Friday, July 1, 2011

Machito and his Afro Cubans, Cubop City

Francisco "Machito" Grillo changed Cuban music in the 1940s by consciously bringing African rhythms and percussion into a dance band. His trumpeter and brother-in-law Mario Bauza then encouraged the addition of jazz musicians, creating a form that looked back to Caribbean music's roots and forward to the bebop revolution. Machito's Afro-Cubans dominated Latin music in New York after World War II, leading the mambo craze and attracting young bop musicians. In this 1949 broadcast from the Royal Roost nightclub, Machito is joined by two rising American boppers, trumpeter Howard McGhee and saxophonist Brew Moore. Mario Bauza wrote the piece, plays the opening Cuban-style trumpet solo, and comes back in under McGhee's bop solo near the end. The announcer at the end is "Symphony Sid" Torin.

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