Various Artists
Rumba Jazz - A History Of Latin Jazz And Dance Music From The Swing Era 1919-1945
(Pre-war American Jazz)
RANDB009
© Rhythm & Blues Records 2010
Africa and Latin America together have moulded American popular music since the beginning of the twentieth century. African influences have led to the development of jazz, gospel and blues while successive waves of dance music from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica have largely determined its rhythm. Broadway stage, Hollywood film, New York Tin Pan Alley and even country music have all been affected to a greater or lesser degree.
Dance forms and musical stylings such as habanera, bolero, tango, rumba, conga, samba, baion, calypso, mambo, charleston, cha-cha-cha, bossa nova and twist all have their origins outside the USA. This compilation aims to demonstrate just how far back the roots of Latin jazz stretch, well beyond the partnership that Dizzy Gillespie forged with Chano Pozo in founding cubop, the post-war marriage of bebop with Cuban music.
The repetitive riff making over a groove so beloved of 60’s and 70’s jazz and rock musicians springs not from the blues but from Latin song-form and its montunos. Note the similarity between Machito’s Freezelandia and the Beatles’ Day Tripper and between Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water and Ary Barroso’s Baia (track 19 disc 1).
The Brazilian samba began to make its presence felt during the late 1930’s. It is the spring in the beat and the almost imperceptible skip at the end of each measure that differentiate it from Cuban rhythms. But of all Latin rhythms, none had such an all-pervasive influence as the rumba. Its journey from the Middle East through North Africa and Spain to the New World brought it into American dance halls in the thirties. The syncopated, rhythmic riffs of bandleaders such as Xavier Cugat helped to liberate dancers from stuffy foxtrots and waltzes, opening up an altogether more sensual world of excitement and exoticism.
In post-war popular music, rumba is everywhere, from Elvis’ Hound Dog to the Clash’s Rock The Casbah. Thanks to Bo Diddley, its 3-2 clave rhythm became an integral part of American music and continues to cast its spell over current day sounds.
An illustrated 32-page booklet includes detailed sleeve notes with track-by-track commentary on each song.
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