Latin Music in America

Ch. 7!

Peruvian Flute Bands

Louis Moreau Gottschalk(1829-1869)

Composer and pianist who was America’s first classical music star, toured South America and the Caribbean. Upon his return he composed several piano pieces

Patting JubaA slave practice in which they tap out tricky

rhythms on their thighs, chest, and almost any other part of the body that’s “slappable”

MaracasPercussion instrument made by putting handles

on dried, seed-filled gourds; the shaking of seeds against the interior walls of the gourd makes the distinctive sound.

Ricky Ricardo Main character in the popular tv show “I Love

Lucy”

Ricky led a Latin band at the Tropicana night club

Clave RhythmPronounced clay-vay

Defining rhythm of Afro-Cuban music

Bo Diddly and Ricky Ricardos bands used this rhythm seemingly unintentionally

InfluencesLatin music influenced Popular American Honky

tonk and Mo town

Marvin Gaye’s version of I heard it through the grape vine, showed the seasoning of Latin influence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJbQ6zdUXqg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7dGdrP3pms&ob=av3n

Assimilation of Latin MusicLasting until the early 1940’s Latin syles

emerged as dance fads that departed from the mainstream.

As they became popular in America they moved away from their native forms.

Assimilation of Latin Music cont.

Lasting from the 1930s to 1950s was the emergence of hybrid or transformed styles. These grew out of the interpretations of Latin music into Latin styles

Assimilation of Latin Music cont.

Lastly was the coincidence of rhythm, blues and rock and roll. Latin music was becoming part of the fabric of dominant styles.

Rock made distinguishing Latin styles separate from rock styles less clear in the mainstream.

The Habanera and TangoIt’s characteristic rhythm is one of the first

recorded instances of African influence on European music. Entered the US through Mexico, where it became popular in the 1870’s. Habanera went south to Argentina where it evolved into the rhythmic basis of tango.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Habaneras.ogg

The RumbaThe success of Don Azpiazu’s 1930 recording of “El

Manisero” triggered the second of the Latin dance crazes, the rumba. This was a spectacular exhibition dance, but often times rumbas were simplified for social dancing

The rumba grew out of the Son, an Afro-Cuban dance.

Clave rhythm: five irregularly spaced taps, spread over two four beat measures.

The rumba and son would utilize reverse clave rhythm, where the second half of the rhythm comes first

Americanized Latin music: Porter, Cugat, and the Latin song

With the success of “El Manisero”, Latin music gained a toehold in the pop world.

American songwriters showed a greater sensitivity to Latin style.

Writers such as Cole Porter and Xavier Cugat were amongst those embracing the “Latin Song”

Americanized Latin music used a music tool known as triplets which divide the beat or other rhythmic unit into three equal parts

Cole PorterCole porter was one of the great Tin Pan Alley

songwriters, and the most open to the sound of Latin music, or at least the commercial Latin music that Xavier Cugat played.

Porter wrote several Latin songs, beginning in the 1930’s, identifying the rhythm as rumba or “beguine”.

What is noteworthy about porters songs, is that their lyrics have nothing to do with Latin culture

Xavier CugatXavier Cugat’s orchestra was among the first to

record “Begin the Beguine”. Cugat helped establish a commercial Latin style, initially through long term engagements at the Waldorf Hotels in New York and Los Angeles and performances on network radio show Let’s Dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC2oYXFHwcw

The Mambo: An American Afro-Cuban Music

The mambo was the 3rd Latin dance fad of the 20th century, but it was the first to develop on American soil. 1949’s the mambo began to attract notice outside of uptown New York. Downtown ballrooms like New York’s Palladium dance hall served as venues for this new dance fad

The presence of two “mambo kings” in the 50’s brings to light the division between commercial and Afro-Cuban Latin music. For white audiences pianist and band leader Perez Prado was the king. For Latins the “king of the mambo” during the 50’s was Tito Puente.

In Afro Cuban rhythm, it is a repeated riff conforming to the clave rhythm, and several layers of percussion, to produce a dense texture with considerable rhythmic conflict. The bass plays the off-beat tumbao pattern, while the piano plays an active pattern called a montuno.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQGJ2yIAGTk

Cha-Cha-ChaThe other Cuban-inspired dance fat in the

1950’s was known as the cha-cha-cha. It became popular among white Cubans in the early 50’s and it’s popularity quickly spread to the US.

Both the rhythm and the dance step of the cha-cha-cha were simpler than the mambo and its tempo was slower

Mainstreaming Latin MusicTop pop singing stars occasionally dabbled in the

idea of Latin music

Both Perry Como and Nat “King” Cole recorded a song called “Papa Loves Mambo”. It was a million seller for Como in 1954.

Stars such as Dean Martin and Rosemary Clooney also had their go at Latin Music

Latin Music and JazzLatin/jazz fusions flourished in the 1950’s.

although the impact of Latin music on jazz dates back from the time of it’s origins, latin music has had little impct on jazz before 1945.

When bebop jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie formed a big band in the late 40’s he hired Chano Pozo, a latin percussionist. This spared the development of cubop, a true latin jazz style. Throught the 1950’s Latin-influenced jazz maintained a consistent if modest presence.

Terms to knowPatting juba

Maracas

Clave rhythm

Habanera

Rumba

Son

Claves

•Reverse Clave rhythm

•Beguine

•Triplet

•Cubop mambo

•Tumbao

•Montuno

•Cha-cha-cha