In Chucho\u2019s Steps<\/i>, there is also an integration of its last two stages, extending the quartet without reaching the \"orchestra\" format. The most important thing in this process is to check the emphasis on writing and not just improvisation. It is curious to see that other great and virtuous jazz soloists are embarking on a similar path today, among them Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Randy Weslon and even Ornette Coleman, who had been the most representative figure of pure improvisation with the movement of the free jazz. My impression is that it is about getting out of a somewhat stagnant situation, to take jazz \u2014and Latin jazz\u2014 to another level, where renewal and innovation, linked to the most authentic roots, are able to overcome the chaos of trends, the fragmentation of styles, routine and the usual enemy: commercialism.<\/p>\n
In this CD, the ingenuity of some titles is striking, such as Zawinul Mambo<\/i>, Begin to Be Good<\/i> or Las dos caras<\/i>. Due to the character of some themes and passages, several numbers are impregnated with a spirit related to the hymn, the march and the individual or collective tribute. For example, the first is obviously a tribute to the great keyboardist and co-director of Weather Report, just as Chucho\u2019s Steps<\/i> is a tribute to John Coltrane. But some titles are also misleading, such as Begin to Be Good<\/i>, which summarizes two famous standards, one by Cole Porter (Begin the Beguine<\/i>) and the other by George Gershwin (Lady Be Good<\/i>); or The two faces<\/i>, which can be more than two, including a kaleidoscope of Afro-Latin rhythms, based on an initial thematic nucleus.<\/p>\n
Danz\u00f3n<\/i>, far from being an image of the traditional and \u201ctypical\u201d, bears the stamp of Chucho Vald\u00e9s: it is to make a danz\u00f3n that is many things at once and transcends them all, and where the imprint of the danz\u00f3n and its sound atmosphere is intertwined with that of Chucho. It begins with a slow theme (song, ballad or bolero) by the tenor sax Carlos Miyares, in the post Coltrane style, followed by rhythmic passages with an atmosphere of the old danz\u00f3n and then moving on to chachach\u00e1, the hybrid, and successor that dethroned him. In other words, it is rather a metaphor for the danz\u00f3n, something like El Sal\u00f3n M\u00e9xico<\/i>, the masterful film by Indio Fern\u00e1ndez recalling what the \u201cmecca\u201d of danz\u00f3n was in Mexico.<\/p>\n
Going back to Chucho's Steps<\/i>, perhaps the emblem of the album, is like an answer (or bet) to John Coltrane on how to make an acrostic, crossword puzzle or mathematical formula similar to Gigantic steps<\/i>, by Trane, without falling into the purely formal and preserving the musical beauty and the swing. In Giants Steps<\/i>, Coltrane achieved this in 32 measures grouped into 16 + 16, in turn subdivided to infinity, creating an almost hypnotic effect by also strategically playing with the harmonic progression. Parallel scheme, complex and simple at the same time, but which requires the interpreter to master all kinds of arpeggios and scales in order to improvise at that furious tempo, with Coltrane's ease.<\/p>\n
Chucho learned it all \u2014and with his \"tricks\"\u2014 and as a composer he responds with a different combination, which rounds off his piece in just 50 bars. Furthermore, the number with its improvisations and variants is divided into sections such as a concert form or a suite. The extensive ensemble passages, with a hard bop sound, have that aforementioned hymn or march character, despite the ostinato of the piano and the rich accompaniment of percussion. Another section includes excellent solos by the tenor saxophone and by the trumpeter Reynaldo Meli\u00e1n, followed by the piano: Chucho shows clarity, lyricism, attack, transparency here, a whole sample of piano maturity, and with unusual discretion. The ending is a free-for-all of the percussion (tumbadoras and pailas), in solos with virtuosic precision.<\/p>\n
![\"Interiores](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazineampm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/chucho-steps.jpg?resize=1080%2C1076&ssl=1\")
Interiors of the album Chucho\u2019s Steps, by Chucho Vald\u00e9s and Afro Cuban Messengers. Photos: Alejandro P\u00e9rez.<\/p><\/div>\n
