CHICO O'FARRILL - The Complete Norman Granz Recordings
Malanga Music MM831
Let’s be clear, these are not all the recordings that Chico O’Farrill made for Norman Granz. These are the recordings that O’Farrill made under his own name. In addition, O’Farrill wrote music for Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Miguelito Valdes, David Bowie, Art Farmer, Wynton Marsalis, Count Basie, Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He was very prolific and versatile.
O’Farrill was born in Havana in 1921 and died in New York in 2001. He always said that his first interest was jazz. To an interviewer he said: ‘It was never my primary interest to preserve the authenticity of Cuban melody and harmonies just for the sake of preservation. When I started my career in the Forties, a lot of Cuban music was very simplistic. I was always more interested in jazz; and when I got to New York, I naturally gravitated to Dizzy and other bebop artists, that fusion of Cuban music with the jazz techniques of harmonic richness and orchestration. Of course, I have been determined to preserve Cuban rhythms, and I always have the rhythm section in mind when I write. You have to write horn parts that don't collide with the rhythmic concept.’
Afro-Cuban music became very popular in the 1940s both Stan Kenton and Dizzy Gillespie hired Cuban musicians to add fire to their rhythm sections. The great thing about Cuban rhythms is that they don’t date as easily as other rhythms. The rhythm of twenties jazz is totally different from forties jazz or seventies jazz. Cuban rhythms, at least to the untutored ear, do not date in the same way.
The 46 tracks are taken from his albums such as ‘Mambo-Latino Dances’, ‘Jazz North of the Border, Jazz South of the Border’, ‘Chico O’Farrill Jazz’. O’Farrill described Afro-Cuban Jazz as "a very delicate marriage", in which each aspect of the music had to be held in proper balance. To achieve that he used musicians from jazz big bands. A look at the personnel on the CDs shows that he recruited superb players: Flip Phillips, Herb Geller, Ray Brown, Jo Jones, Bill Harris, Herbie Steward and Roy Eldridge. He also used Machito’s rhythm section.
The two most significant works are the over seventeen minute ‘Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite’ and the ‘The Second Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite’ The first one, although written and conducted by O’Farrill , was recorded under the name of Machito (if you were being pedantic, this should not have been included on this compilation) and features Charlie Parker, Flip Phillips and Buddy Rich. Parker’s fiery playing is some of the best work that he did for Norman Granz. Parker seems inspired by the Cuban rhythms of Chino Pozo. The exchanges between Parker and Phillips over the Cuban rhythms are passionate as is the thunderous solo from Buddy Rich. ‘The Second Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite” is not as immediately appealing but is probably better written, Flip Phillips has the major solo responsibilities as he weaves his way through the subtle tone colours. The two suites are the high point in the marriage of jazz and Cuban music.
Most of the two CDs are full of very danceable Afro-Cuban music, intelligently written, beautifully played and, for the time, very well recorded. If you do not have the Parker suite this is well worth buying. You can always dance to the rest.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Malanga Music MM831
Let’s be clear, these are not all the recordings that Chico O’Farrill made for Norman Granz. These are the recordings that O’Farrill made under his own name. In addition, O’Farrill wrote music for Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton, Miguelito Valdes, David Bowie, Art Farmer, Wynton Marsalis, Count Basie, Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He was very prolific and versatile.
O’Farrill was born in Havana in 1921 and died in New York in 2001. He always said that his first interest was jazz. To an interviewer he said: ‘It was never my primary interest to preserve the authenticity of Cuban melody and harmonies just for the sake of preservation. When I started my career in the Forties, a lot of Cuban music was very simplistic. I was always more interested in jazz; and when I got to New York, I naturally gravitated to Dizzy and other bebop artists, that fusion of Cuban music with the jazz techniques of harmonic richness and orchestration. Of course, I have been determined to preserve Cuban rhythms, and I always have the rhythm section in mind when I write. You have to write horn parts that don't collide with the rhythmic concept.’
Afro-Cuban music became very popular in the 1940s both Stan Kenton and Dizzy Gillespie hired Cuban musicians to add fire to their rhythm sections. The great thing about Cuban rhythms is that they don’t date as easily as other rhythms. The rhythm of twenties jazz is totally different from forties jazz or seventies jazz. Cuban rhythms, at least to the untutored ear, do not date in the same way.
The 46 tracks are taken from his albums such as ‘Mambo-Latino Dances’, ‘Jazz North of the Border, Jazz South of the Border’, ‘Chico O’Farrill Jazz’. O’Farrill described Afro-Cuban Jazz as "a very delicate marriage", in which each aspect of the music had to be held in proper balance. To achieve that he used musicians from jazz big bands. A look at the personnel on the CDs shows that he recruited superb players: Flip Phillips, Herb Geller, Ray Brown, Jo Jones, Bill Harris, Herbie Steward and Roy Eldridge. He also used Machito’s rhythm section.
The two most significant works are the over seventeen minute ‘Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite’ and the ‘The Second Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite’ The first one, although written and conducted by O’Farrill , was recorded under the name of Machito (if you were being pedantic, this should not have been included on this compilation) and features Charlie Parker, Flip Phillips and Buddy Rich. Parker’s fiery playing is some of the best work that he did for Norman Granz. Parker seems inspired by the Cuban rhythms of Chino Pozo. The exchanges between Parker and Phillips over the Cuban rhythms are passionate as is the thunderous solo from Buddy Rich. ‘The Second Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite” is not as immediately appealing but is probably better written, Flip Phillips has the major solo responsibilities as he weaves his way through the subtle tone colours. The two suites are the high point in the marriage of jazz and Cuban music.
Most of the two CDs are full of very danceable Afro-Cuban music, intelligently written, beautifully played and, for the time, very well recorded. If you do not have the Parker suite this is well worth buying. You can always dance to the rest.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
