Machito and His Afro-Cubans

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Machito and His Afro-Cubans was a big band in New York that combined Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz arrangements. Frank Grillo, known as Machito, grew up in Havana. About his birth he himself gave varying accounts, sometimes Havana, sometimes Tampa in Florida. In 1937 he came to New York as a singer and played with Latin orchestras and with the bandleader Xavier Cugat. On 3 December 1940 he held the first rehearsal of the Afro-Cubans in a ballroom in Harlem. A few weeks later his brother-in-law Mario Bauzá became musical director, a role he held for thirty-four years.

Music and breakthrough

The line-up was that of a big band, with trumpets and saxophones, supplemented with piano, bass, drums and Cuban bongos. Machito stood in front of the group and played the maracas. Bauzá determined the character and brought in arrangers from the jazz world. As early as 1941 the band had a hit with Sopa de Pichon, a joke among Puerto Rican immigrants about nearly starving in New York. The singer Graciela, Machito's foster sister, sang on many recordings. In 1975 Machito opted for a smaller line-up and toured widely in Europe, with his son and daughter in the band. In 1983 he received a Grammy, a year before his death.

Influence

The Afro-Cubans are regarded as pioneers of Cubop and of Latin jazz, and later of salsa. Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, George Shearing and Stan Kenton cited the band as an influence. In East Harlem an intersection bears the name Machito Square.

Listening

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