As evolving artists, we always need to reflect upon our current musicianship, and build necessary performance skills. It’s important to assess what we do well musically, and then what we need to improve. The process demands total honesty and the ability to step outside our egos. Most improvising musicians can find strengths and weaknesses within our playing; yet the next step often stops us. We usually spend our time trying to capturea specific sound, given to us by our heroes and mentors. Sometimes these creative goals consume us, and our complete practice time becomes devoted to them. Then we go on a gig and we don’t have the necessary tools to cut the performance. At this point, our need to carve a personal identity has blinded us to the core skills that every gig demands. Each type of gig requires a different set of skills, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with the aesthetical requirements of your chosen style.

I’ve outlined two important musical considerations for Latin Jazz musicians below. I’ll be returning to this idea in future posts and discussing more core skills, integral to Latin Jazz musicians. For now, take some time to consider these first two points and do a reality check - which pieces of these core skills do you need to review?

1. Do You Have a Weak Background in Either Jazz or Latin Music?
Latin Jazz requires a deep devotion to both traditional jazz and a variety of Caribbean and South American genres; realistically, this is a lot of musical information to for one person to digest. Musicians actively performing Latin Jazz generally come from either a jazz or Latin music upbringing then expand their horizons. Naturally, they find their strength in their history - jazz musicians handle complex harmonies and improvisation well and Latin musicians excel in the music’s rhythmic aspect. Yet, the true excitement in Latin Jazz comes from the authentic application of both genres’ aesthetics simultaneously. Jazz heavy groups sound like a traditional quintet playing over a generic straight 8th groove, while Latin centered bands sound like an instrumental dance band.

The balance comes from additional study in your weak side. If you’ve got a jazz background, maybe you need to find some Fania All-Star recordings or listen to some folkloric music by Muñequitos de Mantanzas. Find a copy of Rebeca Mauleón’s Salsa Guidebook and learn the inner workings of each rhythmic style. Immerse yourself in the rhythmic aspect of the music and then apply that to your given instrument. Latin musicians need to spend countless listening hours glued to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey and more. Put aside the better part of a month to closely study Mark Levine’s The Jazz Theory Book, and plan to experiment with a piano. Check out the news and forums on All About Jazz for endless listening ideas and musical approaches. Again, if you are truly serious about playing Latin Jazz, don’t consider this a surface study - these styles are both lifelong pursuits; your practice time will need to be divided stylistically from here on out.

2. Do You Know Your Latin Jazz Standards?
Every genre contains a body of standard literature - the songs that resonate with just about everyone. These songs get called on gigs constantly, requiring an intimate knowledge with them. In a sense, standards become a testing ground for young artists; a measure of their abilities and training. They are often required to not only play the song, but also take it into new territory - through a variety of tempos, feel changes, and key changes. Improvised music is brutally honest and experienced musicians understand that fact; if you haven’t done your homework, these tests will plainly reveal that. Musicians that demonstrate proficiency on standards generally get called back for more, while others who fumble through the standards get written off to amateur status.

Latin Jazz owns its personal set of standards, established over years of tradition. Find a friend deeply involved in Latin music and compile a list of standards, and then find multiple recordings of each song. Work through the Sher Music Latin Real Book, a goldmine of standards, from Cuban, Brazilian, and Salsa genres. Check out the Jamey Aebersold Play-Along Vol. 64, Salsa/Latin Jazz - it contains very clear charts and professional play-along tracks for “Manteca,” “Mambo Inn,” “Afro Blue,” and more. Make sure that you don’t just open a traditional jazz fake book and assume you are getting the job done. Latin Jazz may reference traditional jazz standards, but there are specific Latin Jazz standards deeply engrained in the style. While you probably should know Autumn Leaves and Satin Doll, they don’t form the backbone of Latin Jazz. Someone might call Autumn Leaves as a Danzón or Satin Doll as a Son Montuno, but considering the number of musicians that migrate from Salsa, I doubt those tunes would be called, counted, and played. Memorize Latin Jazz specific standards, transpose them, and discover the conventions associated with them. They will serve you well on Latin Jazz gigs.

Ask yourself these questions and find honest answers, then follow through on the road to becoming a complete Latin Jazz musician! Check back soon for more Reality Check posts . . .

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