Latin Music

[mcgraham]

I've recently found out that I have a few latin pieces on my iPod from various sources that I had not previously listened to. By latin I do [i][u][b]NOT[/b][/u][/i] mean Ricky Martin...

It is not a genre I really know anything about, but I'd like to hear more! Do any of you have any recommendations of latin artists/songs/albums I should/could listen to?

Mark

[bassjamm]

Slightly different but along the similar lines, some Cuban salsa perhaps kind sir...i'm not exactly knowledgable about it all, but the Beuna Vista Social club stuff is pretty wicked!!! Then again, it's not exactly Latin!!!

[6stringbassist]

I play some latin with my one jazz set-up, it's not a genre that I actually particularly like.

I always get a vision of people wearing bright puffy slevved shirts, shaking castanets, like that seen from the mask.

Michael Camilo is pretty good, especially with Anthony Jackson, that's about it for me

[pjbass]

It's quite a wide genre to recommend at a guess but...

I like these guys: Ojos de Brujo.
They're a 9 piece flamenco band from Barcelona. The rhythms are really infectious and the bass playing's pretty good too.
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fitS1J498l0"]Heres a clip of them playing Jools Holland[/url]
I'd recommend either albums: Bari or Vengue to check out.

But if you were thinking more South American tango then that's a different matter...

[synaesthesia]

More misunderstood than Jazz in this country for sure. Not enough Latino culture around for even schooled jazzers to know what's what. Auditioned a guitarist once as musical director for a named vocalist's tour, told him we were doing Mas Que Nada - he said he needed to brush up on his flamenco. Even with drummers you 'd get problems, gigged in a trio with a drummer who fakes his latino by banging a syncopated beat on toms, whether it is samba or bossa. Another schooled drummer told me the bossa was essentially just a clave thing....

Most of what is referred to as Latin music is Latin American Music, and Latin America is a large geographical expanse with many many styles of music as there are countries. Spain and latin America are related through language and culture, there is some cross fertilisation but Spanish music and Latin American music are not quite the same, as Portugal is not the same as Brazil. Within "Latin America" you have much diversity, and the rhythmic accents are not the same in the different genres. It does not matter much in the UK, for two reasons - the UK has no real relationship with Latin American Culture, and cultural ignorance will continue to be the norm - so you can play any syncopated beat and it must be 'latin'.

In Latin America, the music is played from the cora-Z-on, whilst in Spain it is from the cora-thz-on. Close, supposedly the same heart but not quite the same.

[mcgraham]

That's really quite fascinating! I think I'll be making lots of musical genre [i]faux pas[/i] identifying what is what until I get into some actual artists/pieces.

Mark

[Guest]

The Bass Bible by Paul Westwood might be worth a try, it has a large section devoted to different world styles.

[pjbass]

[quote name='mcgraham' post='226396' date='Jun 25 2008, 07:35 AM']That's really quite fascinating! I think I'll be making lots of musical genre [i]faux pas[/i] identifying what is what until I get into some actual artists/pieces.[/quote]

Me too apparently. My corazón has entirely the wrong continent. I had no idea flamenco wasn't Latin; it had always felt the same to me.

Hopefully neither Ojos nor the several million Latin musicians will be offended at my error, and especially my apologies to Ricky Martin.
Sorry Ricky.

Edited June 25, 2008 by pjbass

[jakenewmanbass]

Brazilian music is amazing.
Sala is very exciting.
Portugese is a lovely language for singing.
Cuba has a tremendous musical tradition where musicians are socially highly regarded.
There is some amazing latin music, the bass and drums is awesome in some of it. There is even a genre called New York salsa as it has caught on so strongly amongst NY musicians
There is a wonderful book in the hal leonard series called 'funkifying the Clave' by Lincoln Goines (a great bass player) and Robbie Ameen (Drums and perc)
Cubano Bop is a good british Latin band amongst others.
That all I know.
oh and I can play some of the (quite strict) bass patterns, they are fantastic.
Investigate it, well worth it.

Edited June 25, 2008 by jakesbass

[TheRinser]

I don't know all that much about it, I'll second Jake's recommendation of funkifying the clave, and also check out Bobby Valentin - Rey Dej Bajo, awesome album! Also, lots of Groove Collective stuff has a lot of latin influences and a great bass player in Jon Maron. Check out these tracks - Que te pasa'ti, Tito, Mambo Mongo, Loisaida, sabrosona... That's all I can think of at the moment... Hope these are of some use!

