I’ve had plenty of time to reflect upon Latin Jazz and education lately – between discussions around youth and jazz as well as my own teaching, it’s been one of the only things on my mind. While the statistics and general opinions about connections between jazz, youth, and education can be grim at times, I find myself optimistic. Latin Jazz awareness and appreciation has grown, and I believe that things can only get better. We simply need to accept the fact that there’s a great deal of work in front of us, embrace it, and work towards a change.

My focus upon Latin Jazz and education has led me to a strong conclusion – there simply is not enough good Latin Jazz educational materials available. We’ve made great progress over the past twenty years, with some incredible books from Sher Music and a number of other publishers. Still, there are numerous gaps in the available resources. The world can’t be changed overnight, so it’s time to look at the gaps and move forward. I’ve compiled a list of four gaps in the current Latin Jazz educational materials. I’m working from my own experience, so it’s very possible that I’ve missed a resource or it’s currently being created. Please let us know if that’s the fact – awareness is half the battle, so let’s spread the word about good materials. Enjoy!

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Charts From The Big 3 For All Different Levels Of Educational Ensembles
Considering the major artistic and social impact of the music from Machito And His Afro-Cubans, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez, every jazz student should encounter them during their education – unfortunately, that’s not the reality. While some colleges get the opportunity to dig into the repertoire deeply, these studies stay rooted in schools that house incredible educators like Bobby Sanabria or Oscar Stagnaro. Most colleges touch upon them in passing, and then continue onto more traditional or modern jazz options. High schools may visit Puente through “Oye Como Va,” but further pursuits in this direction fall short. Middle school or junior high school students rarely hear about the Big 3, unless they get a surface exposure to salsa through a general music course. All three of these great bandleaders have left us, yet their work continues to escape the greater population.

Duke Ellington and Count Basie arrangements fill the repertoire of jazz ensembles from middle school to college; the same fact should hold true for Puente, Machito, and Rodriguez. In the case of Ellington and Basie, the charts are greatly simplified for middle school students; they get increasing more difficult at the high school level; and they reach into professional performance quality at the college level. While a middle school student may not perform “Wild Jungle,” they could tackle a basic version of “Picadillo” or “Philadelphia Mambo.” It would plant the seed for a college level exploration of something like “The Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite.” The integration of great jazz artists like Ellington and Basie happened over time, with a huge educational push towards music teachers. Sliding the Big 3 into common practice may require some additional materials tied into charts, such as literature around clave, percussion patterns, horn phrasing or more. Steps need to be taken in this direction; without the representation of the Big 3 in education, we are robbing our students of important historical and cultural connections.

An Instructional Book On Afro-Peruvian Styles
Afro-Peruvian music has been a particular inspiration to me lately – I’ve listened analytically to Afro-Peruvian music, but I’m at the point where I need more thorough instruction. At the very least, I’d like to see a book that outlines Afro-Peruvian rhythms like festejo, lando, and marinera. Ideally, I’d like the book to dig a little deeper, pointing out performance practices and relationships between different instruments. The resource would need to discuss technique on cajon, cajita, quejada, and more, providing basic patterns, common variations, and concepts around improvisation. Multiple reference books exist around Afro-Cuban and Brazilian rhythms, forging the path towards a greater awareness of these styles and their extensive use in the music world. Books like Micheal Spiro’s The Conga Drummer’s Guidebook, Robby Ameen and Lincoln Goines’ Funkifying the Clave, and all opened the door for education around Afro-Cuban rhythms – we need the same type of drive behind Afro-Peruvian music. A second volume of the book could demonstrate contemporary applications of the rhythms in jazz and popular music settings. This section should cover integration of the drum kit, the addition of piano and bass parts, as well as vocal or horn phrasing. I’d even hope for a section on arranging concepts with sample scores, accompanying recordings, and ideas around song creation. All books would need extensive references to listening suggestions and important artists for further research. These types of resources would lead to more musicians adopting Afro-Peruvian rhythms, and the eventual growth of Afro-Peruvian Jazz as an art form.

