Cubop Lives! (TRRcollective)
Zaccai Curtis
Released May 10, 2024
Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album 2025
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kVVIqSVwZMKbsoZE3MCRjx5IHU17dyMBM
Spotify:
About:
Afro-Cuban jazz, fathered by Mario Bauzá, can be divided into two schools. Imagine it to be more like two sides of a coin. Instrumental Mambo jazz and Cubop. In the early 40s, Mario Bauzá, the musical director for Machito and his Afro Cubans, became the first composer to compose a piece that fused jazz melodies and improvisation with Mambo. This piece was called “Tanga.” The term Instrumental Mambo jazz, a term coined by Eddie Palmieri, titles this new style now being developed by both Mario Bauzá and Machito. Great examples of this style could be heard by musicians such as Bebo Valdés, Tito Puente, Peruchin, Eddie Palmieri and many more.
I’d like to describe Cubop as primarily a bebop composition with Afro-Cuban elements in the rhythm section. In the least, the composition might have to “lean” more towards the bebop side of this musical fusion. Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo with George Russell’s “Cubana-Be Cubana-Bop” (1946), along with “Manteca”, “Tin Tin Deo” (1947) became the first examples of this and inspired artists like Stan Kenton, Art Blakey, Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Cándido, Billy Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and more to create new paths that changed the world of music forever. In this recording I explore both styles of Afro-cuban Jazz (a term that I use to acknowledge Machito’s contribution) and try to pay homage to one of my favorite pianists, Noro Morales. The Noro Morales suite, starting with “Maria Cervantes” then “Oye Men”, following up with “Stromboli” and finishing with “Rumbambola” is an important inclusion to this body of work. “Minor’s Holiday” & “Cuban Fantasy” are small group adaptations of “big band” arrangements and are contrasted by my original compositions written for a small group (“Earl”, “Black Rice” and “Let’s Do It Again”).
Some of these American songbook arrangements like “When I Fall in Love” and “Someday My Prince Will Come” are inspired by bands like Manny Oquendo y Libre and Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band. “Contour” is close to my heart because it reminds me of Jackie McLean while my love for bebop brought in Hilton Ruiz’ “Jazzin’”, “Woody’n You”, “Moose the Mooche” as a Cha cha cha and “52nd Street Theme” like you’ve never heard it before. Lastly I’d like to note that the addition of “Maple Leaf Rag” was due to the discovery of it’s natural compatibility with the clave. During the melody, only the left hand was altered in this arrangement as I tried to stay true to the written right hand part. Thanks to Donald Harrison for helping me shape this arrangement while performing it in his band for many years.
Track Listing:
1. Earl 03:20
2. Black Rice 05:01
3. 52nd Street Theme 03:22
4. When I Fall In Love 05:00
5. Cuban Fantasy 04:49
6. Woody’n You 04:32
7. Someday My Prince Will Come 07:07
8. Let’s Do It Again 04:53
9. Jazzin’ 03:58
10. Maria Cervantes 04:07
11. Oye Men 02:30
12. Stromboli 03:13
13. Rumbambola 04:09
14. Maple Leaf Rag 05:53
15. Contour 02:53
16. Minor’s Holiday 03:14
17. Moose The Mooche 04:08
I’d like to dedicate this album to maestros Eddie Palmieri and Donald Harrison. Two musicians that have inspired me daily to be the best I can be.
Thanks to God, Mom and Dad, my family (the whole Curtis/Rodriguez fam) Damian, Luques Curtis, Darryl Yokley, and the whole TRR collective.
Thanks to Willie, Camilo, Luques and Rey who killed it on this recording, as well as Chris and Kevin for their incredible insight.
Thanks to my musical family that has supported my journey throughout these years.
Lastly, thanks to Julie and Adagio as we move through life together.
Personnel:
Zaccai Curtis: piano
Luques Curtis: bass
Willie Martinez: timbales
Camilo Molina: congas, pandera
Reinaldo De Jesus: bongos, percussion
Recorded at Trading 8s Studio in Paramus
Engineered/mixed by Chris Sulit
Mastered by Kevin Blackler Cover
Art and Design by Willie Bruno
Executive Producer: Ted Curtis
Review:
On Zaccai Curtis’ new disc, the pleasures are multifaceted. The opening “Earl” is a tribute to Bud Powell, Zaccai’s great piano inspiration. Powell also gets a nod with the beautiful Victor Young ballad “When I Fall In Love,” recorded by Powell in 1956. Thelonious Monk’s “52nd Street Theme” is fractalized. But Cubop Lives reaches another dimension on a cha-cha-cha arrangement of “Some Day My Prince Will Come.” Like Noro Morales, the pianist runs his octaves cleanly. Luques Curtis (the leader’s brother) plays a remarkably melodic bass solo and the refrain borrows from Bobby Capó’s classic “Piel Canela.” Zaccai’s original “Maria Cervantes,” for the Cuban pianist-singer-songwriter known as “the grand dame of Cuban music,” fingers her as a subject for further study. T he sidemen do excellent work as well. Bongocero Reinaldo De Jesus nearly steals the show with his tart playing on “Maple Leaf Rag” and unaccompanied solo intro to “Oye Men.” Also worth noting is Willie Martinez’s dizzying timbales solo on “Let’s Do It Again,” and the bassist’s call-and-response exchanges on the same track.
T here are quotes all over the place, most notably the leader inserting Coltrane’s “Mr P.C” on “Black Rice.” Things end with Charlie Parker’s “Moose The Mooche,” from his 1946 Dial session. But this disc is not merely an excavation or evocation of the past; this music allows each curious generation to discover its hidden secrets.
Larry Appelbaum (DownBeat)
