas, Contradanza, Danzón, Danzonete, Descarga, Guaguancó (original Rumba style, also Yambú y Columbia), Guajira, Guantanamera (the actual "guatanameras" - "the stabbing rhythms"), Guapachá, Guaracha, Mambo (new rhythm of the Cuban "Danzón" and "Mońas", Mambo entrances), Merensongo (Timba) de Changuito, Mozambique de Izquierdo (Afrokán), Montuno, Pachanga, Rumba (modern), Son, Sainete.

Cafe Art
Latin Rhythms. Bachata (Dominican Republic), Baladas, Bombas y Plenas (Puerto Rican), Cumbia (Colombian), Merengue (Dominican Republic), Perico (Dominican Republic), Rancheras (Mexican), Salsa (developed in NYC by Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, US, European musicians and others from a combination of mixed Cuban rhythms, mainly, taken after modern "Mambo" rhythms; based on the rhythmic measurement style of the "clave" and Cuban "salseros" style of the 30's. Rhythmic dances later became to be commonly known as "1" & "2") largely made popular by Puerto Rican artists during the 50's and 60's, Tangos (Argentinian) Vallenatos (Colombian), etc.

At Afro Cuban Jazz Club, we play full sets and the latest hits on any genre.

Luciano Chano Pozo
Father of Afro Cuban Jazz. Luciano Chano Pozo - conga player, composer, recording artist (born Cuba,1915 died New York 1948)

To properly attempt to write a profile on such a colorful and significant character as Chano Pozo, we must go to Africa, where it all began.

The Niger River Delta, in the Africa Bend, more specifically the area of Calabar. The Calabar male natives, had an Egbo leopard society, which in Cuba was reborn under the name Acuabatón, conjuring up the myth of Abakuá, manifesting itself in a ritual of ancestor and deity worship, and secret initiations of brotherhood.

The Abakuá in Cuba were also called "ńańigos", and created a high standard as dancers and drummers, as well as for their flamboyant dress and behavior. They also were also feared and reputed to be a sort of underworld gang. The influence of the Abakuá in the Cuban world of drumming has been profound since its presence in the traditional rumbas.

In Cuba, a rumba was/is a social gathering of drumming with dancing, its origins in the cane fields, streets and barrios. A cultural diffusion with the Lucumi (Yoruba) style of drumming has evolved into the classic Afro-Cuban percussive style of guaguancó, yambú, and columbia that is eminent today. There were/are many Cuban rumberos that were members of both the Abakuá and Santeriá (Yoruba) societies. Chano Pozo was one of these rumberos. He would influence jazz and popular Latin music well into the next century!!

Luciano Chano Pozo Gonzalez was born in the Vedado section of La Habana, Cuba, on January 17, 1915. His mother would die when he was 8 years old, and his father moved to the area of Cayo Hueso, in the section known as El África, which was a very poor and tough neighborhood. There he became step-brother to Felix Chappottin, by way of his father and Chappottins mother. He did a short stint in the reform school of Guanajay, where he would meet Miguelito Valdés, as fate would have it, Chappottin, Valdés and Pozo would go on to forge a personal and musical alliance that would take them out of the streets into studios and stages around the world.

He became initiated into the Abakuá sect of "Müńanga", since this society is shrouded in secret ceremony and reveal nothing, very little is known about this except for the fact that Chano was a proud member, and he also practiced Santería. This would manifest itself in his style of conga drumming that would be his musical identity. He worked primarily as a boot black, and played the congas whenever possible with the local comparsas, which were street musicians, mostly ńańigos, parading on patron day saints and other social activities.

By the late1930’s Chano Pozo was a well known member of Los Dandys de Belén, and had become an accomplished "conguero and rumbero". In 1938 he was asked to sit in on quinto (lead conga) in a group Los Melódicos which had a choice gig at the Hotel Presidente. This led to a full blown Afro Cuban musical Batamú which played to a sold out crowd at the famed Teatro Martí. He was on his way. Pozo could not record any of his own tunes, so his old buddy from the days at reform school Miguelito Valdés, which had become a local singing sensation in the band Casino de la Playa helped with the recordings.

Casino de la Playa recorded in 1939 Chano’s “Blen, blen, blen”, which was a hit. They went on to record in early’40 his songs “Arińáńara”, “Muna Sangangfimba”, and Guagüina yerabo”. These songs are all in the Abakuá ‘lengua’ (language) and are pure African in diction and dialect, they were a novel idea in those days, and again were big local hits for Casino de la Playa band. This was the timeframe, (1940) that Chano worked as a bodyguard for a local senator who in turn introduced him to the owner of a radio station in Havana, who also felt he needed some personal protection. Being Abakuá, and having acquired a reputation as a tough guy, he was the perfect guy for the job. He was the radio stations doorman also, and on the urging of singing star Rita Montaner, he played congas in the reception area, playing and singing to arriving guests, and also getting some air time as an accompanist.

