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Mario Bauzá

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

Mario Bauzá was a Cuban trumpeter, saxophonist, arranger and bandleader. He was born in Havana in 1911 and was a child prodigy on the clarinet; at the age of eleven he was already playing with the Havana symphony orchestra. In 1926 he came to New York with a Cuban orchestra. The jazz in Harlem made such an impression that he returned in 1930. He learned to play the trumpet in two weeks in order to be able to step in on a recording session, and Louis Armstrong became his model. From 1933 he was first trumpeter and musical director of Chick Webb's orchestra, where he met Dizzy Gillespie. He then played with Cab Calloway and made sure that Gillespie was hired there too.

Music and breakthrough

In 1939 he founded the band Machito and his Afro-Cubans with his brother-in-law, the singer Machito, and he remained its musical director until 1976. In 1943 his piece Tangá came about during a rehearsal. It began as a jam session on a repeated little piano figure, to which the bass, the saxophones and the trumpets added new layers one by one. Tangá is regarded as the first true Afro-Cuban jazz piece: jazz harmony, jazz soloists and an Afro-Cuban rhythm section in a single piece. In 1947 Bauzá introduced the conga player Chano Pozo to Gillespie, and out of that collaboration came Manteca.

Influence

Bauzá was the pivot between Cuba and the jazz of New York. Charlie Parker and Gillespie played with his orchestra, and he developed the concepts for the clave rhythm that musicians still use. After a quiet period he received renewed recognition around his eightieth year. He died in 1993.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Tangá by Machito and his Afro-Cubans and notice how the piece is built up: first a repeated little piano figure, then the bass, then the saxophones and the trumpets. Hear how the Afro-Cuban percussion runs on beneath while the jazz soloists improvise above.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsLatin jazz