"Tanga" and The Creation of Latin Jazz
The band had a major hit with "Tanga," initially a descarga (Cuban jam) with jazz soloists, spontaneously composed by Bauzá. "Tanga," which was over time, arranged with more complexity, is generally considered the first true Latin jazz, or Afro-Cuban jazz tune.
The first descarga that made the world take notice is traced to a Machito rehearsal on May 29, 1943, at the Park Palace Ballroom, at 110th Street and 5th Avenue. At this time, Machito was at Fort Dix (New Jersey) in his fourth week of basic training. The day before at La Conga Club, Mario Bauza, Machito's trumpeter and music director, heard pianist Luis Varona and bassist Julio Andino play something which would serve as a permanent sign off (end the dance) tune. On this Monday evening, Dr. Bauza leaned over the piano and instructed Varona to play the same piano vamp he did the night before. Varona's left hand began the introduction of Gilberto Valdes' El Botellero. Bauza then instructed Julio Andino what to play; then the saxes; then the trumpets. The broken chord sounds soon began to take shape into an Afro-Cuban jazzed up melody. Gene Johnson's alto sax then emitted oriental-like jazz phrases. By accident, Afro-Cuban jazz was invented when Bauza composed "Tanga" (African word for marijuana) that evening. Thereafter, whenever "Tanga" was played, it sounded different, depending on a soloist's individuality. In August, 1948, when trumpeter Howard McGhee soloed with Machito's orchestra at the Apollo Theatre, his ad-libs to "Tanga" resulted in "Cu-Bop City," a tune which was recorded by Roost Records months later. The jams which took place at the Royal Roots, Bop City and Birdland between 1948 - 49, when Howard McGhee, tenor saxophonist Brew Moore, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie sat in with the Machito orchestra, were unrehearsed, uninhibited, unheard of before jam sessions which at the time, master of ceremonies Symphony Sid called Afro-Cuban jazz. The Machito orchestra's ten or fifteen minute jams were the first in Latin music to break away from the traditional under four minute recordings. In February, 1949, the Machito orchestra became the first to set a precedent in Latin music when it featured tenor saxophonist Flip Phillips in a five minute recording of "Tanga." The twelve inch 78 RPM, part of The Jazz Scene album, sold for $25—Salazar (1997).
The right hand of the "Tanga" piano guajeo is in the style known as ponchando, a type of non-arpeggiated guajeo using block chords. The sequence of attack-points is emphasized, rather than a sequence of different pitches. As a form of accompaniment it can be played in a strictly repetitive fashion or as a varied motif akin to jazz comping. The following example is in the style of a 1949 recording by Machito. 2‐3 clave, piano by René Hernández.
With "Tanga," Bauzá was the first to explore modal harmony (a concept explored much later by Miles Davis and Gil Evans) from a jazz arranging perspective. Of note is the sheet of sound effect in the arrangement through the use of multiple layering. Under Bauzá's direction, Machito and his Afro-Cubans were first band to successfully wed jazz big band arranging techniques within an original composition with jazz oriented soloists utilizing an authentic Afro-Cuban based rhythm section in a successful manner. e.g. Gene Johnson - alto, Brew Moore - tenor, composition in "Tanga" (1943).
Read more about this topic: Mario Bauzá
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