Macho, macho, MaCHITO - Bless you!

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 11 June
4.00 Jazz record Requests
Alyn Shipton presents requests, including the Afro-Cuban music of Machito and his Orchestra

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

5.00 Jazz Line-Up
Julian Joseph presents the second part of a performance by clarinettist Arun Ghosh and his band, recorded in January at the South Coast Jazz Festival, Shoreham-by-Sea. And reporter Phil Smith looks forward to this year's North Sea Jazz Festival (8-10 July), a stand-out feature in the European jazz calendar since 1976

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07f6jjk

12.00 Geoffrey Smith's Jazz
Geoffrey Smith celebrates the genius of Thelonious Monk (1917-82), with recordings featuring the pianist performing as a soloist, with a big band, and in the company of saxophone giants, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07f6l5f

Mon 13 June
11.00 Jazz Now
Soweto Kinch presents new music by Tim Garland's quartet, recorded in May at Turner Sims Southampton

I hope Calum is well and, as one who admires Mr Garland, will also be listening.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07f6nw1

Note too that next Thursday's Late Junction at 11 pm includes stuff by Vijay Iyer. Where else??

[Ian Thumwood]

I am surprised that Latin jazz seems to get much thrift on this board. Latin Jazz always seems synonymous with bebop and the likes of Machito and Tito Puente seemed to enjoy a level of credence in the 1950's that seems to be a bit neglected these days. If you wanted to select any recording that demonstrated just how "hot" jazz could be, I think you would be pushed to select anything more exciting than the recordings by Dizzy Gillespie's big band of the late 1940's or indeed some of the stuff by Woody Herman in that era. It is funny how Latin Jazz seems so redolent of that era when I think that there is a lot of really brilliant Latin jazz around at the moment which seems over-looked. I love Bobby Sanabrai's big band which melds more traditional work by the likes of Puente with originals which strongly nod towards the current Mingus Big Band. Arturo O' Farrill has also made some interesting records of late which mirror a lot of the Third Stream ideas also prevalent in the late 40's / 50's. I am a bit of a sucker for musicians like Miguel Zenon, David Sanchez and the hugely under-rated pianist Luis Podermo who all have a penchant for more aggressive, small group Latin Jazz. It is a whole oeuvre in itself.

[Serial_Apologist]

I hope others are managing to hear tonight's feature, Tim Garland's new band with Ant Law on guitar - such vivacity! I was rather critical of Mr Garland, feeling much of the time too much was going on, until Calum reminded me of the quality of his compositions and spirit of commitment. And I'm glad Ant is getting something of a hearing these days. Besides being an excellent musician who, as Tim says, rises to challenges such as the ones he throws down, two summers ago he co-ran the residue of the SE Jazz Collective after it slowly broke up in the wake of Trish Clowes' sudden hitting of the spotlight. On one occasion there were only two of us in the audience in the rather dingy New Cross pub, and after that night it didn't get much better, eventually drawing to a sad close. Meanwhile Ant was getting his career together and did a couple of apparently consistently well-attended international tours last year; but before that he gave me a free copy of his CD, insisting on me not paying for it as I'd been such a faithful audience!

[Old Grumpy]

I hope others are managing to hear tonight's feature, Tim Garland's new band with Ant Law on guitar - such vivacity! I was rather critical of Mr Garland, feeling much of the time too much was going on, until Calum reminded me of the quality of his compositions and spirit of commitment. And I'm glad Ant is getting something of a hearing these days. Besides being an excellent musician who, as Tim says, rises to challenges such as the ones he throws down, two summers ago he co-ran the residue of the SE Jazz Collective after it slowly broke up in the wake of Trish Clowes' sudden hitting of the spotlight. On one occasion there were only two of us in the audience in the rather dingy New Cross pub, and after that night it didn't get much better, eventually drawing to a sad close. Meanwhile Ant was getting his career together and did a couple of apparently consistently well-attended international tours last year; but before that he gave me a free copy of his CD, insisting on me not paying for it as I'd been such a faithful audience!

Seconded!

I got to midnight and then had to switch off for zzzzzz.

Will catch up the rest.

Already have tickets for their SageGateshead gig in October

OG

[Tom Audustus]

I am surprised that Latin jazz seems to get much thrift on this board. Latin Jazz always seems synonymous with bebop and the likes of Machito and Tito Puente seemed to enjoy a level of credence in the 1950's that seems to be a bit neglected these days. If you wanted to select any recording that demonstrated just how "hot" jazz could be, I think you would be pushed to select anything more exciting than the recordings by Dizzy Gillespie's big band of the late 1940's or indeed some of the stuff by Woody Herman in that era. It is funny how Latin Jazz seems so redolent of that era when I think that there is a lot of really brilliant Latin jazz around at the moment which seems over-looked. I love Bobby Sanabrai's big band which melds more traditional work by the likes of Puente with originals which strongly nod towards the current Mingus Big Band. Arturo O' Farrill has also made some interesting records of late which mirror a lot of the Third Stream ideas also prevalent in the late 40's / 50's. I am a bit of a sucker for musicians like Miguel Zenon, David Sanchez and the hugely under-rated pianist Luis Podermo who all have a penchant for more aggressive, small group Latin Jazz. It is a whole oeuvre in itself.