Let's say in passing that this is one of the three longest numbers on the CD, along with the first and second (eight to 11 minutes each), although in complexity New Orleans<\/i> and Yans\u00e1<\/i> (four to seven minutes). If we look closely, we are dealing with a kind of I-Ching, lf\u00e1 board or Kabbalah, a combinatorial art in which Chucho plays with numbers of different duration and\/or character, for example, the first ones are 1-2-8 and the 5-6 seconds, while the simplest and softest would be 2-4-7. But not everything is as simple as it seems, nor Chucho as naive or mechanistic. Thus, the numbers in which the amalgam bars abound (5\/4, 7\/4, etc.) respond to the combination 1-3-8, (first, third and Yans\u00e1<\/i>).<\/p>\n
New Orleans<\/i>, at just 4:45 in length, a tribute to the Marsalis family and to the \"mother city of jazz\" has interesting variations: opening theme in 4\/4, bridge in 6\/8, improvisations back to four and with walking bass, then something like a historical passage, the transformation of ragtime into jazz accomplished by Jelly Roll Morton. It all ends with a collective improvisation \"New Orleans-esque\". And Begin to Be Good<\/i> is, without a doubt, the most relaxing piece on the CD, with lyrical solos of tenor saxophone, trumpet and piano. These sedative minutes are like preparing us to receive New Orleans<\/i> and then as powerful Orisha as Yans\u00e1<\/i> (better known in Brazil, and in Cuba as Oy\u00e1), who punishes us with the storms and even dominates Death itself, guardian of the cemeteries.<\/p>\n
Due to its status as an orisha that is also related to Chang\u00f3 and others, music also changes its character, and we are not talking about \u201cdescriptive music\u201d, much less, but about the dynamics that come from or are inspired by the cult, although neither it is about reproducing the music of the ritual. Musical effects and resources to evoke the sacred are very free and include direct handling of the piano strings and free collective improvisation, call it free jazz or random music. And especially impressive is the singing to Oy\u00e1, by the choir and its leader and solo voice Dreiser Durruthy Bombal\u00e9, as well as the essential bat\u00e1, the sacred drums of the Yoruba.<\/p>\n
With Juli\u00e1n<\/i>, dedicated to Chucho's youngest son, we are dealing with a melodic theme that ranges from lyrical to playful, with blues inflections and at the same time a lullaby. A real achievement, to which the sax and trumpet solos contribute; in short, the wonder of simplicity when it is inspired by tenderness. In Las dos caras<\/i> you have to be careful not to lose the \"thread of the plot\" between the passages of the ensemble, the solos, the use of double-time and the changes first to a rhythm and atmosphere of guaguanc\u00f3 and then to samba. A set of communicating mirrors or glasses is established, and it seems that they were not two faces, but many, as many will be the possible interpretations of the title.<\/p>\n
In summary, the CD is exceptional for gathering experimentation with virtuosity and spontaneity. Or the three things that another advanced creator and pianist like Horace Silver demands from jazz: strength, emotion and intellect. I think that the closest antecedents of Chucho Vald\u00e9s in this prodigious path are New Conceptions<\/i> and in part Briyumba Palo Congo<\/i>. The new concepts that we find now renewed in Chucho\u2019s Steps<\/i> involve the composition of each piece and its dimension in various parts, in the manner of a concert or a suite. This emphasis on compositional creation must respond to that need to change course at moments of musical crisis in various fields, a situation that other great jazz colleagues have not failed to perceive, and the same is true of Latin jazz.<\/p>\n
I would like to add, regarding Latin jazz, which I prefer to call Afro-Latin jazz, that enough of exalting it by saying that it is the \u201conly form of jazz that can be danced\u201d. This is becoming an accomplice of all the new dance monstrosities of recent years, and ignoring the fact that any type of music should shine for its intrinsic quality and beauty. Chucho Vald\u00e9s triumphed with Irakere in all areas, including dance, but he chose to aspire to the most difficult. For example, on this CD fundamentally four musical languages are combined with great effectiveness:\u00a0<\/span>hard bop<\/span><\/i>, jazz<\/span> modal<\/span><\/i>,\u00a0<\/span>free <\/span><\/i>jazz and Afro-Cuban ritual music. Chucho shows that it is not a formula, it is an expressive form that is not only fully enjoyed, but above all leaves a message and points out (with Eleggu\u00e1's permission) one or more paths to be followed.<\/span><\/p>\n