a year in the life4 -...
TRANSCRIPT
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A Year in the Life of Salsa Meets Jazz
By: Dr. José E. Cruz1
May 2004
When did Salsa Meets Jazz begin at the Village Gate?2 Establishing this should
be a simple matter were it not that the documentation of the series is spotty, the
recollection of living protagonists is dim, and the meaning of salsa meets jazz is not
precise. Does salsa meet jazz in 1961 with Herbie Mann’s November performance or in
1963 with Mongo Santamaría’s historic September appearance?3 Does the encounter
begin in 1966 with Descargas at the Village Gate?4 According to Art D’Lugoff, the
dynamic impresario who owned the Gate from 1958 to 1994, after the 1966 Descargas,
1 My appreciation goes to Ray Barretto, Andrea Brachfeld, Ignacio Berroa, Art D’Lugoff, Rachel Faro, Willard Jenkins, Arturo Gómez, Walter Ramos, George Rivera, and Bobby Sanabria for their assistance in the preparation of this article. Needless to say, they are not responsible for my errors. 2 Except where otherwise noted, the data and information for this article were obtained from New
York Times articles about the Village Gate published between 1966 and 1980 and from the Riffs, Music, and Cafes-Clubs-Disco sections of the Village Voice from January 7 through December 30, 1980. 3 Herbie Mann, At the Village Gate (Atlantic SD 1380, 1961; Re-issued in CD format as Atlantic 1380-2, 1964); Mongo Santamaría, Mongo at the Village Gate (Riverside RLP 93529, 1963; Re-issued in CD format as Riverside OJCCD-490-2, 1990). Even though references to salsa appear in recordings during the 1960s—see for example the mid-1960s song “Guajira in F” included in vol. 3 of the Alegre All Stars, Lost and Found (Alegre LPA 8430; Re-issued in CD format by Fania Records, 1996) and the cover of the 1968 Ricardo Ray/Bobby Cruz album Los Durisimos which is sub-titled “salsa y control”—the term begins to be used as a pan-musical category in the 1970s. Here I use the term in its pan-musical connotation even when referring to the 1960s. For that I ask the reader to indulge me in a minor instance of reading history backwards. I use “Latin meets jazz” or lower case “salsa meets jazz” to refer to the encounter/fusion of Caribbean and North American forms at the Village Gate and upper case “Salsa Meets Jazz” to refer to the official series. The Village Gate was located on the corner of Bleecker and Thompson streets in Greenwich Village, New York City. 4 Descargas at the Village Gate Live TICO All-Stars (Vol.1 TICO SLP 1135; Vol. 2 TICO SLP 1145; Vol. 3 TICO SLP 1155).
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Salsa Meets Jazz began “sometime in the 1970s.”5 However, according to one printed
source, “the series was dormant from 1970-1980.”6
It is safe to say that the key years in the evolution of the series are 1961, when
Herbie Mann sets a precedent for the marriage of jazz and Latin at the Gate and 1963,
when Mongo Santamaría provides a template for the Salsa Meets Jazz format. Mann’s
contribution in 1961 was suggestive of the series but not precisely focused on Latin
elements. This is how Scott Holden Smith describes Mann’s performance:
Back in 1961, there it all is: a base of bebop with the Latin beat, but also Middle Eastern and African influences. There’s funk on this CD, there’s cool, and Bossa Nova, and samba, and bebop.7
In contrast, Santamaría’s 1963 performance, recorded live and released as Mongo at
the Village Gate is a distinctive blend of Afro-Caribbean and jazz components. If salsa is
a pan-musical category that encompasses a host of Caribbean-origin patterns and
structures, the music by Santamaría in 1963 represents the earliest recorded instance
of salsa meeting jazz at the Gate. I emphasize recorded because the Village Gate
began its series of Monday night jazz with Mann in 1960 and it could be that during that
year salsa met jazz and we don’t know it simply because the documentary evidence is
not available. Be that as it may, Mongo’s 1963 performance is the archetype of the
Salsa Meets Jazz style in more ways than one.
First, before his sound acquired jazz textures, Santamaría was prominent in Latin
circles. Because he was expanding his musical horizon outward from Latin sources, his
evolution was truly a case of salsa meeting jazz. That evolution is captured in the 1963
recording. Second, whereas Mann appropriated elements of the Latin tradition, Mongo
infused Latin elements into American forms. The best example of this in Mongo at the
Village Gate is the song “Nothing for Nothing” which Santamaría transforms from blues
5 Conversation with Art D’Lugoff - May 10, 2004. Unless otherwise noted, all subsequent attributions are from this conversation. 6 Tribeca Performing Arts Center Program, “Remembering the Village Gate Part One: Salsa Meets Jazz,” April 30 - May 21, 2004, p. 6. 7 Scott Holden Smith, Review of Herbie Mann At the Village Gate. <http://www.musthear.com/reviews/mannvillagegate.html> Accessed May 19, 2004.
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to Latin jazz by injecting an approximation of the Yeza rhythm into the piece.8 Third,
Mongo at the Village Gate includes at least three compositions that prefigure the Salsa
Meets Jazz style: “The Jungle Bit,” which has the feel of Ray Barretto’s 1963 hit “El
Watusi” but is a better composition; “My Sound,” which is a killer conga solo that
foreshadows similar displays during the series by Barretto, Francisco Aguabella, Daniel
Ponce, and Giovanni Hidalgo, among others; and the beautiful bolero “The Morning
After,” which brings to mind a 1986 rendition at the Gate of “Lover Man” by Conjunto
Libre with jazz soloist Chico Freeman.
