Latin Jazz Quick Picks take a brief look at albums that might escape the attention of a general audience. In some cases, these albums don’t fit into the “Album Of The Week” or “Spotlight” categories. Other recordings might be too old at this point to find a place in the Spotlight, but too new to be considered a “classic.” Still, they each contain interesting music and they deserve attention. With the idea in mind that there are a lot of albums to cover in this setting, I’m going to move through them more rapidly than usual.

The Latin Jazz world has expanded tremendously over the past decade, yet one Latin influence that remains largely unexplored is the use of Spanish flamenco music. The application of flamenco in jazz presents some distinct challenges that sit outside the standard Latin Jazz approaches. When musicians incorporate Cuban or Brazilian music into jazz, the use of rhythmic structures drives the fusion - in both cases, the music’s percussive elements define the stylistic parameters. While flamenco music certainly relies upon rhythmic elements, it involves a unmistakable emphasis upon harmony and melody with influences from Spain, Africa, and the Middle East. Musicians need to find ways to fuse the distinct harmonic and melodic elements of jazz and flamenco without loosing the integrity of either world - a tall task indeed. Some musicians have navigated these two worlds with class and style; pianist Chano Dominguez consistently connects jazz with flamenco and conjures bold images of both traditions. Trumpet player Jerry Gonzalez jumped from years of hard bop inspired Latin Jazz into flamenco music on Y los Piratas del Flamenco without missing a beat. Still, these examples are the exception, not the rule - for the most part, the Latin Jazz world is still trying to decode flamenco.

Two recent releases dive into the fusion between jazz and flamenco, taking very different approaches to the combination. Impact from the RG Royal Sound Orchestra places flamenco elements into a big band setting, filling the flamenco world with the rich sound of a large ensemble. New World Flamenco from Tierra Negra & Muriel Anderson takes more of an instrumental rumba flamenco approach, integrating pieces of the Afro-Cuban world. Both releases offer a distinctly different perspective upon Latin Jazz - while they don’t always capture the essence of the music, they remind us of the value of flamenco music in the jazz world.

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Impact
RG Royal Sound Orchestra
RG Records
The RG Royal Sound Orchestra takes familiar songs from the pop music world and places them in a big band context with undertones of flamenco music on Impact. A group of palmas charge forward into a trumpet soloist who provides the familiar melody on “My Way,” repeating the main theme over a thickening texture. A freely phrased melody winds through thick wind textures on “Volare” before the full band storms into an Afro-Cuban influenced arrangement with room for a tasty guitar solo and a traditional swing section. Rubato introductions from saxophone, trombone, and trumpet soloist lead into an upbeat interpretation of “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,” before electric guitarist Lindsey Blair explodes into a heavy rock fusion section. In the album’s most flamenco inspired moment, a trumpet soloist slides a legato phrase between airy guitar licks on “Hotel California” until the group jumps into the familiar melody. A trumpet soloist interprets the melody with plenty of vibrato on “As Time Goes By” leading into arranged variations on the main theme. The group brings a hearty collection of familiar tunes to life throughout Impact, utilizing big band colors and flamenco shades.

While the RG Royal Sound Orchestra strives to integrate flamenco into their repertoire, their emphasis remains upon the funky big band arrangements. The flamenco element remains consistent throughout the album, but it is mostly relegated to the background. The constant presence of palmas pushes the momentum of the songs forward, but it stays buried under a disco or funk backbeat, making it more effect than anything else. The guitarists use flamenco guitar strumming techniques, which gives a tinge of the flamenco style, but it might as well be something else - a piano or a standard big band guitar - because the carries very little impact upon the music. The group avoids any reference to the harmonic and melodic elements of flamenco music, giving the music’s Latin element an incomplete feel. While there are certain flamenco sound bytes that represent the genre, the rhythmic element alone doesn’t capture the depth of the flamenco tradition. This being said, the arrangements on Impact are strongly written, and they’re performed in a tight, coherent manner that reveals a powerful band. Unfortunately, the arrangements drive the album a little too much, leaving very little room for improvisation or personal identity. Impact does not inspire the passion of a straight ahead Latin Jazz album - it lacks many of the strong pieces of jazz or Latin music - it aims towards a wide audience with a defined big band conception of pop music.

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New World Flamenco
Tierra Negra & Muriel Anderson
Tierra Negra and Muriel Anderson bring flamenco influences into the forefront of New World Flamenco, relying upon a smooth melodic sound. Anderson takes an understated approach to a repetitive melody on “White Horses” while flamenco guitarists Raughi Ebert and Leo Henrichs maintain a steady pulse in the background. Felipe Rengifo Hernandez Jr.’s energetic bongó pushes Ebert and Henrichs into a catchy chordal melody on “L’Air Du Camargue” while Anderson travels through a brief melody and a lyrical improvisation. The rhythm section maintains their constant flow while Anderson provides a melody full of distinct articulations on “Cloud Cover,” leaning the music towards flamenco melodies. There’s a definable New Age influence on “En El Bosque De Cristal,” “Summer Morning Rain,” and “View From Space,” as finger plucked chordal guitar passages mix with synthesizers. Anderson gets a chance to improvise a bit more extensively on “Cafe Au Lait,” staying close to the main melody with some rhythmic variations. The group calls upon the Middle Eastern roots of flamenco music on “Midnight Solo” as the guitarists gently play over a plodding dumbek rhythm. Tierra Negra and Anderson find a smooth balance between easy listening instrumental music and flamenco on New World Flamenco, providing another perspective on the music.

Spanish elements clearly resonate from New World Flamenco, but the group clearly sidesteps traditional ideals. We hear the presence of palmas, flamenco guitar strumming techniques, and the flamenco cajon supplying the Spanish edge. The group mellows the music’s cultural references with an emphasis upon the rumba flamenco style made popular by performers like Strunz and Farrah. The group utilizes bongó, Afro-Cuban percussion, a straight ahead Afro-Cuban bass tumbao, as well montuno-inspired patterns in the guitar lines, giving the music a pan-Latin feel. The musicians prioritize the groove and the music’s rhythmic momentum in an attempt to make the album danceable. There’s a definite commercial element to the music in the sense that it avoids the unbridled passionate dynamic curves of flamenco and the Middle Eastern tinges to the melodies. Instead the sound is constant and subdued with singable melodies that resemble instrumental pop tunes more than Middle Eastern influences. At the same time, the group downplays a relationship to traditional jazz. Most of the harmonies are based upon short repetitive chord patterns and the improvisations are very safe and very lyrical, almost leaning more towards instrumental pop music. While Tierra Negra and Muriel Anderson deliver some pieces of Spanish flamenco and other bits of jazz on New World Flamenco, they never quite commit to either world, creating a proficient and safe album that might turn Latin Jazz fans away, but appeal strongly to a smooth jazz audience.

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Latin Jazz Quick Picks: Coast to Coast
Latin Jazz Quick Picks: Nagual & Lannie Battistini
Spotlight: Three Gold Coins, Mark Holen’s Zambomba
Album Of The Week: Dos Amantes, Kat Parra & The Sephardic Music Experience

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