HAVANA GOOD TIME

Named after a popular 1940s club in the Buenavista district of Havana, the Buena Vista Social Club is a loose ensemble of Cuban musicians formed in 1996. Filmed by Wim Wenders and produced by Ry Cooder, the success of both a documentary and the self-titled album led to a revival of interest in Cuban music and indeed, Latin American music generally.

Something in the lilting, Spanish inflected melodies resonated around the world, with the album selling an extraordinary 8 million copies and being included in the respected publication 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. For those who, after more than twenty-five years, know the original album backwards, the RSD 2022 release of additional music from the sessions was a delight. The Ahora Me Da Pena E.P. includes a different mix of "Chan Chan", the lead track from the original album. Across the other fresh titles we have an infectious combination of loose, impassioned vocals, waves of rhythmic guitar and a smattering of rich solos. This eighteen minute record is the perfect reminder of how beguiling this Cuban sound has been for many, many years.

The music itself is deeply embedded in Havana’s history but its popularity in America is a fascinating story of the crossover between New Orleans and the Cuban capital a thousand kilometres across the uncertain waters of the Gulf of Mexico. New Orleans musicians travelled to play in Cuba and Havana locals braved American venues in return.

It was in the early 1940s that Cuban Frank Grillo Machito and the band bearing his surname began gathering enthusiastic audiences in New York City. Naturally enough this caught the ears of African-American jazz musicians in the Big Apple who gleefully incorporated aspects of the music into a hybrid called Afro-Cuban jazz. Dizzy Gillespie wrote the hugely popular (and much covered) tune "Manteca" while no lesser legend than alto saxophonist Charlie Parker joined Machito’s band for dates in 1950.

That collaboration brings us to this week’s other featured record, the Long Lost Bird Live Afro-Cubop Recordings, a 2LP set of Charlie "Bird" Parker concert performances spanning 1947 to 1954. Side two of the set was recorded with Machito’s band at New York’s Renaissance Ballroom in May 1950: three tunes featuring the bebop saxophonist as well as trumpeter Howard McGhee. "Lament For The Congo" and "Mambo Fortunato" revel in an energetic fusion of jazz and Cuban/Latin rhythms, with Bird seeming to enjoy himself enormously. Finishing with Dizzy Gillespie’s "Salt Peanuts" invites the listener to dance back from Cuba to Bird’s branch of the jazz tree.

The 1951 set with Woody Herman’s band takes a brief "Cuban Holiday" on side three while the infectious "Manteca" bounces along on the back of Gillespie’s trumpet. The final six song set from February 1954 features Parker and Gillespie with Stan Kenton and his Orchestra.

Although the "Afro-Cubop" tag of the album’s title applies to only four of the eighteen tracks, this album is an interesting historical trawl through some lesser known Charlie Parker live recordings. Side one is from the game-changing Forties, when Bird and Diz invented bebop, with the remainder coming from the following decade. While showing the limitations of live recording techniques of the day the album is a reminder of the impact of Charlie "Bird" Parker, while also offering an intriguing taste of Afro-Cuban jazz as it emerged in the 1950s.

© Bruce Jenkins—June 2023