Son Cubano Yo Soy El Son Cubano - Music

Mario Bauzá 28 April 1911 – 11 July 1993 Was A Cuban Trumpeter And Big Band Director. An Important Musician He Was One Of The First To Introduce Latin Music To The United States By Bringing Cuban Musical Styles Into The New York Jazz Scene. While Cuban Bands Had Popular Jazz Tunes In Their Repertoire For Years Bauzá's Composition "Tanga" Was The First Piece To Blend Jazz With Clave And Is Considered The First True Afro-Cuban Jazz Or Latin Jazz Tune.
Trained As A Classical Musician He Was A Clarinetist In The Havana Philharmonic Orchestra By The Age Of Nine Where He Would Stay For Three Years. Bauzá Traveled To New York In 1925 To Record With Maestro Antonio María Romeu's Band A Charanga Shortly After His Fourteenth Birthday. Citation Needed Bauzá Returned To Cuba But Moved Back To New York In 1930 And Reputedly Learned To Play Trumpet In Just Over Two Weeks In Order To Earn A Spot In Don Azpiazú's Orchestra. This Was In Need Of A Trumpeter To Play On Recordings For RCA Victor.
Bauzá Had Been Hired As Lead Trumpeter And Musical Director For Chick Webb's Orchestra By 1933 And It Was During His Time With Webb That Bauzá Both Met Fellow Trumpeter Dizzie Gillespie And Discovered And Brought Into The Band Singer Ella Fitzgerald. Importantly Bauzá Introduced The Young Havana Virtuoso Chano Pozo To Dizzy When The Latter Wanted To Add A Cuban Percussionist To His Band Though Pozo Was Killed In A Harlem Bar Fight Just A Year Later He Left An Indelible And Long-Lasting Mark On Dizzy's Playing And Compositions Co-Writing Several Legendary Compositions Such As "Manteca" And "Tin Tin Deo".
In 1938 Bauzá Joined Cab Calloway's Band Later Convincing Calloway To Hire Dizzie Gillespie As Well. Bauza Continued To Work With Gillespie For Several Years After He Left Calloway's Band In 1940. The Fusion Of Bauzá's Cuban Musical Heritage And Gillespie's Bebop Culminated In The Development Of Cubop One Of The First Forms Of Latin Jazz.
In 1941 Bauzá Became Musical Director Of Machito And His Afro-Cubans A Band Led By His Brother-In-Law Machito. The Band Produced Its First Recording For Decca In 1941 And In 1942 Bauzá Brought In A Young Timbales Player Named Tito Puente.
"Cubop City" And "Mambo Inn" Followed The Success Of "Tanga." Machito's Afro-Cubans Often Played Straight-Ahead Big Band Mambo Music. Many Of The Numbers Were Covers Of Recordings Which Had Proved Popular In Cuba. The Band Played Mambo-Style Dance Numbers At Venues Such As Manhattan's Palladium Ballroom. Bauzá Kept His Post As Director Of The Afro-Cubans Until 1976. After This He Worked Sparingly But Was Always Highly Respected. He Recorded A Few Cuban Jazz Albums Which Had Limited Sales. His Last Band Made A Guest Appearance On A 1992 Episode Of The Cosby Show. A Prodigious Talent Trumpeter Mario Bauzá Is Considered A Founding Father Of Latin Jazz. His Formal Music Training Combined With A Deep Understanding Of Traditional Cuban Music As Well As A Love For Jazz Allowed Him To Play A Key Role In The Integration Of Afro-Cuban Music And Jazz In The 1940s. Cuban Roots Growing Up In Havana Cuba Mario Bauzá Displayed Signs Of A Special Talent. He Began Formal Music Training As A Child At The Municipal Academy Of Cuba And Developed Great Enough Skill On The Clarinet And Oboe To Play In The Havana Philharmonic Orchestra At Age Nine. He Got A Chance To Study Under Some Of The Best Cuban Musicians Including Antonio Maria Romeu And Lázaro Herrera. At Age 19 He Moved To New York And Switched His Focus To The Trumpet
New York New York In The 1930s Was Jumping With The Sounds Of Big Band Swing Music. Bauzá Adapted To The Style Easily And Played With Several Groups Before Joining Drummer Chick Webb’s Famous Band In 1933. Webb Pushed Him To His Full Potential And Bauzá Played With The Group And Acted As Its Music Director For Five Years. He Is Credited With Convincing Webb To Hire The Young Ella Fitzgerald. During His Stint With Webb Bauzá Befriended The Young Dizzy Gillespie.
Later After Joining Cab Calloway’s Orchestra Bauzá Was Responsible For Getting Dizzy In The Group Thereby Launching The Career Of One Of The Biggest Contributors To Jazz. Part Of Dizzy’s Contribution Was Fusing Afro-Cuban Music With Jazz Inspired By His Friendship With Bauzá. Almost A Decade Later Bauzá Introduced Dizzy To The Gregarious And Volatile Cuban Percussionist Chano Pozo. Together Dizzy And Pozo Composed “Tin Tin Deo” And “Manteca ” Two Of The Most Famous Examples Of The Melding Of Bebop And Latin Music.
Integrating Styles Bauzá’s Brother-In-Law Frank Grillo Better Known As Machito Had Also Become A Major Figure In The New York Music Scene. He Conducted Led And Sang In His Own Big Band Called The Afro-Cubans. In 1941 Bauzá Left Cab Calloway And Joined Machito’s Group. He Acted As Music Director And Played Trumpet In The Band For 35 Years. The Afro-Cubans Performed Music That Was Based On Traditional Latin Rhythms And Yet Involved Jazz Harmonies And Improvisation. The Style Soon Caught On And Became Wildly Popular As Dance Music. The Arrangements That Machito And Bauzá Wrote And Arranged Became The Seeds Of Latin Jazz.
A Legacy In 1976 Bauzá Left The Band But Continued To Compose And Perform For The Rest Of His Life Dedicating Himself To Latin Jazz. He Became A Mentor For Younger Musicians Including Bobby Sanabria Conrad Herwig And Michael Philip Mossman Each Of Whom Has Gone On To Develop And Spread The Music That Bauzá Formed. By The Time He Died In 1993 Latin Music Had Already Become Embedded In The Modern Jazz Landscape. Suggested Reading
Introduction To Latin Music
Music Of Cuba
Elsewhere On The Web
Buy Mario Bauzá's Music
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