An Irakere Transcription Book
Stacks of transcription books are available around the great fusion bands of the seventies and eighties, ranging from full Weather Report scores to Chick Corea piano transcriptions and lead sheets of Brecker Brothers tunes; we should have at least some volumes dedicated to Cuba’s legendary fusion band, Irakere. Unfortunately, Irakere’s music remains an impressive mystery to most musicians, providing an addictively funky role model that can be difficult to follow. The pure technical virtuosity of the collective musicians present daunting transcription tasks, which translate into hours of notation time. The sketchy availability of recordings from some Irakere eras also makes a full understanding of the band difficult. Musicians in the Afro-Cuban realm and beyond would definitely agree that Irakere stands as one of the important and influential fusion bands of the past three decades, there should be easier inroads into a thorough study.

I’d love to see several different perspectives upon Irakere’s overall body of work. The most vital piece of this puzzle would be a book of scores that covers Irakere’s most important pieces from their multiple decades. This would include detailed and clearly notated versions of “Juana 1600,” “Bailando Asi,” Ciento Años De Juventud,” “Calzada Del Cerro,” and more. It would notate parts for piano, bass, guitar, drum kit, percussion, horns, and voice, going into distinct details around synthesizer sounds and guitar effects. The Latin Real Book took some of these pieces and presented lead sheets; this was a great start, I’d like to see something more complete. The second book that would need to arise around Irakere would be a book of complete Chucho Valdes transcriptions that included both his improvisations and his accompaniment patterns. Valdes represents one of the most iconic voices in Latin Jazz, and a deep study of his work would be a major benefit. I’d also like a book that breaks down the Irakere rhythm section parts to different songs and analyzes their relationship to Afro-Cuban traditions. These three volumes would be a minor start to the tremendous task of understanding Irakere’s massive repertoire.

Exercise Book That Helps Young People Phrase Around Clave
Teaching improvisation includes concepts of direct imitation, theoretical knowledge, and personal creativity – a tough combination for young people to grasp on many levels. Jazz pedagogy tackles this idea with multiple exercises that guide students through any one of these paths. They might run patterns through chord changes that strive towards a mastery of certain fingering combinations. They might force a musician to transpose a master’s most common licks through all twelve keys. They might offer a variety of conceptual ideas and challenge the musician to improvise around that certain concept. They sometimes present listening suggestions not just in terms of track choice, but also around what to focus upon in the music. There’s a number of possibilities to structure improvisation practice, aimed at helping the musician grow without stifling their creativity.

The idea of improvising in clave is a dubious grey area in the tool bags of many soloists, and an exercise book aimed at an understanding would be beneficial. Exercises that encourage a basic rhythmic understanding about starting and ending phrases as well as emphasizing the two or three side could immediately help improvisers. Common rhythmic ideas would be a course of study as well as ways to easily embellish them without breaking clave. One section could discuss the conceptual changes that a soloist should make when moving between different styles such as son montuno, songo, and cha cha cha. Connections between clave emphasis points and typical bebop phrases could connect new information with the improviser’s current knowledge. Then a number of suggestions about how to break the rules would be an absolute necessity so that musicians don’t create a constant stream of stiff rhythmic phrases. All these concepts could be presented within the framework of several different descargas with written rhythm section parts. A collection of exercises like this could open a new world of rhythmic language to improvisers.

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This list touches upon four gaps in the available Latin Jazz educational resources, but let’s be real – there’s far more gaps than that. What knowledge would you like to gain? Which styles do you still need to understand? What sort of information would make you become a better Latin Jazz musician? Share your ideas with us and get the gaps out in the open!

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Back To School Ideas For Educators Integrating Latin Jazz Into Their Curriculum
Reality Check For Latin Jazz Musicians, Part 3
5 Tips For Musicians Making Their First Steps Into Latin Jazz
Educating A New Generation Of Latin Jazz Musicians: Sher Music Co.

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