LJC Community Conversations are designed to explore major ideas in the Latin Jazz world together as a community and inspire conversation through comments. My main motivator here is my belief that LJC readers hold a great deal of knowledge and passion around Latin Jazz, and I think that we can learn something from everyone. Whether you’re a seasoned Latin Jazz performer or a newcomer to the music, leave a comment and let your voice be heard!

Today’s conversation revisits a piece of Latin Jazz on film . . .

The comments on last week’s conversation made me rethink Latin Jazz in the greater world and my personal interaction with it. Two suggestions from last week’s Jazz on Film community conversation resonated with me - the Cachao documentary - that I’d seen - and Michel Camilo’s score for Two Much - a movie that I haven’t seen. I pulled out my copy of the Cachao documentary which I’ve watched hundreds of times and viewed it yet one more time. I pulled up the concert clip from Two Much on You Tube, but I didn’t watch the whole file to investigate Camilo’s score. I probably would have gotten a deeper insight into the use of Latin Jazz in film, but in general, I don’t seriously look for Latin Jazz in pop culture; I simply don’t associate the two worlds with each other.

I reconsidered that viewpoint this week - the meeting of Latin Jazz and pop culture could have powerful results and I’ve been missing the boat in many ways. Perhaps I’ve been too stuck on the artistic element of personal expression and forgotten the music’s entertainment value. More people value entertainment than artistry and artists that find a crossroads between the two aesthetics hold a larger audience. While I may have enjoyed Tito Puente’s all-star performance on Calle 54, more people most likely became connected to Puente’s music through his appearance on The Simpsons. Pop culture holds the advantage of touching mass numbers of people; whether it involves artistry or not, it always reaches people.

Something else happened this week that made me rethink pop culture - Herbie Hancock’s sales skyrocketed as a result of winning the Album of the Year Grammy Award. River: The Joni Letters enjoyed a 967% increase in sales last week, landing it at the number 5 spot of the Billboard charts. At this point, everyone knows Hancock’s name; they may not recognize his significance in the greater jazz world, but they know that he made at least one great album. Will all of these people find Hancock’s older recordings as a leader and sideman? Probably not, but a small percentage of people will. Will this smaller percentage stay with jazz and support other artists beyond Hancock? He’ll probably loose quite a few, but an even smaller group of people will stay with jazz. In the end, jazz earns a new fan base that ensures the style’s longevity; all of this remains due to a pop culture institution that provided Hancock worldwide exposure.

For years before this Grammy Award, Hancock consistently flirted with the pop culture world with a variety of results. He gained significant financial rewards with popular hits such as “Rockit” and earned major royalty payment from jazz-rock compositions such as “Watermelon Man” and “Chameleon.” A wider circle of musical connoisseurs in the funk world discovered Hancock and rock instrumentalists and studied him intently. At the same time, jazz traditionalists questioned Hancock’s motives and largely dismissed his forays into the popular rhythms. He consistently returned to traditional, albeit modern, jazz formats, keeping his jazz reputation in tact. He walked the line between the art music world and pop music world, and as a result, he spread the popularity of jazz tremendously.

Many more examples of jazz musicians crossing over into the pop culture realm exist (Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, etc . . .), but few examples arise from the Latin Jazz world. Tito Puente made the most significant progress towards becoming a pop culture icon. Ray Barretto gained underground popularity in the funk world, in much of the same ways as Hancock, but most people’s point of reference for his work lies in his salsa recordings. Dizzy Gillespie made large-scale appearances in pop culture, but the general public associates him with bebop rather than Latin Jazz. While jazz musicians appear on t-shirts, serve as the basis for movies, and fill multiple soundtracks, Latin Jazz musicians sit outside the of wider public awareness

Perhaps a journey into pop culture would be beneficial for Latin Jazz . . .

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Let’s put our Latin Jazz knowledge and our everyday experiences with pop culture together and discover where these worlds connect. Try to think beyond the simple crossover recording that an artist may have created, but where did they move into the public eye on a large scale. LEAVE A COMMENT with your thoughts about these two universes. Here are some ideas about possible intersection points:

* Artist appearances on movies or television shows

* Latin Jazz appearances on soundtracks for movies or video games

* Can you think of possible points of entry into pop culture for Latin Jazz that haven’t been explored yet?

JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
LEAVE A COMMENT below with some examples of Latin Jazz on film! I know that between the LJC readers, we should be able to make a great list. Even better, this could be the start of an even bigger conversation. So if you know of a film, share it! Your comment will be appreciated!

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Do you have an idea for a future Community Conversation? As much as I enjoy exploring my own interests with this weekly post, I’d prefer to have this forum address the overall interests of the entire community. Do you have an issue that effects Latin Jazz? Do you have an idea for a fun topic? Let me know so that we can throw it out to the whole community - Leave a Comment or e-mail me.

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