In 1963 Herbie Mann had another appearance that became Returns to the
Village Gate.9 About this performance Scott Yanow wrote: “Mann really cooks on four of
his own originals, plus ‘Bags' Groove,’ blending in the influence of African, Afro-Cuban
and even Brazilian jazz.”10 In 1966 Atlantic released Mann’s Monday Night at the Village
Gate recorded with Carlos “Patato” Valdés on congas.11 In this album three songs
display Afro-Caribbean inflections: “Motherless Child” is played to a cha-cha beat; “In
Escambrun” has the feel of mambo-samba fusion and “Young Turks” is a fast-paced
mambo.12 But these are still appropriations rather than infusions of Latin into jazz. In the
Tico-Alegre Descargas, which took place also in 1966, there is a mixture of Latin and
jazz but the event was conceived and understood as a fundamentally Latin show and it
did not include any recognized jazz performer. Thus, Mongo’s appearance at the Gate
in 1963 and his 1967 encore remain the best recorded examples of the infusion of Latin
8 This observation is made by Orrin Keepnews in the liner notes to Mongo at the Village Gate without the qualifier “approximation.” I make the qualification based on a comparison between the Santamaría song and Tito Puente’s “Obatalá Yeza” in Top Percussion (RCA 3264-2-RL, 1957). Yeza, also known as Iyesa, is an African-based rhythmic pattern that originated in the province of Matanzas, Cuba. In Mark Weinstein’s Cuban Roots (Musicor International MM 4038, 1968) the song “Ochun” is played in this rhythm but it is called a “rumba illeca.” 9 Herbie Mann, Returns to the Village Gate (Atlantic 1407, 1963; Re-issued in CD format by Wounded Bird Records, WOU 1407, 2001). 10 Michael Erlewine, et al., eds., All Music Guide to Jazz, The Experts’ Guide to the Best Jazz
Recordings, 3rd ed. (Miller Freeman Books, 1998), p. 718. 11 Herbie Mann, Monday Night at the Village Gate (Atlantic 1462, 1966; re-issued in CD format by Wounded Bird Records WOU 1462, 2001). 12 For a critical view of this performance see Harvey Siders, Review of Herbie Mann Monday
Night at the Village Gate, Down beat, 33:13 (June 30, 1966), p. 30.
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into jazz at the Village Gate and therefore the closest approximations to the beginnings
of salsa meeting jazz. Mongo’s 1967 show was released as Mongo Explodes at the
Gate. This performance has a most pleasurable feature: a version of “Afro Blue” with
Julito Collazo on vocals and chekere.13
¡A Descargar!
According to Symphony Sid14 the 1966 Descargas at the Village Gate project
began with his phone call to Morris Levy, president of Tico Records, the fabled
company that was host to the most prominent performers during the 1950s and 1960s
of music from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean in New York.15 “Let’s make a Latin jam
session to end all descargas,” Sid told Levy, and all it took for the proposal to get off the
ground was a gruff response at the other end of the line. “Crazy!,” Levy said. Levy then
phoned the other Morris—Morris Perlsman, a.k.a. Pancho Cristal: “Call Tito Puente,
Eddie Palmieri, and Joe Cuba.” Soon after, a small army of movers and shakers went
on a mad dash to the descarga. “Se Fueron a la Lucha” is how Puerto Rico’s premier
horse race narrator, Rivera Monge, would put it had he been a witness to the
preliminaries for the event.
Getting the jam session to happen was a horse race, full of anticipation and
excitement. Sid announced the event on his radio show on WEVD and the response
was dramatic. “Are you offering to raffle Brigitte Bardot?,” an incredulous Art D’Lugoff
asked Sid after taking a rash of reservations. But no such bait was needed given the
ridiculously low price of admission: $2.75. From today’s vantage point that would be a
handful of change but even then it was a very good deal. Moreover, and surely most
important, the line-up was to die for. On May 23, 1966, the descarga took place with a
historic gathering of luminaries—Al Abreu, Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, Ray
Barretto, Pedro “Puchi” Boulong, Santitos Colón, Joe Cuba, Cándido Camero, Rafael
13 Mongo Santamaría, Mongo Explodes at the Gate (Columbia 9570, 1967). 14 Sid Torin was his given name. 15 The following account is based on the liner notes to Descargas at the Village Gate, Live Tico
All Stars, (TICO LP, 1135, 1966) written by Symphony Sid.
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“Chivirico” Dávila, José “Cheo” Feliciano, Vincent Frisaura, Israel “Cachao” López,
Johnny Pacheco, Charlie and Eddie Palmieri, Víctor Paz, Bobby Porcelli, Francisco
“Chino” Pozo, Tito Puente, Ricardo Ray,16 José Rodrígues, Bobby Rodríguez, Johnny
Rodríguez, Jr., Barry Rogers, Jimmy Sabater, and Ramón Sardiñas, a.k.a. Monguito.
This monster reunion became Descargas at the Village Gate.17
Even though the recording was released in three volumes, the descargas took
place as a single event, the plural form of the noun probably determined by the fact that
each of the numbers recorded was a descarga in itself.
After the Descarga
Between 1960 and 1969 there was Latin and Latin Jazz at the Gate. The
phenomenon salsa meets jazz does occur during that period but there is no evidence of
an official Salsa Meets Jazz series. As for the Latin element, one song by Ricardo Ray
and Bobby Cruz, titled “Pancho Cristal” is suggestive of what went on at the club after
the 1966 descargas. The song describes one aspect of the Latin scene there.
Interestingly, the lyrics refer exclusively to elements of the Afro-Cuban rather than the
jazz tradition, such as the guaguancó, the bembé, the rumba abierta, and the tingo
talango.18 This suggests that as far as Latin music is concerned, during the 1960s the
format that prevailed at the Gate was a mixture of Latin jazz and descarga. The lyrics
are:
Pancho Cristal me llama Pancho Cristal is calling me Pancho Cristal me llama Pancho Cristal is calling me Ay pa’l guaguancó The guaguancó is on Y dice así And it goes like this
16 Listed as Richard Maldonado on the liner notes of the LP. 17 Even though the great Cuban tres player Arsenio Rodríguez was part of the descarga, due to a technical malfunction he was left out of the recording. 18 The guaguancó is a mid to fast tempo rhythm played at a rumba. A rumba is a neighborhood party. Traditionally, bembé is a festivity in honor of orishás —Yoruba deities—or to celebrate the anniversary of Santería initiations. In secular circles the bembé is a party that involves a jam session. A rumba abierta is a fast tempo percussion jam involving two conga drums to provide a rhythmic base over which improvisation on a high-pitched conga drum called quinto takes place. The tingo talango is a species of Cuban drum.