By 1941 after constant self promotion and playing, Los Dandys were the hottest comparsa around and Chano led the parades dressed in top hat and tails, they popularized a song about themselves “Conga de Los Dandys” which was covered by others including Xavier Cugat out of New York, with Miguelito Valdés singing.

Valdés was becoming quite a star in his own right, and was doing a lot of performing and recording after his move to New York. He hooked up with Machito and his Afro Cubans for a milestone recording in 1942 which was really a primal fusion recording of Yoruban chants and rhythms with American jazz. Chano stayed busy with his comparsas, and went on to form his Conjunto Azul during the war years.

Chano had a brush with death in 1945, having been shot three times in a royalty’s dispute over his songs. He would recover, but it left a bullet lodged near his spine that would bother him constantly. This also added to his already tough reputation, one that he relished and maintained.

By the end of the war in 1946, he wrote “El Pin Pin” which was about the allied victory over both Germany and Japan. Chano was able to record it with his group, but it was also covered by other bands making it another hit for Chano. His Conjunto Azul, featuring his step-brother Felix Chappottin, on trumpet, went into the studio during this time and recorded ten songs for the Seeco label out of Havana. Some of these have disappeared, and the surviving ones are available still in his record compilations.

In or around January 1947 Chano moved to New York at the urging of Miguelito Valdés, and by February were the studios at Coda Records to begin a series of historic sessions. This was to be an all star Cuban lineup if there ever was one. Arsenio Rodriguez, Miguelito Valdés, Carlos Vidal, and Chano Pozo on congas, with Jose Mangual on bongos. They proceeded to record the first authentic rumba ever, doing four numbers in the barrio style they all came from, even one dedicated to El África, the old neighborhood. Chano then did a tribute to the Abakuá god “Abas-”, these are milestones in that they were just done with percussion, going back to the African traditional Abakuá drumming, unheard of at the time.

Chano did more recording in the days to come with Machito and his Afro Cubans, and also some sessions with Arsenio Rodriguez, these were more mambo and guaracha paced numbers with vocalist arrangements, and he was a conga player on those.

Dizzy Gillespie had his hand on the pulse of the latin beat, since his days with Mario Bauzá back in 1938. By 1945 he was hot and famous for his bebop band, in that same summer he had a Cuban conga player named Diego Iborra sitting in with his band .He had an inkling to go more in that direction and his old friend Bauzá recommended the conga player to him; Chano Pozo.

Chano was Cuban in blood and in his sense of timing, and was a challenge for Dizzy’s band, which not all were receptive to the idea of his entry. There was a fusing of the clave beat into swing time, and vice versa, it took some doing but they figured it out, and as they say the rest is history, Chano and Gillespie became close friends!! They performed at Carnegie Hall on Sept. 29, 1947 showcasing “Cubana Be, Cubana Bop,” with Chano featured on a conga solo, and going into an Abakuá chant. Cubop was born. They would go on to record “Manteca”, which was to be Dizzy’s biggest hit ever, and had the effect of sending bandleaders scrambling to get latin charts and arrangements, and brought a slew of percussionists into the jazz genre.

Chano traveled to Europe in January of 1948 with Dizzy’s band, which was a very successful tour with the band hitting on all cylinders. They created quite a stir, and received rave reviews on the shows. On return back to the United States, while touring through the south, Chano’s congas were stolen and he went back to New York to get a replacement set. He stayed on in New York longer than he should have and as fate would have it his life would end tragically on Dec.2, 1948. Shot in a bar over an argument. He was thirty three years old.

Chano Pozo lived life as he played his drums giving it all for the moment. His contribution to jazz in the sense of bringing in his African roots drumming, is by now well documented, and is jazz history. His influence on Latin popular music is just as important, in the fact that his involvement with Chappottin, Arsenio, and recordings in the seminal Afro Cuban style, would go on to persuade a whole generation of players coming out of New York, as the Puerto Ricans Tito Puente, Palmieri Brothers, Tito Rodriguez, Ray Barretto, thus leading directly to the foundation of Salsa and the further development of Latin Jazz as a genre into itself.

There is not a percussionist, especially conga player that does not owe Chano a nod of recognition for his pioneering efforts in drumming. He remains with us today and is considered “El Rumbero Mayor” a title he would surely appreciate.