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Top 10 Best Latin Jazz Musicians EverAug 08 '11 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Top Ten Latin Jazz. 10 Best Latin Jazz Artists. Hot Latin Jazz Performers. Call it what you will...there's 10 and they do latin jazz. Enjoy!
Latin Jazz is one of those niche sub-genres that lies comfortably within more than one realm. Jazz afficianados claim it for their own, but so too do Latin music fans (like myself). I listen to a varied mix of latin music styles, including Latin Jazz, and what most fascinates me about the style is the commonalities in sound and rhythm that you find between Latin Jazz and those styles of Latin music that fall into the grab bag we sometimes call "tropical latin styles". Tropical styles include traditional Cuban sounds, as well as dance beats like salsa and merengue. Horns and percussions dominate the instrumentals. Latin Jazz can come from just about any country, though Cuba contributes far more "greats" to this style than its somewhat small size and population would seem to warrant. One thing that sometimes surprises me is the large number of non-Hispanic American performers who are willing to dive into Latin Jazz headfirst (and come up with outstanding tracks). There have always been strong Cuban-American performers, but the infusion of American jazz artists breathes new life and ideas into the style. In this review, I'll tell you about 10 of the biggest names in Latin Jazz and recommend one or two of the artists' strongest releases from the past decade or so (the oldest is from 1995, the newest just a few months ago). If these recommendations work for you, I also recommend that you look at recent reviews here from Mike.Holmes and Saxguy (these two reviewers know jazz styles in much more depth than I do, and they can make great jazz recommendations outside the limited realm of Latin Jazz (the only part of jazz I frequently listen to). Enough with the chitter chatter, though! Let's get on talking about the Ten Best Latin Jazz Artists! ****************************** TOP 10 BEST LATIN JAZZ PERFORMERS 1. Arturo Sandoval Recommended Albums: Danzon (1995), Hot House (1998) One of the hottest jazz trumpets to emerge from Cuba, Sandoval is an extremely verstatile talent who doesn't confine himself to the realm of jazz. He's proven that by performing diverse musical styles, from symphony works to rock (depending on his collaborator of the moment). And Sandoval collaborates frequently. He's performed with the Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, Herbie Hancock, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine and even Justin Timberlake. You want horns? Sandoval does horns....(piano too!) Sandoval has frequently said that his musical muse is jazz great, Dizzy Gillespie. Hard to argue with a role model like that! 2. Antonio Carlos Jobim Recommended Albums: Antonio Brasileiro (1996), The Complete Tom Jobim (2010) It's only fitting that Rio de Janeiro, the most seductively beautiful city in the world, should be home to the soft, breezy, sensual jazz style known as bossanova. And nobody better exemplifies great bossanova like Antonio Carlos Jobim (most often known as Tom Jobim). He's the guy who captured the ears of the world in the 1960s with his song "The Girl from Ipanema" (sung by Astrud Gilberto). In American jazz circles, Jobim is known for his work with jazz sax great, Stan Getz and fellow Brazilians Joao and Astrud Gilberto. Jobim was a giant in the latin jazz world though, and he performed with a long list of artists working in various popular genres (including rock and pop vocals). You can also find covers of Jobim's great compositions performed by everyone from Barbara Streisand to Sting. By the way, if you ever visit Rio, you'll probably fly into Tom Jobim International Airport...how many jazz artists get a major airport named in their honor? 3. Ray Barretto Recommended Albums: My Summertime (1997), Time Was - Time Is (2006) Ray Barretto is a New Yorker who grew up in Spanish Harlem listening to the music of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Barretto is a percussionist and his specialty is the conga. He made his name in the early 1960s but enjoyed a 40-year wave of popularity that ended with his death in 2006. As with many of the jazz world's greats, he was a flexible performer who recorded with an amazing diversity of artists in various musical styles. During the 70s, he laid down a conga beat for one of the songs being recorded by the Rolling Stones, and then did the same a couple years later for the Bee Gees. More typical though is his collaboration with latin artists, including the incomparable Celia Cruz. 4. Carlos Valdes Recommended Albums: Ritmo y Candela II: African Crossroads (1998) Like Ray Barretto, Carlos Vales is a percussionist specializing in the conga. In fact, Tito Puente regarded Carlos Valdes as the greatest conga player ever. High praise coming from a band leader with Puente's reputation and following! Valdes was born and raised in Cuba, but lived most of his life in New York City where he was an integral part of the Spanish Harlem jazz movement. People called him "Patato" and they raved about the way he'd dance around the drums as he played, making them sing out in ways that only a true virtuoso can do. He was the Jimi Hendrix of the conga. 