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Vamonos pa’l Village Gate Let’s go to the Village Gate Que allí es donde usted va y ve The place to go and see La voz de la tumbadora The voice of the conga drum Y las estrellas de ahora And the stars of today
Tiene el bembé formado He’s got a bembé in the works Tiene a Ralph Lew al lado Ralph Lew is by his side Ay mira pa’ allá It is something to behold Pancho Cristal Pancho Cristal Vamonos pa’l Village Gate Let’s go to the Village Gate Que allí es donde usted va y ve The place to go and see La voz de la tumbadora The voice of the conga drum Y las estrellas de ahora And the stars of today
During the montuno the coro sings “Pancho Cristal descarga en el Village Gate”
(Pancho Cristal is jamming at the Village Gate) and the sonero responds as follows:
Que Pancho Cristal le digo I’m telling Pancho Cristal que me lleve pa’l bembé to take Me to the bembé Que yo toco un tingo talango I can play tingo talango, si usted me lleva al bembé if you take me to the bembé que usted lo ve Y le reparto a la tumbadora And I will play the conga drum como si fuera un mamey like a child’s game Pancho Cristal Yo le bailo una rumba abierta I will dance the open rumba si usted me lleva al bembé if you take me to the bembé Tingo, tingo, que tingo que tingo The tingo talango talango como si fuera un mamey, as if it was a children’s game Pancho Cristal Que Pancho Cristal le digo que Pancho Cristal, I’m telling you, me lleve pa’l bembé take me to the bembé19
Before Salsa Meets Jazz
Did Salsa Meets Jazz begin “sometime in the 1970s” as Art D’Lugoff claims? If
so, how does that jibe with the notion that the series was dormant during the 1970s?
19 Ricardo Ray/Bobby Cruz, Los Durisimos (Alegre Records, SLPA-8700, 1968).
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Between 1970 and 1979 the New York Times, for example, published 53 articles about
the Village Gate. Salsa Meets Jazz is never mentioned. In an assessment of jazz during
the 1970s Dan Morgenstern declared the decade rife with “unity in diversity.” He noted
the resurgence of bebop as its main stylistic feature and made Dexter Gordon
emblematic of bebop’s comeback. In his view, the decade spawned some hybrid forms
but aside from a vague reference to “experiments involving Third World influences” no
mention is made of experiments in Latin-jazz fusion. From Morgenstern’s review one
can only infer that the salsa meets jazz phenomenon either did not occur or was not
worth mentioning.20 In all likelihood, it was not worth mentioning by the likes of Dan
Morgenstern because, even though there was no official series, there is evidence that
salsa met jazz during the 1970s.
The following account from one Peter La Barbera provides that evidence: It was before they called it salsa meets jazz. Art D'Lugoff got the idea to have Monday, a slow night, to combine a jazz soloist with a Latin Jazz Group. I got in at the beginning of something that would continue for some time to come. Eddie (Lockjaw) Davis was matched with Eddie Palmieri and the Puerto Rican troops came marching all the way down toward the end of the Island to give some bright colors to the drabness of muted Greenwich Village alleys. They came all the way down from One Hundred and Tenth Street, loud, joyous and ready to celebrate the Sun of Latin Music on this Monday, this day of dreariness and wear, this day of blues and pain, this day after the celebration of the weekend. The Puerto Ricans came down and it was going to be a fiesta. Jaws was with Basie at the time and represented the essence of swinging. Eddie [Palmieri] was about to take the music of Latin America and elevate it to newer heights never treaded before. He took the piano of Noro Morales and pounded it into percussive abstracts that would set off the cellar club and raise it into the frenzy of Bleecker Street with a Puerto Rican victory of the night. (...) Jaws, up to that point, didn't do too much with a Latin groove. It took him two or three bars into the music before he melted into Eddie's clave. The Gate swayed and moaned and Eddie [Palmieri] created the tension. The tension you knew would eventually explode and send the Puerto Ricans and the rest of us rising to our feet and lifting our arms in the air at the climax, which came again and again through the bongos, the bells, the chorus, Eddie's pounding piano and Jaws. It was no longer Monday and
20 Dan Morgenstern, “Jazz in the ‘70s: No Energy Crisis,” Down beat 47:1 (January 1980), pp. 19-21, 71-72.
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we were no longer in the Village at the Gate. The music elevated us to another place where physical time's no longer accounted for.21
The reference to Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Count Basie places the performance
anywhere between 1964 and 1973, the years that bracket Davis’ last tenure with the
Basie Orchestra.22 But the reference to the “Sun of Latin Music” is the clincher because
the title was publicly conferred to Palmieri by Harvey Averne in 1973. This would make
Peter La Barbera a keen observer because Averne’s designation appeared in the liner
notes to the record Eddie Palmieri & Friends in Concert at the University of Puerto Rico.
It is not until 1974 that the moniker goes into wide circulation after the release of
Palmieri’s album by the same title.23 Thus, after Mann, Mongo, and the Descargas
made their appearance, salsa met jazz but, as far as I have been able to establish, the
only documentary reference to that presence after 1967 is the one cited above. La
Barbera notes that this show took place before “they called it salsa meets jazz” but his
description matches the Salsa Meets Jazz format. Therefore that type of performance
must be the basis for Art D’Lugoff’s recollection placing the series “sometime in the
1970s.”
A Series is Born
The Salsa Meets Jazz series was the result of a concatenation of intentions,
decisions, and events. Art D’Lugoff’s need and intent to make his club more profitable24
and his related decision to open the Gate for a series of Monday jazz sessions in 1960
21 Peter La Barbera, “Pandemonium On A Monday Night,” Jazz Club Stories, <http://members.aol.com/plabstory/jazzclub.html#top> Accessed January 6, 2003. 22 Scott Yanow, Afro-Cuban Jazz (San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 2000), p. 174. 23 See Eddie Palmieri & Friends in Concert at the University of Puerto Rico (Coco Records, DCLP-107, 1973); Eddie Palmieri, The Sun of Latin Music (Coco Records, CLP-109XX, 1974). If it is correct that Lockjaw Davis was with the Basie Orchestra at the time of this performance the show was definitely before 1984 the year when Basie passed away. See Scott Yanow, Bebop, (San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 2000), p.6. Davis himself died in 1986. See Yanow, Afro-Cuban Jazz, p. 174. 24 Art D’Lugoff, Remarks during Panel Discussion of Salsa Meets Jazz, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, April 30th, 2004.
