Sabado, quatorce febrero - Valentine’s Day

Reflections on Havana Jazz Festival
Two nights down and one to go

Well, after being blessed with the opportunity to go to the Havana Jazz Festival opening on Jueves with Chucho Valdes and then following up with the Viernes concert last night at Teatro Roldan, you can believe that la musica is alive and well and thriving here in Cuba.

Chucho Valdes began the festival with one of the greatest performances of music I have ever witnessed. It is clear he is a national hero her and loved by Cubans of all ages, sexes, skin colors and walks of life. Teatro Mella was packed to the gills and our seats were exquisite’, definitely worth the almost tres horas I waited in line on Martes to get them…1st level center seats about 1/3 back from the stage. Chucho had four aerophonists – two doubling on trumpets and flugelhorns; one on tenor sax and one doubling on alto and soprano sax. The bassist played upright and electric; one trap drummer; one conga player who handled six; one bata drummer; one timbales player; and three vocalists. All are virtuosos.

Once the performance began, there were no intermissions, which meant over two hours of a well planned and executed musical excursion of some of the songs made popular by Irakere two decades ago as well as new arrangements by Chucho. The repertoire included Chucho’s arrangements of classic Cuban tunes as well as jazz standards such as “Stella by Starlight.” All the solos were filled with integrity and often brilliance. About 2/3rds of the way through, the female vocalists came out. One was Chucho’s sister, and another was Omara Portuondo, the vocalist from the Buena Vista Social Club who must be in her mid 80’s now. I don’t know who the 3rd vocalists was and there was no program. But she was a killer too. The crowd knew all of them and erupted in applause when each appeared.

When they finished, we brought them back for one more and then they were gone. We left the teatro buzzing and better for having heard such great music. Alan and I met Rick from LA and we all walked over to the Hotel Melia Cohiba to wind down and talk about music and other stuff. One nice thing is that the residence where Alan and I stay is close by and easy walking distance.

Earlier in the day, I hooked up with Cuba/Nola, an organization run by Ariana Hall. Among other things, she brings folks from New Orleans to Havana for the jazz festival. Alan is on the board and in conversations with Ariana, hooked it up so I could go with the group to a visit to the Superior Institute of Art and Culture, a national school of creative and expressive arts located in the Miramar section of Havana. Here we heard young folks of high school age who have outstanding musical talent. They have been studying music since their early years and because of their accomplishments, have been selected to continue their musical studies in the Institute. They are the cream of the crop so to speak and represent the Cuban government’s understanding of the importance of creative and expressive arts and culture in daily life and the commitment necessary to ensure the continued development of such.

On Viernes, Casa de Las Americas arranged for the NU students to visit to the National Museum of Art and what a visit it was. We spent 3 hours – you actually need a couple of days to see and digest all they have – with a guided tour of Cuban visual artists’ work spanning the 18th century to today. Important and, at times, stunning work that is a great national treasure and people from all over the world come to it.

After that, I came back and worked on my espanol, as there is an exam scheduled for Sabado a doce. At 3pm, Alan and I took a shuttle to the Havana Book Fair being held for the 18th year. Location was at the old forts across the bay from Havana that have killer views back into the city. In case y’all don’t know, Cuba has one of the highest literacy levels in the world. So the fair was packed with Cubans of all ages looking to see what new was out and ready to devour it. Reading is knowledge is the popular slogan and they take it seriously. Maybe we can learn from them in this capacity. Alan gave a nice presentation on hip hop in Cuba and we returned to the crib at 7, where we ate and sat for minute before the 9pm concert of night 2 Havana Jazz Festival.

The site was Teatro Roldan, 4 blocks down and two blocks over – loving our location more and more!!!!! The night featured three young Cuban pianists/keyboardists and one from France. Rolando Luna opened with a quartet (bass, drums and percussion). Nice set – he got some killer chops - but things never really clicked. Piano out of tune and sound lacked depth.

Next was Harold Lopez-Nussa, nephew of Ernan Lopez-Nussa, a Cuban music master. Harold’s brother, whose name I did not get, was on drums and there was a great acoustic bassist too. The results were outstanding as they really understand the art of the piano trio. Great arrangements, with impressive use of dynamics, shading and coloring. I could listen to them all night.

Then to Jacques Briard, French pianist with red shoes who did solo piano. His set was a nice aesthetic shift in the program. He played very well, featuring mostly original works.

The closer was Roberto Fonseca quartet – bass, drums and reeds. And they were the killer diller. Fonseca is a real personality who interacts with the audience, uses his voice in the music and ain’t nothing he can’t do with the keyboards. Swing like crazy, give you all the funk you can stand and more, then shift to stunning beauty and sweetness. He played electronic keyboards – a Kurzweil, which was great because by this time the out of tune Steinway was really struggling after having been played by three virtuosos. One of the songs was a tribute to Cachaito, the bassist (Buena Vista Social Club) who died earlier this week. A very heartfelt expression of love. We didn’t get the names of the other musicians in the band – again no program – but they were all killers and I mean KILLERS.

So around 12:30 this morning we left Teatro Roldan with a feeling of joy and happiness as well as astonishment too, given the level of musicianship we witnessed. And round three tonight, as we will return to the Teatro Roldan for another evening of Havana Jazz Festival Concerts.

Happy Valentine’s Day y’all!!!!!!!

More to come. Over and out.

El Gran Padre D