Art of the Descarga (Smithsonian Folkways)

The John Santos Sextet

Released August 7, 2020

2020 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll Top 10 Latin Album

YouTube:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kUThr7nRGibwqkgqFLiH7TGE91x6cxj3A

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1sOnop2UTCvIxJkLBKZ6QV?si=3i_wyLxtT5SnKDlNVF2cOw

About:

Percussionist, educator, and social activist John Santos will release Art of the Descarga, a new album with the John Santos Sextet, on August 7 through Smithsonian Folkways. Santos is an icon of Latin jazz who played a key role in positioning the San Francisco Bay Area as a hub for the genre, and who has performed with Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Max Roach, and Dizzy Gillespie. As a founder of the Machete Ensemble, and as a bandleader, Santos has been one of the most revered percussionists specializing in Afro-Caribbean traditions, and has emerged as a foremost expert on the history and folklore of those rhythms. Like much of his life’s work, his new album paints a direct through-line from Africa to the Caribbean Basin, and considers the expansive, multiregional array of jazz that has been woven into the fabric of American music for the past century.

The descarga originated in Cuba as a term for loose jam sessions full of powerful rhythmic interplay and spontaneous group improvisations. On Art of the Descarga, Santos and his group harness the energy and spirit of those sessions for rollicking interpretations of rumbas, bombas, mambos, and other traditional Afro-Caribbean rhythms arranged for jazz ensemble. Each piece showcases Santos’ expert command of dizzying syncopation and his skill as an arranger, each instrument adding to the dynamic rhythmic interplay.

As an activist and musician, Santos has studied throughout the Caribbean, and his works reflect the centrality of the islands to the spread of foundational African rhythms throughout the Americas, as well as the destructive elements that fueled it. “This music really belongs to everybody. It’s music! It emanates from the heart of the Americas, which is not Nebraska or Oklahoma: it’s Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. All of the Americas have a common history that unites us, and it’s a violent history, of colonialism, slavery, and the genocide of indigenous people.” Santos also sees the connections between the drum, the instrument he’s dedicated his life to playing and educating others about, and current global political situations. “This drum was taken away from Africans and African descendants, but it rose again like a phoenix out of the Americas, and today is again the center of a community—not just an African community or a Cuban community, but an international movement of people of conscience who understand that we have to stop this out-of-control capitalism, where money is more important than human dignity.” At the heart of Art of the Descarga is the universal power of rhythm across cultures, fused into our brains and bones and propelling us forward into the future. In a time fueled by resurgent bigotry, Santos continues to tear down walls with a spiritual philosophy that invites us to sway, dance, sing, and celebrate the beauty of Afro-Caribbean philosophy and culture.

Track Listing:

1. Juego de ajedrez 04:38

2. Bernal Heights 06:08

3. Los Misterios 05:10

4. 14 Mission 05:21

5. Plena vida 03:35

6. Tumbao de corazon 06:11

7. Lo Tuyo no va 05:02

8. Descargarara 06:46

9. Madera Avenue 03:32

10. Descarga con changui 06:46

11. Descarga jarocha 05:22

12. Tichin 08:10

Personnel:

The John Santos Sextet

Melecio Magdaluyo: saxophones
John Calloway: flute, piano
Marco Díaz: piano, trumpet
Saúl Sierra: bass
David Flores: drums
John Santos: percussion, coro

Special Guests

Orestes Vilató: timbales
Jerry González: trumpet
Orlando “Maraca” Valle: flute
Anthony Blea: violins
Pedro Pastrana: cuatro puertorriqueño
Tito Matos: percussion
Juan “Juango” Gutiérrez: percussion, coro
Alex LaSalle: percussion, coro
Héctor Lugo: percussion, coro
Orlando Torriente: vocals
Willie Ludwig: coro
Julia Gutiérrez: coro
Sandra García Rivera: coro
Rico Pabón: coro