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is the initial link in the chain. The booking of Herbie Mann in that year opened the door
to the fusion of Latin and jazz.25 In 1961 that marriage is formalized in Herbie Mann at
the Village Gate. However, it is not until Mongo Santamaría’s appearance in 1963 that
the model for the series acquires its definitive musical shape. Then in 1966 Symphony
Sid lays the foundation for the actual series with his Descargas. On the practical side,
the redoubtable music promoter Jack Hooke and the Puerto Rican/Dominican
impresario Ralph Mercado coordinated the salsa side of the series whereas Art D’Lugoff
assisted with the jazz bookings. Concerning the name of the series, drummer Bobby
Sanabria offers the following account:
Jack moved the "Latin Meets Jazz" concept to the Gate in the 60s for occasional concerts. Once the term salsa started to be used in the 70s, they utilized that word to promote it as "Salsa Meets Jazz" instead of "Latin Meets Jazz" in the 80s. Art D'Lugoff didn't invent the concept. It was Jack's idea. (...) At least this is what Jack explained to me.26
The series was also possible because of Art D’Lugoff’s love of music and
dancing—Salsa Meets Jazz brought the two together.27 This was important after the
demise of the Palladium, which closed its doors in the same month of 1966 that the Tico
descargas took place. The series supplemented the dancing that went on in the
cuchifrito circuit. This was critical because during the 1980s people went to places like
Casino 14, on 14th street and 4th Avenue, Casablanca, on 52nd and Broadway, or the
Corso on East 86th street, to dance, punto. At the Gate one could dance or listen or
both.
The documentary evidence for the official start of the series can be found in one
of eleven articles about the Gate published in the New York Times in 1980. According to
Robert Palmer, “Salsa Meets Jazz at the Village Gate, a series of Monday-night
encounters between established Latin bands and jazz soloists, is only a few weeks old.
25 Art D’Lugoff, Liner Notes to Herbie Mann Monday Night at the Village Gate (Wounded Bird Records, WOU 1462, 2001). 26 José E. Cruz, compiler, “Memories of the Gate: A Cyber-Exchange on Salsa Meets Jazz at the Village Gate,” April-May 2003. 27 Art D’Lugoff, Remarks during Panel Discussion of Salsa Meets Jazz, Tribeca Performing Arts
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But the shows, with the WRVR-FM disc jockey Roger Dawson playing host, are already
attracting a large and loyal audience and threaten to become a Monday night
institution.”28 A few weeks old? Indeed. Palmer’s article was published on June 4, 1980.
According to the Village Voice, the first Salsa Meets Jazz event of that year took place
on May 12. Thus, when Palmer published his piece the baby was three-weeks old, give
or take a day. What happened in that year? Who played the series? What was the 1980
scene like for Latin jazz beyond the Village Gate?
1980: Wha’ Happen’?
The year 1980 began with a bang at the Gate. On Friday, January 18, the club
featured Count Basie and his orchestra. The following Friday patrons got more swing,
along with a blast of percussion, from Buddy Rich, that most exuberant of jazz
drummers. On April 11, David Chertok presented Jazz Highlights on Film. From April 12
to May 2, the Gate welcomed the music of the Duke Ellington Orchestra led by Mercer
Ellington; Count Basie had a reunion with Joe Williams, Maynard Ferguson blew his
horn all the way up from the basement theatre to the stratosphere, and dancers got a
chance to hark back to the 1930s with Panama Francis and the
Savoy Sultans in what D’Lugoff called the Saturday Midnight Stomp. The first one was
held on April 5, from midnight ‘til dawn. The admission price for this event was $2.95.
“Depression Prices for Depression Dancing,” was the catchy slogan of the Stomp
sessions. Francis was scheduled for three Saturdays in a row, followed by the
Widespread Depression Orchestra on April 26 for a four-week round. At this point
D’Lugoff’s plan was to start the Monday-night Salsa Meets Jazz series at the end of
April.29
On May 12 Salsa Meets Jazz entered the scene with none other than Eddie
Palmieri and Típica 73. No jazz soloist was listed in the Village Voice ad announcing the
Center, April 30th, 2004. 28 Robert Palmer, “Salsa Meets Jazz: Billy Harper,” New York Times, June 4, 1980, p. 29. 29 John S. Wilson, “An Impresario Whose Gate is Always Open,” New York Times, March 23, 1980, Section 2, p. 6.
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event but according to Ray Barretto, the slot was filled by Sonny Stitt.30 Palmieri was
followed by Tito Puente and Bobby Rodríguez,31 with Billy Harper on tenor saxophone.
The next date was June 9 with Ray Barretto and the father-son team of José Mangual
and José Mangual, Jr.; trumpeter Jon Faddis was the jazz soloist. After June 9, there is
a three-week gap in the record. From June 30 through the end of October, with only one
exception, the series took place weekly. The last session of the year featured Típica
73—the group played the series four times in 1980—and Conjunto Clásico, with
saxophonist Charlie Rouse as the jazz soloist. This was October 27. By the end of
December Salsa Meets Jazz had been silent for almost two months so the club had to
do something. On New Year’s Eve dancers and listeners had a ball with Stanley
Turrentine and a Latin jazz Orchestra.
Inside the Series
What were some of the distinctive features of Salsa Meets Jazz in 1980? What
can be said about the Latin jazz scene today based on what took place in that first
year? As Table 1 shows, the series could have been called Charanga Meets Jazz. A
charanga group played in 10 of the 19 shows held that year. According to D’Lugoff, this
was a function of popularity. After a decline beginning in the mid-60s, charanga became
hot in the late 70s and early 80s and this translated into revenue—a consideration that
was at the heart of the series. It is interesting, although not entirely surprising that, given
its strong presence at the Gate in 1980, charanga is not as prominent today as it was
then.
Given the combination of seasoned and young talent represented—José Fajardo
playing opposite Dave Valentín or Ray Barretto playing opposite José Mangual, Jr.—
participants must have considered the future of Latin music in New York secure. Who
would have thought that the artists representing the most promise in 1980—Héctor
30 Conversation with Ray Barretto, June 30, 2004. 31 The clarinet and flute player leader of La Compañía, not to be confused with Tito Puente’s (and Machito’s and Tito Rodriguez’s as well) legendary bass player. On this occasion Rodríguez played the saxophone.
