Latin Jazz Salsa
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The instrumental, improvisation-forward meeting point of salsa and jazz, where Afro-Cuban clave, montuno and percussion underpin extended horn and piano solos and jazz harmony. Bands build on a bedrock of congas, timbales, bongó and tumbao bass while trumpets, saxes, vibraphone and piano stretch out over mambo and guaguancó grooves; charts favor riffing horn shout choruses alternating with soloing. The mood is virtuosic, swinging and cosmopolitan, blending the danceability of salsa with the harmonic adventure of modern jazz. It showcases bandleaders and soloists as much as singers.
History
The lineage runs from 1940s Cubop — Machito, Mario Bauzá and Dizzy Gillespie fusing bebop with Afro-Cuban rhythm — into the 1960s, when Mongo Santamaría, Cal Tjader and Ray Barretto scored crossover hits and Tito Puente straddled the mambo, salsa and jazz worlds. Eddie Palmieri won early Latin Grammys pushing salsa toward jazz, Poncho Sánchez carried the conga-led tradition on the West Coast, and Cuba's Irakere and Chucho Valdés brought conservatory virtuosity and folklore. Nurtured in New York and California clubs and on labels like Fania, Concord Picante and Blue Note, Latin jazz salsa remains a vital concert and festival music and a bridge between the dancefloor and the jazz stage.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- John Storm Roberts, Latin Jazz (1999)
- Isabelle Leymarie, Cuban Fire (2002)
- Max Salazar, Mambo Kingdom (2002)