Latin jazz

Latin Jazz, also called Afro-Cuban jazz, is a genre of music that developed in the early 1900s. It utilized improvisation, strong string and horn sections, and a steady rhythm section. As jazz grew in popularity in New Orleans, it began to blend with music from Cuban immigrants. The resulting mixture contained complex Latin rhythm sections with jazz-style horns and string improvisations. Over time, this combination came to be called Latin jazz, which became extremely popular throughout the United States. Latin jazz musicians sold an astonishing number of records, and Latin jazz remained a common musical genre for decades. When Brazilian musicians began to put their own spin on Latin jazz, the genre became known as Bossa Nova.

History of Jazz

Jazz music evolved out of blues, a music genre that developed in the late 1800s. Blues features prominent guitar work that commonly uses a pentatonic scale, a strong rhythm section of drums and bass, and sometimes horns. Often emotional, blues lyrics tell stories of loss and heartbreak.

Early jazz genres, including Dixieland and ragtime, were heavily influenced by early blues. They retained blues' strong rhythm section and guitar playing while adding layers of musical complexity. Additionally, early jazz artists began to rely on improvisation, during which a musician makes up part of a song on the spot, playing whatever they feel at the time. Because improvisations do not use a prewritten composition, they are often unique to each performance. The famous trumpet player Louis Armstrong, considered one of the greatest jazz musicians in history, helped spread the technique.

In the 1930s, jazz musicians created a new style of music. Often called swing, this style of jazz was played by a big band for large audiences. Swing was upbeat and lively, inspiring audiences to dance. Swing became incredibly popular and brought jazz music to more people than ever before.

However, some jazz musicians resisted the popular swing movement. They thought swing musicians were overly concerned with pleasing large crowds. In response, they began to play another new style of jazz music. They called it bebop.

Unlike swing, bebop was played by a small band of musicians. Bebop players focused on creating music they liked, as opposed to trying to please audiences. Bebop was more complex than swing and featured carefully crafted harmonies, fast tempos, and innovative arrangements. It was considered the music of intellectuals.

Rise of Latin/Afro-Cuban Jazz

While bebop quickly advanced the entire genre of jazz, it was not as popular as swing with average listeners. Because of this, a number of jazz musicians sought a type of jazz that blended innovative, complex music with widespread appeal. In New Orleans, these same musicians took inspiration from types of Latin music that had been brought to the city by Cuban immigrants.

Latin music featured complex rhythm sections with unique, syncopated beats. These beats have sudden breaks and accents, causing the beat to periodically change throughout the composition. Syncopated beats may suddenly become faster or slower, or change the percussion instrument being used for part of the song. However, while it may be difficult for an untrained ear to follow, the band can still use the syncopated beat as a consistent timekeeper.

As both swing jazz and Latin music increased in popularity, musicians began experimenting with the two genres. Large swing bands began to incorporate Latin dance compositions, such as congas, into their shows. The audiences enjoyed dancing to the Cuban beats, so Latin-influenced dance compositions quickly became a normal part of swing jazz concerts.

In the late 1940s, the famous bebop trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie began to collaborate with the Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo. Together, the pair blended the improvisational string and horn elements of bebop with the complex, syncopated beats of Latin dance music. They called their creation Afro-Cuban jazz. Years later, it was called Latin jazz.

Latin jazz grew in popularity throughout the 1950s. Cuban rhythm sections brought new instruments, like the bongos, the timbales, and the vibraphone, which gave a new sense of variety to jazz music. The rhythms these percussionists produced allowed Latin jazz to continue to grow and change for more than twenty years; Latin jazz remained popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

During the 1960s, another branch of Latin jazz emerged on the West Coast. This genre, called Bossa Nova, featured traditional Brazilian music blended with Latin jazz. Unlike earlier Latin jazz music, Bossa Nova placed less focus on rhythm sections. Instead, Bossa Nova musicians emphasized soft, melodic singers and jazz-inspired string instruments.

Bossa Nova's popularity spread to the East Coast with a highly attended concert at Carnegie Hall in 1962. Soon afterward, the famed jazz musician Stan Getz and his band released the iconic Bossa Nova composition The Girl from Ipanema (1964), which was sung by Frank Sinatra. The song spent more than ninety weeks on the US charts and inspired Bossa Nova bands across the United States.

Some jazz musicians resented the success of Latin jazz. They thought the genre focused too much on achieving commercial success instead of creating art. These musicians developed free jazz, a movement in direct contrast to Latin jazz. Free jazz was based entirely on experimentation and improvisation.

Free jazz musicians composed very little music beforehand. Instead, they improvised for most of the show. Their goal was simply to create, whether the audience liked the product or not. In many cases, the instruments did not play in the same time signature, key, or harmonize with each other.

In the twenty-first century, Latin Jazz maintains its popularity through music festivals and contemporary musicians. Streaming platforms and social media have introduced Latin jazz to new global audiences.

Bibliography

"Avant Garde/Free Jazz; Fusion (1959–1990)." Jazz in America, www.jazzinamerica.org/LessonPlan/11/7/149. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

"Bossa Nova." AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/style/bossa-nova-ma0000002548. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

"Free Jazz and Fusion." Jazz in America, www.jazzinamerica.org/LessonPlan/5/7/234. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

"Get Rhythm: All About Syncopation." Musical U, www.musical-u.com/learn/rhythm-training-101-study-syncopation. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

"History: Bossa Nova." ABC, www.abc.net.au/rn/features/bossanova/about.htm. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

Rohter, Larry. "A Family's Legacy, Afro-Cuban Jazz." The New York Times, 28 Apr. 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/arts/music/ofarrill-legacy-of-afro-cuban-jazz.html. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.

“What Is Latin Jazz?” Jazz Observer, jazzobserver.com/what-is-latin-jazz. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.