Latin Jazz is still quite popular at the various pub jam sessions I go to. You reguarly have a spotty youth or two getting up to work their way through the changes of Blue Bossa and the like.

[Serial_Apologist]

Latin Jazz is still quite popular at the various pub jam sessions I go to. You reguarly have a spotty youth or two getting up to work their way through the changes of Blue Bossa and the like.

I regard Afro-Cuban bop, in the presence of Dizzy's great late 1940s big band, ("Manteca" in particular which still blows me away) was I reckon my belated entree at age 15 into Latin music, following the insipidnesses, insipidities, or even insipitudes of cosy old Edmundo Ros. The Cha-Cha was of course around just before that (late 1950s), but seemed in the same camp as Edmundo, and in some cases actually was! Then of course along came Bossa Nova, representing as I thought the yin to Samba's yang, except all these forms came out of each other and remain closely related.

Latin is the one musical form that can persuade me to "dance"; the question remains: is it possible to dance and listen in-depth at the same time? An awful lot of sophistication and performance discipline just goes under my radar, lost to me.

[Ian Thumwood]

SA

I think Latin music and Latin jazz are two different things. In fact, Latin music simply denotes the origin of the music and you can hear strong Latin influences in Classical music too, starting with the likes of people such as Gottschalk and evolving in to compositions such as "Huapango" by Moncayo. There is a brilliant CD on Naxos which covers a lot of this music and which I would strongly recommend:-

http://https://www.amazon.co.uk/Latin-American-Classics-Vol-1-Moncayo-Garc%C3%ADa/dp/B0000013Z5/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1466276272&sr=8-5&keywords=naxos+Latin+classical+music

The reference to Edmundo Ross is really unhelpful but the jazz influence really goes beyond the kind of stuff Dizzy Gillespie was producing in the late 40's albeit I think this has evolved along with the more mainstream kind of jazz in the last 70 years. The nostalgia element does loom large as can be seen with the popularity of the Buena Vista Social Club, the big band associated with which nicely captures the 1950s feel of things. However, to take the parallel of Gillespie, the current crop of jazz musicians performing "Latin Jazz" have been taking the kind of post bop Branford Marsalis ideas and recasting them in to a furious and aggressive form of contemporary jazz which owes nothing to nostalgia. If you can still get hold of the album "Ceremonial" by Miguel Zenon, you will get an idea of the kind of jazz I am on about. The writing is really sophisticated and uses some really complex rhythms (I have a lead sheet for one tune and it is unplayable) with a brilliant groups including Luis Podermo and Antonio Sanchez whose best playing seems to be in these contexts in my opinion. One of my friends who likes more avant styles of jazz is a big fan of this disc and I had to agree with him as to just how great it is. It is a bit like the contemporary jazz put out by Branford and shares the same style of attack. Another good album is Stphen Scott's "90 miles" which features a strong team including the excellent David Sanchez and Stefon Harris. Again, the music is characterised by edgy post-bop themes and a thunderous and robust rhythm section.

When you think of Latin jazz is does have a cheesy reputation. Some bands don't quite nail it whereas other composers like Kenny Dorham and Joe Henderson quickly were alert to the possibilities. An earlier disc like Dorham's "Afro - Cuban" does seem very much of it's time and perhaps not one of his finest records but the exotic nature and strong melodies make it rewarding. That said, it is nowhere near as sophisticated as some of the Latin Jazz being produced nowadays which seems capable of being as biting and aggressive as any other form of contemporary jazz. The Dorham disc sounds very polite in comparison with the Zenon and Scott discs and the playing is nowhere as near as sophisticated. The percussion no longer seems like an addition to add a bit of colour and is very much a vital ingredient of the music.

The Rodriguez Brothers are getting a lot of attention although I haven't heard much of their music. I would recommend Luis Podermo as he is a terrific jazz pianist and, regarding the same instrument, I have been impressed with Roberto Fonseca too. I must admit that I quite like Chucho Valdes too even though he is of an older generation and probably can be best compared to being an Art Blakey kind of figure, more aligned to Bop and probably more of a showman with his bands essentially showcasing his incredible technique.

I maybe putting my neck out here in making this statement, but I feel that Latin music seems to have caught up with jazz since the 1990s and the fact that it is more likely to be stripped of any modish tendencies and already has it's own heritage means that the quality of the music is frequently very high and rewarding to listen to as opposed to being music to dance to.

[Ian Thumwood]

This is the kind of thing that I am talking about. Here is Miguel Zenon with a big band (incidentally including Michael Rodriguez ,Luis Podermo and trombonist Ryan Keberle who also has a reputstion for performing Latin music. Nice to Alan Ferber in the trombones as well - another musician I really appreciate.