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Lavoe, Angel Canales, Bobby Rodríguez, Luis “Perico” Ortiz, José Mangual, Jr.—would
be either dead or nearly forgotten in 2004? It is amazing that at the dawn of the 21st
Century, the “old timers” in 1980—Barretto, Eddie Palmieri—continue to be among the
most prominent keepers of the flame. Of the young musicians that played the series in
1980 only Dave Valentín enjoys worldwide prominence and success today.
Interestingly, Valentín was the only Latino musician to appear as guest jazz
soloist in 1980.32 According to D’Lugoff, he earned the spot due to his strong presence
within jazz circles. His association with Herbie Mann was an important reason for this.
Tony Sabournin offers a complementary explanation. In his view, the flutist’s
collaboration with Noel Pointer allowed him to “show his stuff” and his work with Manny
Oquendo’s Libre made him realize that the mixture of típico with jazz would carry him
farther than the easy-listening banalities of pop-jazz.33
One whimsical feature of the series concerns the so-called “mystery jazz
soloists.” For one-third of the shows held in 1980, patrons went in not knowing who the
jazz artist would be mainly because the promoters were not sure themselves. In
contrast, master of ceremonies Roger Dawson, from WRVR, was a predictable fixture of
the series during its first year. Had Symphony Sid not been out of the picture due to
relocation to south Florida, where he hosted a salsa show every Saturday night on
WBUS, he would have been D’Lugoff’s natural choice of MC. Before settling for
Dawson, D’Lugoff considered Paquito Navarro, but drug-related problems made
Navarro undesirable for this role. Yet, Dawson was not a lesser choice. His value was in
his connection with a radio station that was well known as a salsa-jazz crossover
outlet.34
In 1980, Tito Puente performed at the Gate twice but Mongo Santamaría did not
make an appearance. In August, the series listed McDonald’s as a sponsor. According
32 Valentín is a New Yorker of Puerto Rican origin. 33 Tony Sabournin, “Dave Valentín Escapes Pop-Jazz,” Village Voice, October 8-14, 1980, p. 76. 34 Dawson’s show “Up From the Roots” was created by Felipe Luciano in the 1970s during the heyday of the Young Lords Party in New York. When Luciano was in charge the selection of music was done by René López, the music historian, and Andy González, who was then with the Ray Barretto orchestra. See “The Cultural Warrior: Andy González” by Eric González. <http://www.oasissalsero.com/mayo04/Andy%20Gonzalez.htm> accessed May 15, 2004.
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to D’Lugoff, Puente and Santamaría were always welcome at the Gate. Puente’s two
shows and Mongo’s absence simply meant that their availability was limited. As for
McDonald’s ad hoc sponsorship, “they were interested, we were interested, and so we
made a deal,” is how D’Lugoff explained the company’s participation. It would not be the
last time that salsa and jazz met fast food.
Outside the Gate
What was it like for Latin jazz outside the Gate? A host of Latin jazz artists
performed 76 times in gigs around town between January and December. (See Table 2)
This number is not exact because it does not include all the dates for the Afro-Cuban
Jazz Masters series inaugurated on October 28 by Verna Gillis at Soundscape. Also,
some performances may not have been advertised in the Village Voice or the New York
Times. If we assume that there were no gaps in the series at Soundscape in November
and December, we come up with 84 performances for a rate of one every four days. In
addition to Soundscape, the venues that supplemented the Gate as a home for Latin
jazz were the Alley, Blue Hawaii, the Bottom Line, Bradleys, Eric, Grand Finale, Greene
Street, Ipanema, the Jazz Forum, Jazzmania Society, the Jazz Penthouse, Salt
Peanuts, Seventh Avenue South, Sweet Basil, and The Other End. The Beacon Theatre
and NYU’s Loeb Center, at 566 La Guardia Place, provided ad hoc venues for some
artists.
Clubs and restaurants supported regulars from the Salsa Meets Jazz series like
Ray Barretto and Dave Valentín as well as non-participants such as Gato Barbieri, the
group Bakateo, Jorge Dalto, Alfredo de la Fe, Paquito D’Rivera, Andy and Jerry
González, Ray Mantilla, Hilton Ruiz, Mario Rivera, Steve Turre, and Papo Vázquez. In
one odd instance in June, Conjunto Libre played at The 80's, a club that claimed to
present “all the rock that fits.” Libre’s performance was dubbed “Conjunto Libre Goes
New Wave.” Mongo Santamaría played twice in January at The Other End. In May,
Santamaría was also featured in the second edition of the Festival of Drums sponsored
by the Theatre of Latin America in association with Verna Gillis and held at the Klitgord
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Center on 285 Jay Street, Brooklyn. Two refugees from the Mariel Boatlift of 1980, a
migratory wave that brought over 100,000 Cuban exiles to Miami virtually overnight,
were incorporated into this alternative scene: Daniel Ponce and Ignacio Berroa, both
percussionists, quickly became fixtures at Soundscape’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Masters
series.
Not once in 1980 did the Village Vanguard feature a major Latin jazz artist. In
October, Eddie Gómez made it there for a one-week engagement but as part of Hank
Jones’s trio. Sweet Basil welcomed Mario Rivera for one night in August and The
Bottom Line teamed up Mongo Santamaría with Stan Getz for two nights in November.
And that was it for the mainstream clubs. During the New Music Series at the Public
Theatre on Lafayette Street, jazz enthusiasts and connoisseurs were able to enjoy the
work of greats such as Don Pullen, Steve Lacy, and Cecil Taylor but not a peep of Latin
jazz was heard.
