The Revisiting series features albums from the past that played a significant role in Latin Jazz history. The purpose of this series is to introduce new Latin Jazz listeners to important albums and look back at these albums in historical perspective. Each entry will jump to a different point in Latin Jazz history - this week we jump back 19 years into the mid-seventies.

Sometimes the most historically significant recordings are the ones that exist between major musical stages. An artist’s young work reflects their search for identity and a quick learning curve, often shaped by other bandleaders. This work provides interesting clues to the young musician’s influences and interests. An artist’s mature work presents a voice that has already ingested a variety of influences, made personal decisions about musical aesthetics, and committed themselves to a distinct musical direction. Their creative output may reflect a highly original voice or it may reinvent an influence, but regardless of the destination, the trip has been taken. The road between these two time periods actually shows how a musician moved from young to mature artist and the unique choices that would become the foundations for their work as a mature artist.

Grupo Folklorico y Experimental, founded in 1975, signaled an evolutionary path for the Gonzalez brothers and the greater New York Latin music scene. Both Jerry and Andy Gonzalez entered the professional music world during their teens and quickly traveled through many high profile gigs. Andy worked as a driving force of Ray Barretto’s band while Jerry traveled the world with Dizzy Gillespie. Both brothers joined Eddie Palmieri’s band in the early 1970s, sparking an improvisational direction for the jazz-tinged salsa bandleader. When Palmieri and his band encountered professional differences, the brothers and timbalero Manny Oquendo left to form their own band, Conjunto Libre. At the same time, they held free form descargas in the basement of their parents’ Bronx home. The jam sessions mirrored a growing desire in the Latin music world to move outside the increasingly commercialized Salsa circuit and experiment. The Gonzalez brothers and the group of musicians that regularly gathered in their parents’ basement sensed this need for freedom, which led to the creation of Grupo Folklorico y Experimental.

The ten tracks on Concepts in Unity, recorded live without overdubs, display the musician’s immense performance skills, their appreciation for Latin street music, and their creative spirit. Tresero Nelson Gonzalez provides a steady foundation for Chocolate Armenteros’ soulful trumpet improvisations on “Chocolate’s Guajira,” which leads to a rhythmically intensive solo from Gonzalez. Oquendo quintos boldly on his timbales between vocal phrases on the rumba “A Papa Y Mama,” until a salsa groove lays the foundation for vocal, trumpet, and saxophone improvisations. Francisco “Tan” Martinez’s harmonica opens “Adelaida,” which gives way to a rugged and very danceable Puerto Rican Plena. Both “Canto Asoyin” and “Canto Ebioso” contain authentic songs for Santeria orishas Babaluaye and Chango respectively, driven by a traditional trio of bata drums. “Iya Modopue” opens with a sparse rumba texture, building into a thriving dance number full of improvisations, including a deep bass statement from Andy Gonzalez. Pianist Oscar Hernandez delivers a fiery solo on “Anabacoa,” until Oquendo once again explodes in a display of heart-felt percussion prowess. Each track simultaneously offers honest impressions of the artists, a history lesson in the music, and a musical thrill ride.

Grupo Folklorico y Experimental lived a short life, but set the stage for the creative journey of the Gonzalez brothers and the Latin Jazz world. The group recorded one more album, Lo Dice Todo, and then the artists moved to other projects. Oquendo and Andy Gonzalez maintained Conjunto Libre, which became a popular and highly respected dance band that incorporated a large dose of jazz. With the participation of Andy, Jerry recorded Ya Yo Me Cure in 1979, marking the official starting point of his jazz journey. In the next few years, Jerry and Andy formed the Fort Apache Band which reflected many of the aesthetics established in Grupo Folklorico y Experimental - a high respect for authentic and traditional street music, a preference for extensive amounts of improvisation, and a fearless need to experiment during live performance. The group created one of Latin Jazz’s most distinct voices while reworking the music of Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, and Art Blakey through the eyes of daring rumberos. While this later work left the most lasting impression on the Latin Jazz world, Concepts in Unity stands as an important milestone in the road towards a major voice in contemporary Latin Jazz.

Revisit More Latin Jazz Classics:
Tanga, Mario Bauza and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra
Palmas, Eddie Palmieri
Cal Tjader’s Latin Concert

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