[Dixielandjazz] Latin influences on early jazz

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi Charlie et al,

I've been enjoying this thread and would like to add my tuppenceworth as 
we say in Scotland (that's two cents' worth for transatlantic 
listmates). I'll start off by challenging Charlie's assertion that "the 
tango is a very limited rhythmic background rhythm, lacking the energy 
and thrust of syncopated jazz that's often superimposed in solos over 
it." If Charlie means the simplified, repetitive pattern of the Tango as 
played by Gringo musicians for Gringo dancers he's got a point. But hear 
a good Argentinian rhythm section playing tango for skilled Argentinian 
dancers and it has a subtle, pulsating and fluid feel, with passages 
drifting in and out of double time and with dramatic rubatos and pauses 
which the dancers respond to, all the while building to a driving 
climax. As someone once observed of porteno tango "it's the vertical 
expression of horizontal desire!" The same thing can be said of gringo 
attempts to standardise and simplify samba, beguine, son, rumba etc. 
Indeed the rhythm called rumba in the Anglo-Saxon world is closer to a 
simplified bolero and a million miles away from authentic Cuban rumba in 
which percussion patterns become radically dislodged from the downbeat. 
Likewise in the Anglo-Saxon world the beguine rhythm is a misnomer and 
is in fact truly a simplified bolero (as in When They Begin the 
Beguine), whereas the Antillean beguine of Martinique and Guadelupe is 
usually a lively mid- to up-tempo rhythm with percussion patterns 
similar to bossa nova over a habanera bass pattern.

Given the non-existence of gramophone records in jazz's formative phase, 
it's likely that incoming stylistic influences were delivered by 
musicians for whom these styles were second nature. And just because 
these styles became watered down to make them more suited to Anglo-Saxon 
dance conventions, we shouldn't discount the impact of the real thing on 
early jazz players. A case in point is the music of the Caribbean: New 
Orleans was the most important port on the Gulf of Mexico and trade with 
the Caribbean islands was colossally important, so the music of the 
whole Caribbean must have have been familiar to the early jazz players. 
If you're in doubt, check out the similarities between the music of the 
New Orleans Creoles and the authentic beguines of Martinique (Stellio 
and Ernest Leardee). The Cuban/Puerto Rican influence was felt very 
early in NYC: Benny Waters told a musician friend of mine that when he 
first went to New York in the mid 1920s, many of the young black 
musicians went to regularly to hear the Puerto Rican bands in East 
Harlem, whose trumpeters, in Benny's words, "played just like Dizzy 
Gillespie; where do you think he got it from?" Als worth checking out is 
Brasilian choro music, which roughly parallels the development of jazz 
from ragtime through informal small group playing and a big band phase 
and eventually spun off into Bossa Nova with parallels in the 
Californian Cool School.

Re the influence of Scots-Irish music, much of this came through 
bluegrass fiddle playing and had some influence on ragtime. However 
another overlooked influence came from the drumming in Scottish 
traditional dance music. I was a friend of the late great Jake Hanna, 
who was very interested in the highly technical Scottish pipe band 
drumming tradition. One night after hours at the Sacramento Jubilee, 
Jake and I were in the company of Scots-born saxophonist, Jim Galloway. 
Jake had asked me about the drumming in Scottish Country Dance bands and 
when I was struggling to describe it, Jim suggested that he and I and 
the bassist and pianist from Fat Sam's Band who were also present, 
should play Jake a few selections. We did this and Jake listened 
carefully. When we'd finished, Jake said that, as a youngster, he had 
heard Zutty Singleton and other early New Orleans drummers (I'm nearly 
sure he also heard Baby Dodds, but wouldn't swear to it) and that the 
New Orleans style of jazz drumming had more to do with Scottish Country 
Dance drumming than it had to do with Africa. I thought he was kidding, 
but he was insistent that the drum patterns essentially contributed 
great horizontal drive while the bass and piano were stressing the 
vertical strong beats. In effect the drummer's role was essentially the 
same and the techniques employed were very similar.

Interesting thread - thanks Charlie!

Ken Mathieson