A cursory review of El Diario-La Prensa in 1980 reveals a very strong salsa
scene throughout the city, beginning with “Bronx Week,” held from May 9 to 18, which
featured Machito and his Orchestra offering its brand of Caribbean-American fusion to
Puerto Ricans and other Latinos.35 In addition, there were numerous shows in a variety
of clubs and restaurants as well as three major events: the selection, on June 7, of the
El Diario-Budweiser Queen for 1980 at the Roosevelt Hotel, on 45th and Madison
Avenue, featuring José Fajardo y Sus Estrellas; a Fania All-Stars concert at Madison
Square Garden on June 21, featuring Celia Cruz; and a salsa festival in El Barrio on
June 27 dedicated to Tito Puente and Machito. Latin jazz, however, remained marginal,
even in the Bronx. When in September the Lehman College Center for the Performing
Arts opened some of its facilities, the only sounds coming out of the concert hall were
those of Bach, Mozart, and Vivaldi, played by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin
Mehta.36 This was nothing to sneeze at but, was classical the only music deserving to
be heard? It would be worth exploring further what clubs and other venues did for Latin
jazz throughout the 1980s.
35 “Proclaman la Semana del Bronx, 1980,” El Diario-La Prensa, May 9, 1980, p. 4. 36 “New Life in the Bronx,” Village Voice, October 15-12, 1980, p. 92.
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In June, Tito Puente’s mother, Doña Ercilia Puente, passed away at the age of
79.37 Near the end of the year another death shook the world of jazz when Bill Evans
was taken away by double pneumonia and cirrhosis of the liver.38 What could anyone
do but keep keeping on? The various Latin jazz performances held throughout the city
between June and December were the best tribute Latin jazz artists could offer. The
release in 1980 of Jerry Gonzalez’ Ya Yo Me Curé was not intended as a tribute but it
was a grand way of keeping the tradition while creating something exciting and different.
This was the seed for the Fort Apache Band, which made its official debut two years
later in Berlin.39 The capstone of the year for Latin jazz outside the Gate was Verna
Gillis’s Afro-Cuban Jazz program on December 30 at Soundscape.
Sounds on the Dial
In 1980 there were at least five radio stations broadcasting jazz in the city:
WRVR, WEVD, WYRS, WBAI, and WBGO, based in New Jersey. At WEVD Marty
Wilson offered jazz in the wee hours of the morning, from 12 am to 5 am and from 10
pm to 5 am on Fridays. WBAI broadcast the show at Salt Peanuts, on 399 Greenwich
Street, live every Monday from 10-11 pm. WYRS played only jazz from 6 am to 1 am
and its ads in the Voice read “Jazz is Alive on WYRS.” WBGO placed ads in the Voice
37 “Muere la Madre de Tito Puente,” El Diario-La Prensa, June 6, 1980, p. 35. 38 Gary Giddins, “Bill Evans: 1929-1980,” Village Voice, September 24-30, 1980, p. 67. 39 See Jerry Gonzalez, Ya Yo Me Curé (American Clavé, 1001, 1980) and Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band, The River is Deep (Enja, 4040, 1982). According to Francisco Reyes II, who took some of the photos of the band's initial performances, the Fort Apache Band was a concept that evolved during the 1980 shoot of "Fort Apache - The Bronx" (a feature film starring Paul Newman). The core group was actually "Libre" with alternating members, expanding and contracting in size, depending on the blend of jazz and tipico that leaders Jerry and Andy Gonzalez were looking to achieve for a given gathering. The ensemble of "Libre" and its circle of talent that included Mario Rivera, Chocolate Armenteros, Jorge D'alto, and Nicky Marrero (to name a few), became recognized as the official band of "The Committee Against Fort Apache" (CAFA). The musicians performed in school auditoriums and at street rallies where CAFA organizers were mobilizing communities to disrupt the film's production because of its negative depiction of the Bronx and of Puerto Ricans. These performances were not quite an official debut by industry standards, but they bear a significant importance in the Nuyorican experience.
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professing to play “All Jazz in all the right places.”
The only commercial jazz station in the city and the one with the widest audience
was WRVR. On September 8, at 10 am, the station announced that it would switch from
jazz to country at noon. Without any previous warning, listeners who turned on the radio
just before noon, began their lunch to the sound of Charles Mingus’s “Goodbye Pork Pie
Hat” and took their last bite to the voice of Waylon Jennings’s “Would You Like to Hear
Country.”
Using the switch as its cue, WBGO announced a 24-hour jazz policy. But this did
not compensate for the loss of Roger Dawson’s six-hour Sunday salsa show on WRVR.
As Table 1 shows, by the end of September Dawson had moved to WJIT but the loss of
WRVR for jazz and salsa was still significant. “Viacom [WRVR’s corporate owner] has
betrayed the jazz community in New York,” wrote Gary Giddins in the Village Voice,
“depriving it of an outlet to promote new records and advertise concerts.” For his part,
Tony Sabournin noted with irony that Dawson’s program was being axed even though it
“had an audience of 250,000, and was responsible for 20 percent of the station’s
revenue while occupying 4 percent of its airtime.”40
On October 18, an organizing meeting sponsored by Citizens for Jazz on WRVR
was held at the Village Gate to chart a course of action. On October 25th a concert
dubbed “Bring Back Jazz on WRVR” was held at the Beacon Theatre, on Broadway and
74th Street, to benefit the group. The concert included Michael Brecker, Hubert Laws,
David Sanborn, Eddie Daniels, Jon Faddis, Carol Steele, and Dave Valentín, among
others.
40 “WRVR Pulls a Fast One,” Village Voice, September 17-23, 1980, p. 64. In 2004, WBGO suspended Awilda Rivera’s show The Latin Jazz Cruise, only to become subject to the same type of accusations by musicians and listeners that Gary Giddins leveled against WRVR in 1980. After months of intense criticism WBGO relented and the Latin Jazz Cruise was reinstated on December 21, 2004. See e-mail from Ralph Irizarry to Latin jazz e-group, December 12, 2004. <http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/latinjazz/message/55657> Accessed 12/22/04.
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Beyond 1980
In New York City, Salsa Meets Jazz was not the only outlet for Latin jazz. In fact,
four years before the series began, Salsa and Jazz were meeting quite successfully in
Loisaida at the New Rican Village, under the musical direction of Andy Gonzalez. At the
New Rican Village the cultural mix was arguably spicier and perhaps more creative than
at the Gate. As one performer put it:
There is so much room here, and the audience is so responsive and open. I can do Varese 21.5 here, as well as Afro-Cuban music and jazz. The New Rican Village fulfills our need to play what we want to play, a place for developing ourselves. We experiment here.41
Yet, the series at the Gate offered the largest number of shows at a single venue
while providing systematic opportunities for the continuation of the affair begun by Mario
Bauzá, Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo in the 1940s. At the most basic level,
the Gate allowed participants to listen as well as to dance. The Salsa Meets Jazz series
provided a space that allowed Puerto Rican migrants to maintain their homeland roots
while also exploring the meaning of their identity as Puerto Ricans in New York. I have
no doubt that this is true for other Latinos as well.
