Cuban Blues

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 1997 by Jesse Varela

CHICO O'FARRILL

(Verve)

The rise of the big band opened the door to instrumentalists and standout soloists to articulate a music that was based on ensemble performance. Responsibility fell on the arrangers to work out the road maps for the bands to follow, with pieces that were not only challenging but could swing. These artful composers became so important to the music they not only defined a band's sound but literally became stars in their own right. Ellington had Strayhorn; Kenton had Rugolo, Russo, Richards; and as the Latin big bands entered, Machito his Chico O'Farrill. Here in a two-disc set featuring 45 superb selections recorded in the early '50s by O'Farrill for Norman Granz's Verve Records, you can hear and feel the intricate and explorative ideas that this prolific Cuban arranger has contributed to Afro-Caribbean jazz. His monuments, like the 1950 Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite featuring Charlie Parker, Flip Phillips, and Buddy Rich with the Machito Orchestra is featured, butthe rare follow-up two years later, Second Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite, resurfaces for the first time with all its tonal intricacy. With a haunting flute intro with Candido Cameró playing a slow Afro beat, this is probably more a testament to O'Farrill's contemporary musical influences bearing stamps of Mexican composer Carlos Chavez and Duke Ellington. The Machito rhythm section is phenomenal, with José Mangual blistering from section-to-section. It's the writing here though that shines as opposed to the soloists. You'll find a glory of straight-a head stuff with distinct impressions of Latin American standards worked by a genius who understands that only in record bins are popular, classical, and jazz musics separated. A collector's must!