Recorded April 11, 2011 (2), July 22, 2011 (7), April 18, 2013 (3, 4) and January 3, 2015 (1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12) at Megasonic Sound, Oakland, California

Produced by John Santos

Engineer: Jeremy Goody

Mastered by Pete Reiniger

Cover art by Jeremy Sutton

Executive producers: Huib Schippers, Daniel E. Sheehy, and John Smith

Production manager: Mary Monseur

Art direction, design and layout by Rick Rawlins

Review:

The singular scholarship of John Santos has never been in any doubt. Though the Introduction to Art of the Descarga delves into the details of this scholarship, it is Mr Santos’ Track Notes that advances that scholarship and sets the stage for this advancement, which is, of course, contained in the music on the disc. The deceptively simple repertoire, is also a gentle, albeit powerful reminder that this business of the descarga, while being an “invention” of Afro-Cuban application of learning from Jazz Jam to Spanish dance forms, it seeped into the “Cuban” culture of the African Diaspora. In 1940’s Cuba, practitioners of filin, invented and shaped by José Antonio Méndez, César Portillo de la Luz, and Luis Yánez [who melded the bolero with extended Jazz improvisation], and further developed by the ingenius creativity of Bebo Valdés and Frank Emilio Flynn [and later] Cachao, Peruchín and others. In all of this it is sometimes forgotten that the great musicians of Puerto Rico – such as Tito Puente and Charlie Palmieri, and the Dominican Johnny Pacheco – contributed enormously to the art of the descarga.

This is exactly the purpose of Mr Santos’ disc Art of the Descarga. It is a purpose whispered rather than shouted out – although this is certainly a rather loud whisper in the music itself – by the John Santos Sextet. Mr Santos is, nevertheless, very “loud” in his own Track Notes as he previews form, and content as well as origin or inspiration and sociological context, assigning to each of the above its right place and using all of the above to set up the song before plunging into the music itself. For instance, “Bernal Nights” is not only a “Danzón-Mambo”, but also a significant doffing of the ubiquitous John Santos hat to a place in San Francisco where the composer was raised. And just like that, “Los Misterios” turns out to be more than a “Rumba”; it is inspired by “the many mysteries contained in the streets of Mexico City…”, where Mr Santos backs up his belief with a superb metaphor for social change, found in colonial Mexico.

Further, on “Plena Vida” and on “Lo Tuyo No Va” Mr Santos and his extraordinary ensemble share the stage with Puerto Rican and Nuyorican musicians who consider the idioms of “plena” and “bomba” as secret expressions of resistance to colonial oppression – first from the Spanish and now from the United States – upon its people and its culture. Similarly, in “Descarga Jarocha” Mr Santos applies all of his learning and masterful skill in composition and performance to bring to life son jarocho, a musical dance form spread mainly in the Mexican state of Veracruz, before bringing his elegant musical expedition to a closee with “Tichín” a marvelously heart-felt tribute to both Tito Puente and Chano Pozo.  The latter is, of course, the great Cuban rumbero who was the force behind several of Dizzy Gillespie’s Afro-Jazz compositions including the iconic “Manteca” suite. The former is one of the greatest musicians to meld the gilt-edged music and dance forms from Spain with the visceral energy of African polyrhythms that exploded into Afro-Caribbean music with the deceptively simple beats of clave.

And so, just like that, it would seem we have an album to absolutely die for. The Afro-Caribbean Jazz music contained in Art of the Descarga – which educates and innovates, as well as entertains – will forever stand as a milestone in music that is old and new; traditional and contemporary; music that is both artistic and socio-political. The musicians – led by the uniformly brilliant John Santos, both with the musicians of his Sextet and the long line of illustrious guests – are magnificent throughout. This is an extravagant production – so exquisitely characteristic of the superb Smithsonian Folkways – the music is extraordinarily brilliant, and it also bears mention, that when it comes to the [sonic] production values, it appears that no effort has been spared to produce something of great value.

Raul da Gama (Latin Jazz Network)