One word can describe the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble's performance this past Saturday night: infectious. Clave, the distinctive five beat rhythm of Afro-Cuban jazz featured during the evening, got under your skin and into your hips and made the audience want to -- for lack of a better term -- shake it.
The ensemble was accompanied by percussionist Bobby Sanabria, a fixture in the Afro-Cuban jazz scene, having played with and been taught by the likes of Mario Bauza and Tito Puente.
Not only does Sanabria delight in the rhythms of the Afro-Cuban tradition, but he has mastered its history as well.
As a modern day practitioner of Afro-Cuban music, Sanabria wants to honor its rich history. He peppered his performance on Saturday night with cultural insight, asking the audience to close their eyes while he set the historical scene for the next piece of music.
In the 17th century West, African, southern Spanish, Middle Eastern and Arabic cultures fused into a music called "son." Son is related to what we call salsa today.
In Havana during the late 19th century, traditional West African drumming, chants and dances were fused with flamenco-based vocal and dance styles. The rumba, among other musical traditions, was born of this fusion. An active Cuban trade with the United States meant that these new sounds were exported to the United States along with sugar, tobacco and rum.
One Cuban musician in particular had a strong musical impact in the States.
Mario Bauza, came to the U.S. in 1937 and brought Cuban son with him. More than any other musician, he is responsible for the emergence of Afro-Cuban jazz in the States.
Bauza and Frank "Machito" Grillo (another talented Cuban migr musician) formed a band, The Afro-Cubans, which played Cuban melodies and rhythms in American-style swing orchestrations.
Sanabria noted that this band -- the first to integrate Cuban, African and American styles of music -- was also the first racially integrated band in the United States.
In particular Sanabria talked about the relationship between Birdland, a jazz club in New York City, and the Palladium, the Latin dance palace, which in the early 1950s were just a few blocks from each other.
He discussed how, in between sets, musicians from Birdland came to the Palladium and listened to the percussionists.
This sort of history enhanced not only the music, but also honored those musicians who drove the synthesis of Afro-Cuban music with the American jazz tradition.
Of course, Saturday evening wasn't all talk. The performance's first set began with the entire ensemble on the stage, each member dressed all in black. Don Glasgo, the leader and heartbeat of the ensemble, lead the brass section around Spaulding Auditorium in a rousing rendition of a traditional New Orleans tune "Meet de Boys on the Battlefront."
If that wasn't enough to get the audience in the spirit of the music yet to come, Kristin Romberg '01's performance was.
Romberg , a soulful, smoky vocalist in the tradition of Etta James and Cassandra Wilson, shined with her rendition of Cole Porter's tune "Love for Sale."
As she stepped off the stage and walked through the audience, Romberg's presence and obvious delight in performing this music set the tone for the rest of evening.
In the second set, Sanabria, lanky and powerful, took the stage. Sanabria's drumming was spectacular, intricate and a delight to listen to. He was backed by a superb rhythm section consisting of James Wrubel '04 on piano, Kabir Sehgal '05 on string and bass, Derek Hansen '02 on congas and Steve Ferrairs and Nick Stein '02 on a variety of instruments from the mixed cultural history of Afro-Cuban music.
While every musician outdid himself, two members of the ensemble particularly thrilled the audience -- Jeff DellaVolpe '04 on the trumpet and Greg Hill '02 on the trombone.
While on stage, Sanabria showed his enthusiasm for teaching, not only by his palpable rapport with the student musicians, whom he had taught and played with for a week, but also in teaching the audience how to mambo.