[Mikey D]

Irakere - Chuco Valdes on bass, he also has a book out called "cuban bass" which is quite good and has a few transcriptions in.

For salsa check out some stuff on Fania records. Such as the greatly named Willie Colon.

[synaesthesia]

Get this if you are wanting to learn Latino bass:
[url="http://www.shermusic.com/latinbassbook.htm"]http://www.shermusic.com/latinbassbook.htm[/url]

It covers most of the popular styles and tells you what the rhythms are, but.... if you really want to know the music, get a few drum books: there are a few about that cover the variations of Afro-Cuban, Afro-Carribean, Brazillian, Tango etc. The ones written for Drumset you have to understand are often modern interpretive amalgamations of what one bloke can imitate on kit, in effort to mimic what a whole Latino percussion rhythm section can do. But if gives you an idea of where the accents are nonetheless.

Another good place to start, and many people will have such a gadget, is your digital beatbox or drum machine. Most of those have one or two variations of each popular style, but at least you can start to tell the difference between Songo, Samba, Bossa etc.

[E_MaN]

Michel Camilo 100%

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXT07AnkYRE"]From Within[/url]

Edited June 25, 2008 by E_MaN

[Bilbo]

PM'd

What I have learned from playing this stuff is that the Latin American music scene in the widest sense is like the occidental music scene - Latin music consists of as many genres as a western music.

We all know (or think we know) Bossa Nova, samba and salsa. But there are hundreds of sub-genres. Argentinan Tango (which I love), Brazillian Axe (pronounced 'ashay'), pagode, baiao, samba duro, guaguanco, Cuban son, merengue, songo, mambo, Timba, bolero, charanga, cha cha cha,
Mangue Beat, Lundu, Afoxê, Carimbo, Maxixe even Lambada ... the list goes on and on and on. It really is a lifetimes work to study this stuff.

But don't let that put you off - some of this sh*t is fantastic!

Los Angeles 'Ozomatli' are great fun (plenty on Youtube but some of it is moving into hip-hop territory).

Brazil's Gilberto Gil (there is a great DVD called 'Acoustico' that is affordable on Amazon Marketplace -Arthur Maia on acoustic bass guitar)

Astor Piazolla - anything he did is magic!

You HAVE to listen to Cachao or Buena Vista although., be warned, Cubans don't like the BVSC as hey think it is misrepresenting Cuban music and is, in their eyes, old fashioned (like Diana Krall or Stacy Keny as a representative of comtemporary jazz)

Other great Brazillian artists I like include Marisa Monte, Maria Bethânia (great voice) singer/songwriters Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso (Maria Bethania's brother), Ivan Lins, Djavan (great songs), João Bosco, Aderbal Duarte. There are also the Latin Jazz people - Airto Moriera, Flora Purim, Hermeto Pascoal, Machito, Ray Barretto, Michel Camilo (already mentioned), Egberto Gismonti and 1970s Chick Corea.

There are also popular acts like Falamansa who are great fun although a bit one dimensional.

And then, not Latin but often seen in a similar light, there's Nuevo Flamenco from Spain - that's a whole new world altogether!

There is so much stuff out there for people to enjoy.

Cover bands? Humbug!!

Edited June 25, 2008 by bilbo230763

[Johngh]

If its Brazilian your after try Evette Sangalo or Legiao Urbano or Gilberto Gil. All probably spelt wrong but all very different, a lot of Evette's stuff is very fast and the bass lines are amazing.

There is also a brilliant brazillian bass player called Artur Maia who is up there with the best.

[Bassworm]

oooh.....


Yerba Buena
Los De Abajo
Susana Baca
Ozomatli
Ska Cubana ( neat combination of Cuban and Jamaican rhythms, infectious stuff)
Jose Ferrera
Monica Vasconcelas
Monobloco


All worth checking out, and all very different

[ianrunci]

A friend of mine from London is worth a listen, he's a drummer and Producer called Jeffrey Jai Seopardi

He's played with brand X, Sad Cafe and was the drummer on the original version of Build me up Butterup (although this is something he keeps quiet lol) he's worked with some brilliant fusion musicians over the years but his m,ain thing is fusion blended with latin music.

