The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hi all,

    as I love salsa and latin jazz but don't know so much about it (!), could you please advise some great and contemporary players in this idiom ? In fact I'm not sure there is much of "latin jazz" which is more jazz than latin, often the opposite I think. And adding some congas on a record doesn't make it a true latin jazz IMHO.

    Dafnis Prieto would be an example of what I'm looking for, but of course I'd be really glad to find some guitarists as well !

    Thank you for your help, have a great day !

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Luis Bonfa, Baden Powell, Romero Lubambo, Bola Sete, Yamandu Coste, Raphael Rabello, Strunz & Farrah (smooth jazz).

    Most are Brazilian, all improvise, Lubambo is probably the most "jazz" of all of them, since he is also a vicious bop player.

  4. #3
    Thank you Ronjazz for those names, I will check (and already knew some of them).

    In fact I'm more interested in jazz with Cuban influences than with Brazilian ones, as the two are different. It is the rhythmic aspect I'm mostly interested in.

  5. #4

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  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by guelda
    Thank you Ronjazz for those names...

    In fact I'm more interested in jazz with Cuban influences than with Brazilian ones, as the two are different. It is the rhythmic aspect I'm mostly interested in.
    Another thank you to ronjazz, and you as well wintermoon.

    I too am very interested in Cuban and Afro-Cuban players (even though Brazilian is beautiful too), and I am short on Cuban guitarists. I would be particularly interested in players from 1930 to 1970 very roughly speaking.
    Last edited by HighSpeedSpoon; 06-07-2016 at 02:01 PM.

  7. #6

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    Afro-Cuban jazz guitarists from 30-70? I can't think of a single one. Maybe there's some guitar on some Irakere recordings, or maybe Fania all Stars? I'd say google that and see what pops up. But that style of music is really about percussion and horns.There'a other Cuban music with guitars (e.g., Compay Segundo and the Buena Vista Social Club guys), and all kinds of African music with guitars, though. There's also later derivatives of Latin jazz with guitar, e.g. Marc Ribot/Los Cubans Postizos, (arguably) Santana, but that's kind of a horse of another color.

    If you find anything interesting, let us know.

    John

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by John A.
    Afro-Cuban jazz guitarists from 30-70? I can't think of a single one. Maybe there's some guitar on some Irakere recordings, or maybe Fania all Stars? I'd say google that and see what pops up. But that style of music is really about percussion and horns.There'a other Cuban music with guitars (e.g., Compay Segundo and the Buena Vista Social Club guys), and all kinds of African music with guitars, though. There's also later derivatives of Latin jazz with guitar, e.g. Marc Ribot/Los Cubans Postizos, (arguably) Santana, but that's kind of a horse of another color.

    If you find anything interesting, let us know.

    John
    Thanks very much. I don't feel so bad now. I have a dozen or two Cuban musicians that I like, and they include pianists, horn playes, singers, bassist, and percussionists - but no guitar. Ribot is definitely in the ball-park for me. Santana, while I admire and enjoy his contributions, is farther from what I had in mind.

    I appreciate the Irakere suggestion. Bebo and Chucho Valdes are among the pianists I like, but it never occurred to me to run down the personnel lists from their bands and see what shakes out. ... stay tuned ...
    Last edited by HighSpeedSpoon; 06-07-2016 at 09:48 PM.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by guelda
    Hi all,

    as I love salsa and latin jazz but don't know so much about it (!), could you please advise some great and contemporary players in this idiom ? In fact I'm not sure there is much of "latin jazz" which is more jazz than latin, often the opposite I think. And adding some congas on a record doesn't make it a true latin jazz IMHO.

    Dafnis Prieto would be an example of what I'm looking for, but of course I'd be really glad to find some guitarists as well !

    Thank you for your help, have a great day !
    I played a concert with the great Cuban-American jazz trumpet player Steve Gluzband a few weeks ago, and he recently recorded an album "Hothouse" that features a Cuban guitarist named Pablo Moya who plays the Cuban instrument Tres on the album.

    I've been digging the Cuban pianists Chucho Valdes and Gonzalo Rubalcaba lately. Rubalcaba is incredible!!!!!!!!!!

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by HighSpeedSpoon
    Thanks very much. I don't feel so bad now. I have a dozen or two Cuban musicians that I like, and they include pianists, horn playes, singers, bassist, and percussionists - but no guitar. Ribot is definitely in the ball-park for me. Santana, while I admire and enjoy his contributions, is farther from what I had in mind.

    I appreciate the Irakere suggestion. Bebo and Chucho and Valdes are among the pianists I like, but it never occurred to me to run down the personnel lists from their bands and see what shakes out. ... stay tuned ...
    I just did a little googling, and it looks like some Chico (and Arturo) O'Farrill has guitar on it, but I doubt there are prominent soloists. I'm not really versed in this stuff, so grains of salt, but I've seen performances by a fair number of classic big names, and I can't recall a single guitar soloist in any of them (though I bet if you stuck a guitar in Tito Puente's hands, he'd play a killer solo, since he could play every instrument that has ever been invented).

    About a year ago, I saw a Arturo O'Farril in concert. Insanely great.

    John

  11. #10

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    It isn't jazz (though one tune is dedicated to Johnny Smith), but Ry Cooder's Mambo Sinuendo has some nice playing by Cooder and Cuban guitarist Manuel Galiban'. Like Cuban cuisine, there are multiple influences at work.

    Last edited by AndyV; 06-07-2016 at 05:19 PM.

