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Grammys and Latin Jazz
By Fritz Byers
We don’t adequately appreciate Melvil Dewey (special
credit to anyone who knows who he is without having to look him
up). He accomplished the modest task of classifying all human
knowledge, using the infinite expandability of base-ten
numbering and decimals: ten classes, each with ten divisions,
and each division with ten sections. Presto. Yes, that’s right –
he invented the Dewey Decimal System.
The folks who run the Grammys – a powerhouse brand if there ever
was one – have their own brilliant classification scheme.
They’ve divided all music into 31 fields, with a total of 110
categories. Honestly, did you know they will award 110
Grammys this year? It’s happening February 8.
It’s
easy to satirize such things, but we have much more important
business. One of the awards – Field 10, Category 50 – goes to
the Best Latin Jazz Album (I love that they still call these
things albums). The prize may be pure kitsch, but in this
instance the contenders are worthy. We’ll take them up
alphabetically, which is the order the Grammy bosses use for
their listings. |
Fritz Byers |
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“Afro Bop Alliance,” Caribbean Jazz Project [Heads Up
International]. This is the latest storm from the creative
whirlwind that surrounds the vibraphonist Dave Samuels. Samuels,
who first caught the ear with his work with the Latin-influenced
fusion group Spyra Gyra, invented the CJP in 1995 with the reed
legend Paquito d’Rivera and steel-pans wizard Andy Narell.
After a string of terrific releases and a few personnel changes,
the CJP won the 2002 Grammy for Best Latin Jazz album for “The
Gathering,” which featured the flutist Dave Valentin alongside
Samuels. Here, the Project records with the Maryland-based Afro
Bop Alliance, a high-energy, Latin-drenched band whose live
performances are the stuff of legend. Samuels, ever the
conjurer, put the resulting blended group through nine of the
CJP’s most familiar tunes, a list that includes Monk’s “Bemsha
Swing,” Coltrane’s “Naima,” and the Oliver Nelson classic,
“Stolen Moments.” This disc won the Latin Grammy for Best Jazz
Release (a totally different award, given last November by the
Latin Recording Academy, a subset of the broader group that
gives the party next week). That award hasn’t always been a
predictor. Still, this release has the sparkle, brilliance,
drive, and quirks that augur well.
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“The Latin Side Of Wayne Shorter,” Conrad Herwig & The
Latin Side Band [Half Note Records] This is the third time the
trombonist Herwig has applied his exceptional taste and
musicianship to the works of a revered jazzman: first, John
Coltrane, then Miles Davis, now Shorter. Herwig works here with
the trumpeter Brian Lynch, the pianist Eddie Palmieri, and the
baritonist Ronnie Cuber. This is as good a small group as you
could hope for, and what better source of inspiration than the
compositions of the non-pareil Shorter. Characteristically,
Herwig picks a couple of classics – “Footprints” and “Night
Dreamer” are almost unavoidable – but he also romps through
“Adams Apple” from the least-loved of Shorter’s Blue Note dates,
opens the disc with “Ping Pong,” and treats “Masquelero” to a
mysterious, mirrored solo that makes the tune seem both classic
and wholly new. On that tune especially, and throughout, Lynch
and Palmieri, who co-lead their own dazzling group, are marvels
of telepathic support.
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“Song For Chico,” Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz
Orchestra [Zoho] The pianist O’Farrill staffs his big band with
the most robust horn section I’ve heard in a while – Michael
Mossman leads the trumpets, Reynaldo Jorge is in front of the
trombones, and Bobby Porcelli, on alto, heads up the sax
section. The horn section navigates the Juan Tizol evergreen,
“Caravan,” with a barely-controlled frantic energy, but then
slows things down to a hushed, gentle pace on “Such Love,” an
arrangement of intricate counterpoint and complex horn-based
triads. The title track – a tribute to O’Farrill’s justly
revered father, the composer of the Ur-classic “Afro-Cuban Jazz
Suite – is a celebration of the great man’s festive, pioneering
spirit.
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“ Nouveau Latino”, Nestor Torres [Diamond Light Records]
The Puerto Rican flutist Nestor Torres, a veteran of the
frenetic New York dance-club scene, drafted a raft of young,
inspired musicians to abet his return to the recording studio.
Torres never tries to hide his deep attachment to Salsa grooves
and the sonic architecture that makes for great, sensuous
dance. He won the 2002 Latin Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental
Album and has ricocheted around the various neighborhoods that
make up current Latin jazz. This disc runs through 11 tunes
taken from the decades that shaped Torres’s sensibility.
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“Marooned/Aislado” Papo Vázquez & The Mighty Pirates [Picaro
Records] For thirty years, the trombonist Papo Vázquez has
divided his fertile musical life between writing and arranging
sophisticated charts for powerhouse big bands and performing
with his small group, an edgy, possessed collection of brilliant
musicians. On this date, the Philadelphia-born leader puts both
of his feet squarely in Puerto Rico’s rich and diverse musical
scene and then kicks up a big storm. “El Batallon” is one of
several tunes on the date that would be a suitable soundtrack
for a drag-strip showdown, and the aptly-titled “Race Against
Time” leaves no doubt that any group led by Vázquez will win
that and any other race. It’s time to appreciate the lifeforce
Vázquez brings to everything he does.
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