Salsa Meets Jazz was also an arena of democracy and equality. Musicians
played for their peers without losing track of the audience. Listeners freely approached
the musicians with their opinions, questions, and judgments about the music and
musicians took the input from listeners seriously. As Symphony Sid put it during his
introduction of Mongo Santamaría’s band in 1963, “At the Village Gate, with audience
participation we feel that the musician is even more inspired. And so ladies and
41 “A place where Latin artists and members of the community can come,” n.d. Lourdes Torres Papers, Series VII Organizations, Box 10 Folder 19, Centro Archives. The New Rican Village was established in 1976 by Eddie Figueroa and others, at 101 Avenue A, between 6th and 7th Street. After an investment of $14,000 in renovations, the cultural center was evicted in October 1979 for overdue rent in the amount of $3,500. Later on the cultural center was located at 185 East 116th Street in El Barrio. See “New Rican Village,” n.d. Lourdes Torres Papers, Series VIII Subject Files, Box 13 Folder 17, Centro Archives.
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gentlemen, you become part of the scene.”42 I will never forget the night when, after
taking a terrific trumpet solo with the Tito Puente orchestra, Piro Rodríguez sat down
next to me and asked: “How was that? Was that OK?” I was floored by this display of
humility coming from a musician who had stood his ground before the great Arturo
Sandoval in a trumpet duel that according to Peter Watrous grew “tougher and more
vicious with each phrase. By the end,” Watrous concluded, “there was no winner except
for the audience, which had seen both joy and competition on the same stage.”43
Another feature of the series that also played on this democratic note was its
inclusiveness. Unlike jazz performances, which draw fairly homogenous groups of
people, Salsa Meets Jazz events brought together individuals from all walks of life and
no one was required to know anything about the music to enjoy it. This is how one
patron remembers the series during the 1980s:
What most struck me about Salsa meets Jazz, given my limited knowledge of the music, was the diversity of the crowd-- A cross section of race, age, and class, coming from all New York's neighborhoods. I also recall that Bill Cosby was a regular—my friend Marcia, who was a CUNY sociology student who was not at all shy, would make a point of chatting with him.44
Salsa Meets Jazz was the place to see and be seen—a meeting ground for old
and new friends, an arena for the recognition and validation of emerging artists, a
school where the old nurtured the young. Once you played the Gate you got leverage; it
completed your resume. As timbalero Ralph Irizarry put it, when Rubén Blades went
around marketing Seis del Solar to club owners in the cuchifrito circuit, they all rejected
his overtures because he was “asking for too much money for only six guys.”45 And then
the group played the Gate with Paquito D’Rivera as jazz soloist. About this performance
Jon Pareles wrote:
42 “Introduction by Symphony Sid,” Mongo at the Village Gate. 43 Peter Watrous, “A Rousing Welcome For a Cuban Trumpeter,” New York Times, August 23, 1990, p. 16. 44 Elizabeth Strom, e-mail communication, September 10, 2004. 45 Ralph Irizarry, Remarks during Panel Discussion of Salsa Meets Jazz, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, April 30th, 2004.
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Placed at the end of the set, material from Mr. Blades's new album, ''Antecedente,'' came as a slight letdown. The songs, about Panama, look back to the music Mr. Blades sang as a member of Willie Colon's band; they use a pair of trombones where Seis del Solar had synthesizers, and the tempos are more relaxed. Although the band easily handled the new songs, the transition was like stepping off a Metroliner onto a bus.46
Despite the mixed review, the performance kindled the interest of reluctant club owners
and, according to Irizarry, money became no object. Is there a club in New York City
today that gives performers that kind of clout?
Bobby Sanabria argues that the coincidence of Salsa Meets Jazz with the Mariel
boatlift of 1980 added energy to the musical scene in the city. The passage below is
worth quoting at length because it tells us something important about the post-1980
musical scene of which Salsa Meets Jazz was both incubator and component.
The Mariel boatlift, oddly enough, rejuvenated Afro-Cuban based music in NYC. This time period was responsible for the birth of bands like Fort Apache, Jorge Dalto's Inter-American Band, Paquito's [D’ Rivera] working quintet and yes my own ensemble Ascensión as well as many others. You have to understand that the Village Gate Monday night "Salsa Meets Jazz" series at Bleecker and Thompson streets was also in full effect. Across the way at Houston and Varick there was SOB’s, where Ana Araiz was also having a Monday night competing series. The difference was that at SOB's it was geared more toward dancing and folklore. Many times the crowd couldn't decide where to go. Many people would run back and forth between the clubs. (...) There was also a small club down from the Blue Note, called Visiones, where Ascensión would play. In fact, we were the first to perform Afro-Cuban based jazz there. Later Charlie Sepúlveda would perform there as well as a host of other Brazilian and Afro-Cuban-based jazz groups. Again the programming was for Monday night!!!(...) Mario Bauzá had come out of retirement and was finally getting some recognition from the jazz community. Paquito, Ignacio Berroa and Daniel Ponce as well as Jorge Dalto and Jerry Gonzalez were really coming into their own. Tito Puente was experiencing a renaissance. (...) Everyone was coming to check out the scene. I can't tell you how many times I would bump into Robert Duvall, Christopher Walken, Robert DeNiro, Bill Cosby, Al Lewis (the cat that played "Granpa" on the Munsters) and many other