5. Gonzalo Rubalcaba and his Cuban Quartet Recommended Albums: Antiguo (1998), Fe (2010) The first four artists I listed are among the "old school" latin greats who were still active up until recently. With Gonzalo Rubalcaba I shift gears a bit since he's a lot younger than the previous artists and his styles are more "new school" (or at least they reflect modern tastes and trends). Rubalcaba is Cuban, and evolved as an artist in Havana up through the mid 1980s. Since then, he's emigrated to the United States where he works as a solo pianist and band leader, working with Afro-Cuban jazz, straight-up jazz and various other latin styles (including ballads and boleros). Over the years, he's been nominated for Grammies 14 times (and won 5) --- along with numerous other critical acclaims. You can read a bit more about Gonzalo Rubalcaba and hear a few clips of his music on his website: http://www.g-rubalcaba.com/ 6. Chucho Valdes Recommended Albums: New Conceptions (2004), Chucho's Steps (2011) If you like smokin' hot jazz piano, you'll love listening to Chucho Valdes! The Cuban jazz pianist has been performing since the early 1970s and he's been a prolific composer throughout the years. Along the way, he's managed to capture himself 4 Grammy awards. You can hear clips of Chucho Valdes on his web site: http://www.valdeschucho.com/ 7. David Sanchez Recommended Albums: Melaza (2001), Travesia (2002) David Sanchez is young, he's got energy, he's got vitality, and he kicks out some of the hottest sax licks you've ever heard. Smokin' hot sax. That's what Sanchez is all about! He's originally from Puerto Rico, but you find him more often in New York City, where he's worked with several jazz orchestras and recorded 7 latin jazz albums. 8. Omar Sosa Recommended Albums: Sentir (2003), Mulatos (2006) Omar Sosa is one of the most talented latin jazz artists active today. He plays marimba, but is best known as a pianist and composer. He's not limited to those instruments, nor to traditional jazz instrumentals. His recent works show a willingness to experiment with and harness the potential of electronically synthesized sounds, and to mix these with sounds from other sources to create a unique melieu of sounds that is uniquely his own. I don't think he's won any Grammies or major awards like that, but he's young, he's dynamic, and if he keeps doing what he's doing now, the accolades are sure to come. More information and audio clips are on his web site: http://www.omarsosa.com/ 9. Diego Urcola Recommended Albums: Libertango (2004), Soundances (2005), Viva (2007) There's trumpets, and then there's trumpets. Diego Urcola plays the latter. He's a young guy who has somehow developed the wisdom and depth of one of the older latin jazz greats. When he puts his lips to the mouthpiece, the brass sings out with a strident joy that makes your spine tingle. I call him a trumpet player, but Urcola is much more versatile than that --- he can handle just about anything made of brass, and his more recent releases have showcased his ability to harness the slide trombone. One of the things that's cool about Urcola is that he didn't come by his talent in the Caribbean, nor in New York's Spanish Harlem --- he grew up in Buenos Aires and counts his influences more among the greats of rock and folk music than latin jazz, though he has given a nod of acknowledgment to Pat Metheney and Miles Davis. Info about the artist and his music are available on his web site: http://www.diegourcola.com/ 10. Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet Recommended Albums: Bien! Bien! (2011) When I talk about American artists who can do great things within the stylistic confines of the latin jazz niche, I'm thinking of guys like Wayne Wallace. Wallace is an Afro-American from San Francisco, but if you judge only on the phat sound of his slide trombone and the caliber of the musicians who gravitate to his sides, you'd swear the guy lived his life in Cuba! Wallace's Quintet is rouinded out by Paul Van Wageningen on drums, percussionist Michael Spiro, and Dave Belove on bass. Wallace's sound has a gritty funk to it that introduces a feeling of immediacy and relevance. Great stuff! More info and audio clips are available on his web site: http://www.walacomusic.com/ ****************************** TOP 10 BEST LATIN JAZZ PERFORMERS So there you have it. My top 10 list of the very best jazz performers available today. Seek out these albums and support great music! Until next time, see you in the music store....as always, I'm in the LATIN MUSIC aisle!!  |
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