Upcoming
jazz ensemble, AfroMantra, is cultivating
a new kind of Latin music....
Reviewer: Joy Harris
So, where is Latin music going anyway. With Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony
and the Latin Invasion along with the re-emergence of Carlos Santana
and the “discovery” of the Buena Vista Social Club, everyone
has been itching for those great Afro-Cuban rhythms. Even Pottery Barn
has a Latin cd where you can hear Celia Cruz and, gasp, Dean Martin?
So, the Mambo Craze of the 50’s which brought such performers
as Tito Puente, Beny More, and Cachao has been resurrected to a new
set of ears, accustomed to drum machines, not the clave, congas, and
timbales, and everyone seems to be dancing. But though the “Latin
tinge” may be new to many, the sounds are a tradition which has
been passed down from generation to generation, and inasmuch as certain
parts of traditions stay the same, traditions grow and alter organically
to accommodate a changing artistic environment and technological sophistication.
Upcoming jazz ensemble, AfroMantra, has faced their diverse cultural
landscape comprised of rock, funk, classical, jazz, while holding their
AfroCuban musical heritage close to their heart. With this they are
cultivating a new kind of Latin music that challenges the definition
of Latin Jazz, in general. No longer bound by the melodic, “pop”
dance sounds of Tito Puente and the Family of the Buena Vista Social
Club, AfroMantra has shown in their debut release that the boundaries
of Latin music are changing more and more to incorporate the timing
of jazz, the arrangements of classical music, with a rhythm that is
definitely Latin.
Though
their style echoes of Coltrane and Rubalcaba and a host of other jazz
musicians who have fused together music from across the world, their
sound is something different. Utilizing a core group of impressive musicians,
AfroMantra is headed somewhere new with Latin Jazz and given the over-exposure
of Latin music at present, that is an accomplishment. These players
seem to work well together, neither one trying to outshine the other
during choruses and allowing the other take a forefront on solos.
Driving
forward many of the tunes on the album, Alex Garcia plays the drum set
as a melodic device as opposed to merely an accompanist, utilizing different
percussive textures and tones to enrich the melodic line set forward
by his fellow players. Aryam Vazquez, interestingly enough, plays four
congas, as opposed to the traditional two and creates a space for Toshi
Someya on bass. Pablo Gil, utilizes the softness of the sax to relay
an almost lucid, dream-like feel conducive to the introspective playing
of Pablo Vergara. But don’t let all this lead to you to think
that the music isn’t hot. The last track on the album, the Monk
tune Evidence, seems best to draw in the new-school Latin-jazz listener
with not only a song that sounds “danceable” but one that
is recognizable as Monk. The players do an excellent job of upholding
the integrity of not only the Latin rhythms that drive this arrangement
but the tune itself, keeping the jumping unpredictability of the tune.
Though these gentlemen seem to be wanting to pay homage to their respective
jazz and Latin roots by leaving the listener with this track, the first
time listener might skip all the way to the end of the cd to begin with
and then listen to the album in its entirety. Then they might have a
better time navigating themselves through the rest of the album.
One
of the most dynamic moments in the cd is track 3 “Lejana”
which was co-written by piano player-Vergara. In this track you have
a seemingly perfect harmony of all these musicians’ talents: the
steady undulating of Garcia and Vazquez on percussion and Someya on
bass, the singing of Gil on sax and the story-telling voice of Vergara
on piano, all working together to create a complete impression of a
suspended moment. What seems so remarkable is the willingness of these
players to create as a whole, even when there is an obvious solo section
(like Garcia in the beginning of track 9, “Mestizaje” or
track 2 “Interconexion"). In short, what Afromantra presents
to us here is an open, well-thought out, and complete picture of where
Latin Jazz is headed.
