Let's Talk About Afro Cuban Jazz Suites

[Teasing the Korean]

21 minutes ago, jazzcorner said:

Thanks for this!

 

[HutchFan]

9 hours ago, JSngry said:

Figured this would have come up before now...

I LOVE that record. It's sorta odd at times. But pleasingly odd. 

Regarding the "Latin quotient" in his music: O'Farrill isn't, say, Mario Bauza.  But neither is Bauza O'Farrill.  Just different.  Right?

[JSngry]

I like this Chico O'Farrill writing better than any of it.

I bought that Verve collection of O'Farrill's "latin" stuff hoping for some revelations, but didn't get any. Certainly not questioning his cred, my god, impeccable, but...maybe the desire to be a traditional big band writer worked against him short term...his writing just seemed kinda "grafted" to me. And that was quite probably intentional, because any commercially directed fusion first has to be consciously attempted before it becomes organic. and that takes time, usually.

Now, what I have yet to hear is his last work, which I has no small repute. But when it comes to "Latin-Jazz" the tricky part is never getting the jazz in, it's getting the "Latin" in.

But Rene Hernandez...here's a big band, and you could have opened this sucker up for any kind of soloing and it would have worked perfectly without changing a thing.

Talking about writing that is so much more than it seems at a casual listen...my god, I would practice for a year or two to get my chops back up for a chance to play just one set of stuff like this, solos or no.

 

and those are "just" dance band charts. But hey, craft is craft, and art happens where it happens.

[Teasing the Korean]

10 hours ago, JSngry said:

I bought that Verve collection of O'Farrill's "latin" stuff hoping for some revelations, but didn't get any. Certainly not questioning his cred, my god, impeccable, but...maybe the desire to be a traditional big band writer worked against him short term...his writing just seemed kinda "grafted" to me. And that was quite probably intentional, because any commercially directed fusion first has to be consciously attempted before it becomes organic. and that takes time, usually.

Do you mean the two-disc Cuban Blues collection?  It is a mixed bag. 

I first became aware of O'Farrill via the 1970s Verve Afro-Cuban Jazz 2-LP set.  It includes The Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite, The Manteca Suite and the eight tunes from 1951 that open the 2-CD set.  There is a lot of stuff on disc two of the CD collection that are straightforward Latin dance charts, without much harmonic interest.  

What I love about O'Farrill, on his best stuff, is the combination of the harmony with Latin percussion.  On the 2-CD set, you get this on the first eight tracks of disc 1, the first three tracks of disc 2, the two suites, and a few others along the way.  Notably, there a session with four tunes, tracks 12-15 on disc 2, featuring woodwinds, harp, and Latin percussion.  The arrangements are comparable to those on Les Baxter's Tamboo.

I have picked up other non-Verve albums by O'Farrill that are similarly hit or miss.  His Columbia album Torrid Zone includes one incredible track, "Mambotanga," but the rest just doesn't do that much for me.  

So when Chico is on, he's on, but a lot of the rest I can live without.

[jazzcorner]

19 hours ago, jazzcorner said:

On 12.7.2021 at 6:46 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

It seems hard to find.  I wonder if it is slated for reissue as part of the new MPS reissue series.

Here are the details

Cat#  MPS / UIniversal 06025 2759201

[mikeweil]

There are copies for sale on discogs: https://www.discogs.com/The-Kenny-Clarke-Francy-Boland-Big-Band-Latin-Kaleidoscope-Cuban-Fever/release/4201365

It's a good piece of music. 

That said, I like all the suites mentioned here, but think O'Farrill's are the best.

Edited July 13, 2021 by mikeweil

[Teasing the Korean]

6 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

That said, I like all the suites mentioned here, but think O'Farrill's are the best.

Mike, am I misremembering, or did you make a comment about the bass playing on The Aztec Suite?

[mikeweil]

11 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Mike, am I misremembering, or did you make a comment about the bass playing on The Aztec Suite?

I think so, too, but cannot remember details. I will have to listen again.

[Teasing the Korean]

4 hours ago, mikeweil said:

I think so, too, but cannot remember details. I will have to listen again.

Thanks.  I am assuming that O'Farrill would have written specific bass lines for this, except for perhaps the improvised passages.  

[mikeweil]

This is what I wrote almost to the day five years ago:

" Been listening to Aztec Suite this morning: the problem, IMHO, was the bass player. Addison Farmer, who plays all the right notes written in his part, but not with drive and feeling Cuban rhythms need. O'Farrill was not on hand to conduct the session himself, Al Cohn does a good job, the horns and the percusionists are on the spot, but the piano is inaudible, and the bass is weak. Just not the right guy for this type of music."

This thread

Edited July 14, 2021 by mikeweil

[Teasing the Korean]

3 hours ago, mikeweil said:

This is what I wrote almost to the day five years ago:

" Been listening to Aztec Suite this morning: the problem, IMHO, was the bass player. Addison Farmer, who plays all the right notes written in his part, but not with drive and feeling Cuban rhythms need. O'Farrill was not on hand to conduct the session himself, Al Cohn does a good job, the horns and the percusionists are on the spot, but the piano is inaudible, and the bass is weak. Just not the right guy for this type of music."

This thread

Crazy, and I started that thread five years ago, almost to the day!