For those unaware, Afro-Cuban jazz, fathered by Mario Bauzá, can be divided into two schools. Imagine it to be more like two sides of a coin. Instrumental Mambo jazz and Cubop.

In the early 40s, Mario Bauzá, the musical director for Machito and his Afro Cubans, became the first composer to compose a piece that fused jazz melodies and improvisation with Mambo.

This piece was called “Tanga.” The term Instrumental Mambo jazz, a term coined by Eddie Palmieri, titles this new style now being developed by both Mario Bauzá and Machito. Great examples of this style could be heard by musicians such as Bebo Valdés, Tito Puente, Peruchin, Eddie Palmieri and many more.

Thus Zaccai Curtis describes Cubop as primarily a bebop composition with Afro-Cuban elements in the rhythm section. In the least, the composition might have to lean more towards the bebop side of this musical fusion. Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo with George Russell’s “Cubana-Be Cubana-Bop” (1946), along with “Manteca”, “Tin Tin Deo” (1947) became the first examples of this and inspired artists like Stan Kenton, Art Blakey, Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Cándido, Billy Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and more to create new paths that changed the world of music forever.

1. Earl (3:20
2. Black Rice (5:01)
3. 52nd Street Theme (3:22)
4. When I Fall in Love (5:00)
5. Cuban Fantasy (4:49)
6. Woody’n You (4:32)
7. Someday My Prince Will Come (7:07)
8. Let’s Do It Again (4:53)
9. Jazzin’ (3:58)
10. Maria Cervantes (4:07)
11. Oye Men (2:30)
12. Stromboli (3:13)
13. Rumbambola (4:09)
14. Maple Leaf Rag (5:53)
15. Contour (2:53)
16. Minor’s Holiday (3:14)
17. Moose the Mooche (4:08)

The vibrantly magnificent new recording opens on the spirited Earl and the stridently sculpted Black Rice and then we get the fervent 52nd Street Theme, the delicate When I Fall in Love, a generously impassioned Cuban Fantasy, and then we get the atmospherically-charged Woody’n You, the thoughtful, yet decidedly smooth Someday My Prince Will Come and the decadent Let’s Do It Again.

On a recording where the artist chooses to explore both styles of Afro-cuban Jazz (a term that he himself uses to acknowledge Machito’s contribution), along next is the vivacious Jazzin’ and the gently-paced Maria Cervantes, which are in turn backed by the drum-led Oye Men, the percussional jam Stromboli, and then come the jaunty swirls and twirls within Rumbambola, a dutiful rendition of the early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin, Maple Leaf Rag, the album closing on the delicately woven Contour, the high-tailin’ Minor’s Holiday, and finally the Charlie Parker track Moose the Mooche.

Musicians:
Zaccai Curtis - Piano
Luques Curtis - Bass
Willie Martinez - Timbales
Camilo Molina - Congas, Pandera
Reinaldo De Jesus - Bongos, Percussion