  12. #11
    Hey guys, Im a big fan of Afro cuban music too and i'm sorry to say that there are very few guitar players, I'll do my best to mention some of the guys I know from researching this topic... This are strictly Latin jazz guitar players, im excluding Tres and Cuatro players. I hope you enjoy their music.

    1. Edgardo Miranda (Puerto Rico)
    He played in this Line up with Tito Puente (also Michel Camilo on here)


    2. Carlos Emilio (Cuba)
    He played on many Irakere albums and we see him playing in this live concert, there is another guitar player but can't remember his name.


    3. Luis Salinas (Argentina)
    He plays a lot of tango but when he picks up the electric guitar he goes mostly for Salsa and Funk jazz, I've seen him live, go see him if you can. He has a great album titled "Salinas"


    4. Ivan Maraver (Puerto Rico)
    He played with a lot of Salsa bands from the 80's and 90's, He is a really great player and has a really good album out titled "Fragmentos". I took some classes with him and he opened up a lot of posibilities when it comes to playing afro cuban music.


    More on the modern jazz side
    5. Tom Guarna
    I've only heard him play latin jazz on Manuel Valera's New Cuban Express albums, but still really great playing by the entire band


    also on the modern side
    6. Greg Diamond
    It's hard finding a video of him with his new afro cuban project but his album Conduit is really great


    7. Steve Kahn
    He played with Carribean Jazz Project on "Paraiso", "New Horizons", and "Birds Of A Feather".... he also has some afro cuban albums as a soloist: "Backlog", "Parting Shot", and "Subtext".

  13. #12

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    Vinicius Cantuária is both a mean vocalist and guitarist. I have his Samba Carioca album which is quite good. In 2011 he recorded an album with Bill Frisell called Lagrimas Mexicanas.

  14. #13

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    Wintermoon,

    Thanks for bringing Laurindo Almeida to the attention of readers of this thread. I grew up on his music. My father was a huge Charlie Byrd fan--we lived in Washington, DC approximately every three years as my father's tours of duty in the Navy brought him back to the capital. Soon enough, dad came across Almeida as a practitioner of a similar type of guitar playing--with an even longer resume, however.

    We had the Braziliance albums around the house. As I grew up, I continued to listen to Almeida, acquiring each of his records.

    Almeida was a great Brazilian, a great guitarist, and a great jazz artist. (He was quite a classical guitarist, too.)

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greentone
    Wintermoon,

    Thanks for bringing Laurindo Almeida to the attention of readers of this thread. I grew up on his music. My father was a huge Charlie Byrd fan--we lived in Washington, DC approximately every three years as my father's tours of duty in the Navy brought him back to the capital. Soon enough, dad came across Almeida as a practitioner of a similar type of guitar playing--with an even longer resume, however.

    We had the Braziliance albums around the house. As I grew up, I continued to listen to Almeida, acquiring each of his records.

    Almeida was a great Brazilian, a great guitarist, and a great jazz artist. (He was quite a classical guitarist, too.)
    Good to see Almeida get a mention. A few days back I posted about him on the Crime and Jazz thread since I just saw him on the T.V. Peter Gunn. I saw him a few times as a member of the L.A. Four. I'm really a fan of flute and Latin sounding guitar which was one of the tings the L.A. Four did well (but of course Bud Shank mostly played sax).

  16. #15

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    Remo Palmier, Didi Petrani (who still may be alive).

    Both jazz players of Latin heritage who likely have knowledge of their native idiom...

  17. #16

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    Not sure if this is what you're after, but Edgardo Miranda played with the Fort Apache Band: Jerry Gonzalez And The Fort Apache Band - Obatala (CD, Album) at Discogs

    Although I agree there's just not that much guitar in this music. I think a cool place to start if you wanted to study this stuff is the bass: learning the tumbao and variations and listening to Cachao, etc.

  18. #17

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    When It comes to recording cuban jazz guitarist there are only a few you can find!

    Elmer Ferrer, with his first album that is extremely great Metropoli by Elmer Ferrer on Spotify

    Jorge Chicoy Spotify Jorge Chicoy Quintet on Spotify

    Jorge Triana, which I don't know if he has an album, but he is great as well:


    Emilio Martini Notas al Viento by Emilio Martini on Spotify

    And totally separated from these guys, I just released my first album as a guitarist! "Habana 500" (It would be of great help to have some reviews for feedback. As you see, there is little -good to extremely bad- and in between, just your honest review! Thanks
    Be Happy
    Ricky Castillo Jazz Latin Guitarist — Ricote Records CUSTOM BACKING TRACKS

  19. #18

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    Look into Richard Padrón. He's a great guitarist from Cuba. Played with Paquito d'Rivera and Lauryn Hill. His sound is very modern and influenced by modern jazz coming out of Cuba, think Gónzalo Rubalcaba and Irakere.

    This is his debut.
    Richard Padron on Spotify

    Trio


    Accompanying

  20. #19

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    The great Eddie Duran, who passed away last month, was recorded on many Cal Tjader´s albums. Also with Tania Maria, IIRW. Check him.

  21. #20
    You should definitely check out Gabriel Vicéns. He is a fantastic guitarist from Puerto Rico, I believe, based in New York City. I discovered him on Bandcamp a couple of months ago. He is doing some exciting stuff, modern and with Latin influences.

    The Way We Are Created | Gabriel Vicens





  22. #21

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    One of my favorites - Ray Obiedo!


  23. #22

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    Chico Pinheiro.

  24. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by sgosnell
    Chico Pinheiro.
    Big fan of Chico too!