One of the great things about jazz music is its ability to combine countless different styles and musical cultures and make it work. A prime example of this is a style that came to be known as Latin jazz. Using the hot rhythms found in salsa music, the habanera, and the classic jazz styles of Duke Ellington quickly made this new wave one of the hottest on the jazz scene.
Filled with pulsating rhythms, musical sounds that are extremely danceable, and lyrics that sometimes hint of the sultry nights of the South American shores, this music is a great synthesis of wonderful sounds that make a night listening to this music a time filled with emotions and great memories.
Ingredients for Great Sound
Like any other form of jazz, Latin jazz was a synthesis of many styles and continues to grow and change over time. Its foundational ingredients include such elements as African polyrhythm, Spanish, Portuguese, and even some French influences. Of course, there was the purely American influences to Latin jazz, including ragtime, and the New Orleans sound that was able to incorporate so many sounds as still maintain its unique identity.
In the early 1930s one begins to see such greats as Duke Ellington showing more interest in the sounds that were coming up from south of the border like the rumba and Latin bands settling in places such as Miami, bringing and combining their own unique sounds with the all American jazz to create a sound all their own. This Latin jazz would soon become one of the hottest sounds in just about every club in America by the 1970s.
In fact, this organic process of combining different rhythms sounds, and yes, even lyrics laid the groundwork for some of the greatest collaborations of Latin jazz. Innovators such as Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker brought together some great sounds such as the Machito, a mambo that its fans wouldn't soon forget.
Another great influence and one of the major ingredients in the sound that came to be known as Latin jazz was of Cuban music. Cuban music, like any other style is full of vibrant changes of rhythms and musical instruments that make it a wonderful source of material for Latin jazz.
So, in summary, Latin jazz music is a combination of some wonderful sounds and influences. Everything from African percussion, ragtime piano, Cuban guitar work, and music styles that take influence from the mambo, rumba, and salsa, all play a part in the recipe that became known as Latin jazz.