46 Jon Pareles, “Ruben Blades's Salsa,” New York Times, December 4, 1988, Section 1; Part 3, Page 90.
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Hollywood celebrities at performances at the Gate. People like Mick Jagger, Peter Gabriel, Joe Jackson (in Joe's case he started to copy what was happening which eventually led to his "Night and Day" album and his tune "Everything Gives You Cancer") and others were showing up at Soundscape and the Gate.47
When John Storm Roberts wrote that Michele Rosewoman’s work with Bakateo
represented the “first purely jazz playing I’ve ever heard that meshed with Latin rhythms
instead of riding above them,” he had not witnessed the symbiosis that went on at Salsa
Meets Jazz.48 Of course, in time lapses in creativity were inevitable. In 1992, a
disappointed Watrous wrote that “the Salsa Meets Jazz shows at the Village Gate are
fairly ritualized, usually starting out with some salsa, then collapsing into some
lackluster jazz.”49 But in 1980, when Stanley Crouch complained about western
musicians who used instruments and techniques from classical ethnic sources by
saying they were like “50's liberals [who] would self-righteously take a Negro to lunch to
combat racism,” he was not and could not have been referring to those who blended
Latin and jazz at the Gate. “Aesthetic integration,” he wrote, “is still one of the most
difficult challenges in contemporary art.”50 Of course, the challenge of aesthetic
integration goes beyond the boundaries of art. And the Village Gate during the Salsa
Meets Jazz series was one important place to go to witness first-hand the many
possible ways of meeting this challenge.
47 José E. Cruz, compiler, “Memories of the Gate: A Cyber-Exchange...” Sanabria’s reference to the Monday night series at SOB’s places his recollection squarely in the post-1980 period. There is no record in the Village Voice nor in the New York Times for 1980 of any such shows. It is unlikely that there would be no ads at all in the Voice or that nothing would have been written in the Times about this series in 1980, had it started in that year. 48 John Storm Roberts, “Cubop Redivivus,” Village Voice, January 7, 1980, p. 52. 49 Peter Watrous, “Pop and Jazz in Review,” New York Times, November 19, 1992, p. 23. 50 Stanley Crouch, “Percussion Dispersion,” Village Voice, June 2, 1980, p. 74.
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Table 1 - Salsa Meets Jazz at the Village Gate, 1980
Date Performers Jazz Soloist MC
5/12 Eddie Palmieri & Típica 73 Sonny Stitt Roger Dawson, WRVR
n.d. Tito Puente & Bobby Rodríguez Billy Harper “
6/9 Ray Barretto & José Mangual w. José Mangual, Jr. Jon Faddis “
6/30 Libre & Charanga 76 Charlie Rouse “
7/7 Ray Barretto & Saoco Mystery Soloist “
7/14 Típica 73 & Orch. Broadway “ ”
7/21 José Mangual, Jr. & Charanga América Junior Cook “
7/28 Angel Canales & Bobby Rodríguez Sonny Fortune “
8/4 Latin Percussion Jazz Ensemble featuring
Tito Puente and Carlos “Patato” Valdés &
Luis “Perico” Ortíz Woody Shaw “
8/11 Típica 73 & Orch. Broadway Mystery Soloist “
8/18 Angel Canales & Charanga Casino “ ”
8/25 Battle of the Flutes: José Fajardo & Charanga
Sensual w. Artie Webb Dave Valentín “
9/15 Luis “Perico” Ortíz & Conjunto Clásico Nat Adderley “
9/22 Charanga 76 & Tico-Alegre All-Stars George Coleman “
9/29 Héctor Lavoe & Angel Canales Mystery Soloist Roger Dawson, WJIT
10/6 José Fajardo & Bobby Rodríguez Dave Valentín “
10/13 Ray Barretto & Orch. Broadway Clifford Jordan “
10/20 Luis “Perico” Ortíz & Charanga Casino Mystery Soloist “
10/27 Típica 73 & Conjunto Clásico Charlie Rouse “
Source: Except for Sonny Stitt reference, Village Voice January 7 - December 30, 1980.
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Table 2 - Latin Jazz in New York City, 1980
Date Artist Venue
1/17-20 Dave Valentín Seventh Avenue South
1/22,23 Hilton Ruiz Trio Greene Street
1/24-26 Mongo Santamaría The Other End
2/20 “ Ipanema
2/29-3/2 Dave Valentín Seventh Avenue South
3/7,8 Steve Turre Quintet w. Jon Faddis Jazzmania Society
3/12 Bakateo Blue Hawaii
4/1 Libre & Friends Soundscape
4/11,12 Ray Mantilla Jazzmania Society
4/29 Libre & Friends Soundscape
5/6 “ ”
5/18 Mongo Santamaría Festival of Drums II
5/20 Libre & Friends Soundscape
5/30,31 Ray Mantilla Jazz Forum
6/5 Mitch Frohman & the NY Salsa All-Stars The Alley
6/12 Conjunto Libre The 80s
6/12 Alfredo de la Fe Seventh Avenue South
7/2 Mitch Frohman & the NY Salsa All-Stars The Alley
7/10 “ ”
7/31 Encuentros Latin Jazz “
8/18 Mario Rivera Sweet Basil
8/28-31 Tania María Greene Street
9/26,27 Hilton Ruiz Trio Jazz Forum
10/2 Jorge Dalto Seventh Avenue South
10/3 Mario Rivera & Salsa Refugees Village Gate Birthday Party
10/11 Bobby Sanabria & Ascensión Eric
10/25 Dave Valentín Beacon Theatre benefit for CFJ at
WVRV
11/4-6 Jorge Dalto Seventh Avenue South
11/6 Ray Barretto & Eddie Gómez Salute to Roy Haynes, NYU Loeb
Center
11/13 Andy Gonzalez & Alfredo de la Fe Soundscape
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11/18 Dave Valentín Bottom Line
11/18 Paquito D’Rivera Soundscape
11/22,23 Mongo Santamaría with Stan Getz Bottom Line
11/25 Daniel Ponce & Ignacio Berroa Soundscape
11/28,29 Steve Turre Jazzmania Society
12/2 Daniel Ponce Soundscape
12/2-7 Tania María Greene Street
12/9 Daniel Ponce & Ignacio Berroa Soundscape
12/10 Mitch Frohman & the Salsa All-Stars
With Joe Manozzi & Mike Collazo The Alley
12/16-18 Jorge Dalto Seventh Avenue South
12/18-20 Gato Barbieri Grand Finale
12/19,20 Paquito D’Rivera Soundscape
12/19-21 Jorge Dalto Greene Street
12/30 Afro-Cuban Jazz Soundscape
12/31 Stanley Turrentine & Latin Jazz Orch. Village Gate
Source: Village Voice, January 7- December 30, 1980.