Latin music history in the United States has been filled with commercialism and musical experimentation leading to misunderstandings about different styles. Latin dance crazes of the 40s and 50s presented watered-down versions of authentic traditions, many times exchanging names. The jazz and Latin mixtures held a variety of titles including Cubop, Afro-Cuban Jazz, and Latin Jazz. Artists freely combined Latin dance music with R n’ B in the 60s, leading to boogaloo. In the 70s, the word “Salsa” was assigned to Afro-Cuban dance music, and it became a popular title. This jumbled history leaves many people confused, and most inexperienced Latin music listeners simply refer to everything as Salsa.

Although jazz is quite different than dance music, the distinction between Salsa and Latin Jazz is never quite black and white. Artists often cross between the two worlds, drawing upon musical elements from both genres. Without a solid background in both musical traditions it can be hard to tell the difference. Yet, finding your way between the two worlds makes for a greater understanding of the music’s history and it can help with future music purchases!

Salsa in Jazz and Jazz in Salsa
Some artists pull Salsa elements into Latin Jazz, blurring the distinction between the two styles. Orlando “Maraca” Valle’s album Descarga Total intersperses short vocal phrases into instrumental improvisation, sending specific messages to the listener. Vocalists jump into coro-pregon sections between instrumental solos, a hallmark of Salsa arrangements. “Descarga De Hoy” from the 1996 Jesus Alemeñy album ¡Cubanismo! eschews the traditional melody/solo/melody jazz standards format in favor of solos separated by Mambos and Moñas - both trademark Salsa elements. Although these musicians prioritize jazz elements in these recordings, the reference to Salsa pulls the two worlds closer.

Some salsa recordings also include Jazz elements, albeit on a much more constrained level. Solos by wind instruments arise in Salsa, but improvisers choose “safe” musical material. Musicians prioritize commercial viability, leaving experimentation for other contexts. When Salsa Romantica became popular in the 1990s, arrangers repeated common jazz chord progressions, “softening” Salsa Dura into something with wider appeal. Although artists like Marc Anthony included “jazz” chord changes in their music, the melodic and improvisatory material never took advantage of the unique “jazz” pitches. Modern Cuban Timba bands utilize a more “jazz” approach to melodic content over similar chord progressions. Still, their audience remains firmly planted in dance music, which is why their music is referred to as “Salsa Cubana” and not “Jazz Cubana”. While these musical ideas have jazz roots, their superficial implementation falls short.

Bouncing Between Jazz and Salsa
Artists deeply involved in Latin music often alternate their musical output between Latin Jazz and Salsa albums. Tito Puente walked this line for years and recorded many high quality albums in both styles. The 1957 album Night Beat focused primarily on Puente’s unique instrumental Latin Jazz while the 1958 recording Dance Mania is a classic piece of Big Band Salsa. Ray Barretto spent his early career making boogaloo recordings like the 1968 album Acid then created Salsa hits like 1979’s Rican/Struction. In his later life, Barretto consciously switched to Latin Jazz, releasing a series of jazz recordings such as the 2000 album Portraits in Jazz and Clave or 2005’s Time Was - Time Is. While both artists vocally differentiated between Latin Jazz and Salsa, their whole output often gets thrown into the generic Salsa category.

Some artists record both danceable Salsa and jazz on a single record. The Eddie Palmieri album La Perfecta II marked a return to the repertoire of his legendary salsa band La Perfecta. Many musicians on that recording were also members of his Latin Jazz group, so he recorded several Latin Jazz selections in addition to the Salsa tracks. The Poncho Sanchez album Raise Your Hand includes instrumental jazz, danceable salsa, and Latinized R n’ B covers! At the time, Sanchez had access to several guest artists in all three genres, so he incorporated all aspects of his musical background into the album. Most Latin Jazz artists spend years learning the roots of Latin styles through dance music, so the inclusion of the Salsa on their recordings logically reflects their artistic background.

So What’s The Difference?
After seeing the music’s sticky history, the issue becomes finding the differences between the two styles. There are a variety of elements that we can use to distinguish between the two genres that we’ll be approaching in a future post. For the time being, give us some of your ideas about the blurry line between Latin Jazz and Salsa . . .

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