Desde la bahia—San Francisco

Latin Beat Magazine, Feb, 2003 by Jesse Varela

¡PA'LANTE! In beat with this month's theme, I am highlighting several outstanding people, from San Francisco to San José, who are educating the next generation of musicians and aficionados of Latin music. There are a number of community schools and cultural centers in the area that offer Latin music learning opportunities. La Peña Cultural Center (Berkeley), Mission Cultural Center (SF), Community Music Center (SF) Los Cenzontles Mexican Traditional Arts Center (San Pablo) and the SF Symphony's "Adventures in Music" education program are just a few. On a grass roots level, the Oaktown Jazz Workshop, Loco Bloco, SFJAZZ High School All Stars, Grammys in the Schools, Prominence Project and the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble are also exceptional programs. Fortunately, high schools and colleges ate starting to go Latin and following are the guiding lights leading this movement.

REBECA MAULEON-SANTANA: As the mother of two beautiful boys and author of the instructional and play-along-books "Salsa Guidebook," "101 Montunos" and "Muy Caliente," pianist-composer Rebeca Mauleon-Santana is quietly working in an educational capacity these days as a faculty instructor at City College of San Francisco. Currently teaching "Jazz and Other Popular Piano" and "Music of Latin America and the Caribbean," she jumped into the position when there was an opening to teach the Latino music course at City College.

"I realized I was a mom now and the touring thing no longer seemed glamorous. The teaching thing was much more of a reality. I developed an affinity for it and decided to go for a steady gig. You still have your independence that allows you to perform and compose, and at City College I have such a supportive environment," says Mauleon-Santana, who graduated with a Masters degree in composition from Mills College in Oakland. Since her emergence as a self-taught teenage pianist with Charanga de René Del Mar in the 1970s, Mauleon has worked with Mickey Hart & Planet Drum, Tito Puente, Santana, Steve Winwood, Pete Escovedo, John Santos & Machete, Orquesta Batachanga and many others. In 1998, she formed her Round Trip band and recorded a debut album. Honored that year with a GOLDIE by the SF Bay Guardian for Artist Excellence in Music, she has performed at the Mary Lou Williams Women's Jazz Festival in Washington DC, at the Stern Grove Summer Festival and is currently an artist-in-residence at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

The meet-the-composer residency at Yerba Buena is a three-year commitment that concludes in 2004. "I have a new works concert coming up next year involving a string quartet, along with my colleagues Jon Jang, Marcus Shelby and Beth Custer, who are also in residency.

"I'm curating that concert, but in 2004 I'm doing what I still call my `Big Lollapalooza' because I haven't thought of a name for it, but the idea is to create a whole tapestry of original works presented with my ensemble and special guests."

As a result of the residency, she is also doing multi-faceted community outreach, teaching children and seniors singing and drumming. But many are surprised that she hasn't recorded another album, given the acclaim she garnered with her self-produced debut Round Trip, on her own label, Rumbeca Music. The album was a top-notch effort that garnered widespread praise and regional attention. No one who was there will forget the show-stopping performance she delivered before a cheering crowd of 10,000 at Stern Grove in the summer of '98, with a revue featuring timbalero wizard Orestes Vilató and blues-gospel diva Brenda Boykin. "I have to do another record. Everybody keeps asking when it's going to happen. I just keep saying I'm in pre-production, but I'm still doing a few gigs with the Round Trip band in a smaller quintet or sextet setting."

Currently, Rebeca Mauleon is also performing clinic-concerts for regional high schools, and was featured as artist-in-residence last year at the Mexican American Heritage Plaza in San José, which hosts an annual high school Latin jazz fest. "Right now, a lot of colleges and universities are going Latin and branching out through their jazz programs. It's wonderful that they are finally realizing that it should be an integral part of music education."

DANIEL SABANOVICH: Since 1979, San José State University has offered ah accredited course in Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Hispanic music. It was the first college in California to offer a degree in jazz studies and the Latin American component was an important and groundbreaking addition. On the Latin side, the efforts of drummer/percussionist Daniel Sabanovich have given Latin music such high priority. Beginning with an Afro-Brazilian Percussion class, modeled after the samba schools in Brazil, young ambitious music students were given the opportunity to dig deep into these beats.

Sabanovich, who teaches these courses as part of the School of Music and Dance's diversity programs, is an accomplished trap player and percussionist with an impressive resumé as a recording artist, author, composer, arranger, performer and educator. Yet his philosophy of giving the students guidance to forge their own personalities is paramount.