Background:
What is it? Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with Jazz harmonies and improvisation.
Afro-Cuban Jazz has its origins in the city of New Orleans in the early 20th century. Regular travel between said city and the Capital city of Cuba, Havana made it possible for Cuban music to influence the development of Jazz.
There was further development in the early 40’s when Cuban musicians based in New York interacted with Be bop Trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie; eventually impacting upon the whole East coast Jazz scene.
There is no Afro-Cuban influence without the Clave rhythms.
Styles include: Mambo, Salsa, Rumba, Songo and Cha Cha Cha.
In Afro-Cuban Jazz, every instrument is allocated a particular rhythm which they must play throughout the entire song, with little to no variation. All these different rhythms then mesh and combine together to create an Afro-Cuban feel or groove. And the most important of these rhythms is the clave rhythm – which is played on an instrument also called a clave – which are essentially just rhythm sticks.
This clave rhythm is the base rhythm of all Afro-Cuban Jazz – it’s like the foundation of a house. All other instruments are allocated a rhythmic pattern that complements and adds to this clave rhythm. It’s like building layers of different rhythms on top of your foundation clave rhythm to build a kind of rhythmic jigsaw puzzle where all the rhythms fit together to create a nice, tight groove.
Clave
The clave is a 2 bar pattern that is repeated throughout the entire song.
Piano Montuno and Tumbao
As pianists, the two most important rhythms are the:
- Montuno
- Tumbao.
A Montuno is essentially just a vamp. As the piano player you just play the same rhythm again and again for the entire song but outlining the chord progression. And Afro-Cuban bands are generally quite big and loud, with a number of horns, the bass and drums. So the Montuno is generally played two handed and doubled an octave apart to create a louder sound so the piano doesn’t get drowned out by all the other instruments.
If there is no bass player in the band, then the piano is in charge of playing both the montuno (in the right hand) and the tumbao (in the left hand).
note: the goal of the piano player is to outline the chords using the montuno rhythm. Usually an arpeggiated pattern is played an octave apart with both hands to add volume; otherwise the left hand has the option of playing a Tumbao if there is no bassist. Roots and fifths are the most important bass notes in this regard.
Instrumentation
A typical Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble might include saxophone, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, flute, piano, and bass from the American tradition. From the Latin music tradition, it often includes congas, bongos, timbales, claves and various shakers. A standard drum kit is an optional extra.