His myspace site is [url="http://www.myspace.com/jeffreyjaiseopardi"]http://www.myspace.com/jeffreyjaiseopardi[/url]

[ianrunci]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='226631' date='Jun 25 2008, 12:43 PM']PM'd

What I have learned from playing this stuff is that the Latin American music scene in the widest sense is like the occidental music scene - Latin music consists of as many genres as a western music.

We all know (or think we know) Bossa Nova, samba and salsa. But there are hundreds of sub-genres. Argentinan Tango (which I love), Brazillian Axe (pronounced 'ashay'), pagode, baiao, samba duro, guaguanco, Cuban son, merengue, songo, mambo, Timba, bolero, charanga, cha cha cha,
Mangue Beat, Lundu, Afoxê, Carimbo, Maxixe even Lambada ... the list goes on and on and on. It really is a lifetimes work to study this stuff.

But don't let that put you off - some of this sh*t is fantastic!

Los Angeles 'Ozomatli' are great fun (plenty on Youtube but some of it is moving into hip-hop territory).

Brazil's Gilberto Gil (there is a great DVD called 'Acoustico' that is affordable on Amazon Marketplace -Arthur Maia on acoustic bass guitar)

Astor Piazolla - anything he did is magic!

You HAVE to listen to Cachao or Buena Vista although., be warned, Cubans don't like the BVSC as hey think it is misrepresenting Cuban music and is, in their eyes, old fashioned (like Diana Krall or Stacy Keny as a representative of comtemporary jazz)

Other great Brazillian artists I like include Marisa Monte, Maria Bethânia (great voice) singer/songwriters Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso (Maria Bethania's brother), Ivan Lins, Djavan (great songs), João Bosco, Aderbal Duarte. There are also the Latin Jazz people - Airto Moriera, Flora Purim, Hermeto Pascoal, Machito, Ray Barretto, Michel Camilo (already mentioned), Egberto Gismonti and 1970s Chick Corea.

There are also popular acts like Falamansa who are great fun although a bit one dimensional.

And then, not Latin but often seen in a similar light, there's Nuevo Flamenco from Spain - that's a whole new world altogether!

There is so much stuff out there for people to enjoy.

Cover bands? Humbug!![/quote]

yeah but you can only enjoy it if you like it. Talking of Chick Corea a friend of mine played with him. He's a guitar player called Jamie Glaser, he's played with all the greats, he's a brilliant player, used to give me lessons over MSN messenger a couple of years ago

[6stringbassist]

[quote name='E_MaN' post='226579' date='Jun 25 2008, 11:38 AM']Michel Camilo 100%

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXT07AnkYRE"]From Within[/url][/quote]

Anthony Jackson !.

[foal30]

as posted above Irakere.
the live disc with Mr Sandoval on trumpet is goodness all the way.

[Bilbo]

[quote name='ianrunci' post='226904' date='Jun 25 2008, 08:17 PM']yeah but you can only enjoy it if you like it. Talking of Chick Corea a friend of mine played with him. He's a guitar player called Jamie Glaser, he's played with all the greats, he's a brilliant player, used to give me lessons over MSN messenger a couple of years ago[/quote]

Didn't he work with Jean Luc Ponty? I recall he had an Ibanez Artist guitar. I remember becasue I had the same one (let it go and have regretted it ever since).

[ianrunci]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='227199' date='Jun 26 2008, 11:18 AM']Didn't he work with Jean Luc Ponty? I recall he had an Ibanez Artist guitar. I remember becasue I had the same one (let it go and have regretted it ever since).[/quote]

Yeah he did quite a lot with Ponty, He was in Manhatten transfer for a few years too, other things he's done are stuff like the Streamline album with Lenny White, Marcus Miller and Chaka Khan, He's played with Stanley Clarke, Steve Gadd, Jaco, and loads more. He does mainly TV theme stuff now and a few movies although he has just released a new album.

He did play an artist for a while, he has his own signature guitar now which if I'm honest looks appalling. but he is a really nice down to earth bloke considering he's one of the best Jazz Fusion session men in the world

[mcgraham]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I greatly appreciate it. It's nice to find something completely new (at least to my ears, and from what you've said, most western ears).

Also Bilbo, thanks for the stuff you sent over. Really gets my toe tapping. Also, the melody and harmonies on Donde Se Ferona are reeeeally original! Love it! Will drop you a message later today!

Mark

[bubinga5]

TITO PUENTE!!!