Customer Reviews

Latin Jazz : The First of Fusion, 1880's to Today

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A masterful work by John Storm Roberts, whose early-'70s books on Latin American music were "world music" landmarks, and whose Original Music record label has reissued some of the most precious African and Latin American popular and traditional music one is ever likely to hear. The introductory chapters are a little slow-going, as Roberts twists and gyrates to avoid anticipated critical jabs. His qualifications and defensiveness may make sense to enthnomusicological insiders, but to the average reader, they seem fairly unnecessary, or at least a bit hard to follow. After that, though, the book picks up steam and is quite captivating. The main point of contention is the fascinating (and convincing) idea that *_Latin American_* influences were every bit as present at the inception of American jazz music as were African ones. In Roberts' world, the term "latin jazz" isn't exactly redundant, but it is misleading: Latin Jazz didn't spring forth in the 'Forties and 'Fifties out of whole cloth. Rather, Latin American influences on North American musicians can be found as far back as the Antebellum period, and are present at all the major junctures of jazz history. In addition to combing through historical records (such as newspapers, journals, and the records sheet music publishers), Roberts offers a clear critical narrative of the cross-pollination of Latin American dance music and Afro-European jazz. He touches on the major trends and significant collaborations of the last 120 years: ragtime, the tango, the rumba, the thunderous New York "CuBop" scene of the 1940s, and of course the bossa nova craze of the 1960s, and the gradual formalization of "Latin Jazz" as a genre. Along the way he sheds some light on famous artists such as Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Tito Puente, as well as dimly-remembered pioneers like Antonio Machin, Don Azpiazu and gives favorable nods towards big banders who "got" the drift of the oncoming tide of Latin American crossover. Along with Sue Steward's "Musica!," this book can go a long way to fill in the gaps for folks who are new to the sound, as well as those who want to dig deep down. Recommended!!

A masterful work by John Storm Roberts, whose early-'70s books on Latin American music were "world music" landmarks, and whose Original Music record label has reissued some of the most precious African and Latin American popular and traditional music one is ever likely to hear. The introductory chapters are slow-going, as Roberts twists and gyrates to avoid anticipated critical jabs. His qualifications and defensiveness may make sense to enthnomusicological insiders, but to the average reader, they seem fairly unnecessary, or at least a bit hard to follow. After that, though, the book picks up steam and is quite captivating. The main point of contention is the fascinating (and convincing) idea that Latin American influences were every bit as present at the inception of American jazz music as were African ones. In Roberts' world, the term "latin jazz" isn't exactly redundant, but it is misleading: Latin Jazz didn't spring forth in the 'Forties and 'Fifties out of whole cloth. Rather, Latin American influences on North American musicians can be found as far back as the Antebellum period, and are present at all the major junctures of jazz history. In addition to combing through historical records (such as newspapers, journals, and the records sheet music publishers), Roberts offers a clear critical narrative of the cross-pollination of Latin American dance music and Afro-European jazz. He touches on the major trends and significant collaborations of the last 120 years: ragtime, the tango, the rumba, the thunderous New York "CuBop" scene of the 1940s, and of course the Brazilian bossa nova craze of the 1960s, and the gradual formalization of "Latin Jazz" as a genre. Along the way he sheds some light on famous artists such as Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Tito Puente, as well as dimly-remembered pioneers like Antonio Machin, Don Azpiazu and gives favorable nods towards big banders who "got" the drift of the oncoming tide of Latin American crossover. Along with Sue Steward's "Musica!," this book can go a long way to fill in the gaps for folks who are new to the sound, as well as those who want to dig deep down. Recommended!!

North America has long pertained to Latin-America as well as Anglo-America: large areas of the country were colonized by Spaniards before English-speakers arrived. Today, the United States is the fifth largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, with a Latino population estimated from 22 to 30 million. John Storm Roberts's brilliant earlier work demonstrates a pervasive "Latin tinge" in North American music. This new book meticulously documents the history of Latin jazz. The famed New Orleans composer and pianist Jelly Roll Morton argued that "Spanish tinges" were essential to jazz already in the early twentieth century. Latin influences on jazz grew when Dizzy Gillespie and Machito put Afro-Cuban rhythms on center-stage at mid-century, and again when the bossa nova boomed in the 1960s. Today, Latin tinges provide what is arguably the most vital strand in new American music. Both an invaluable research tool and a good read, Roberts has given us the seminal, single most important work on this subject.

The history of salsa, latin jazz, afrocuban music, and latin music in general, tends to get sandblasted by scholarly works that read more like Ph.D theses than history. The evolution of an art form gets carved into a model, testable perhaps but not very interesting. Latin Jazz: The First of the Fusions gives far too much emphasis to the impact of two waves of Brazilian influence in the early 60's and mid-70's. They were important to be sure, but I would have liked to read more about Cuban influences, the Puerto Rican-driven New York Salsa sound, and the derivation of rhythms from West Africa. All of this is touched on, but not in nearly enough detail for this reader.

While I can't say I'd recommend this book for a cover-to-cover read, it proved an excellent aid during my research of Latin Jazz this year. First of all, the chapters go in order by year, so you can really feel like you're progressing through time, as jazz evolves before your eyes. Next, it tends to focus on jazz itself, and then go into the big latin stars, their recordings, etc. That's actually one thing I didn't like, and that kept it from being an actual book to read through - it just talked too much about people that I personally knew nothing about. (Also, it would have been nice if the definitions of some of the basic vocabulary had been discussed. If you're into this, you'll probably be fine, but when trying to explain this to the 'typical guy on the street', definitions are helpful.) So, all in all, my recommendation is that if you're looking for actual information on Latin Jazz, this is good. It's just not something I could sit down with for a while.

This is a great book both someone like me who knows little about the subject or for the music scholar.