LJC Community Conversations are designed to explore major ideas in the Latin Jazz world together as a community and inspire conversation through comments. My main motivator here is my belief that LJC readers hold a great deal of knowledge and passion around Latin Jazz, and I think that we can learn something from everyone. Whether you’re a seasoned Latin Jazz performer or a newcomer to the music, leave a comment and let your voice be heard!

This week’s Community Conversation originally had a different focus, but yesterday’s comment from Reginald about Jazz.com’s article “The Dozens: Latin Jazz Classics” got me thinking . . .

The term “Latin Jazz” creates many problems for me; I’ve never felt that it fairly represents the music. The term promotes generalizations that always confused my understanding of the music. Why can someone hear a Brazilian Samba and a Cuban Rumba and refer to both as a Latin rhythm? Aren’t they different musical styles that demand diverse approaches? “Latin Jazz” doesn’t truly describe what most artists try to create - a connection to both jazz and a cultural tradition from either South America or the Caribbean. Last time I checked, “Latin” isn’t a country or race. The generic catchall phrase “Latin Jazz” also downplays the music’s seriousness. It implies that the music’s roots in Cuba, Brazil, Peru, or elsewhere just don’t matter. It seems like another term would better suit the music.

In reality, the term “Latin Jazz” probably won’t disappear anytime soon. Ultra specific terminology tends to alienate new listeners, putting them in the position of “outsiders.” General terms like “Latin” provoke something in the public eye - most of the thoughts revolve around stereotypes, but those stereotypes help sell music. The music industry has sold millions of records based upon “Latin” stereotypes; Carmen Miranda, Desi Arnez, Perez Prado, and more deeply ingrained this mentality, at least in the United States, and resultantly they moved product. These days, we have iTunes Latino and the Latin Grammy Awards sitting among countless institutions based upon the generic “Latin” identity. The “Latin” idea is just too familiar, so Latin Jazz will most likely stay attached.

We can recognize that musicians imply many different approaches to Latin Jazz, and then categorize the music based on those differences. When considering different categories of Latin Jazz, there are several views to consider . . .

Categorize by Country: Latin Jazz could easily be broken into Cuban Jazz, Brazilian Jazz, Peruvian Jazz, Argentinean Jazz, Puerto Rican Jazz, and more. This connects the music more authentically to its cultural roots, most likely painting a truer picture of the artist’s intent. This still raises some questions for me . . . If I have a recording of Chucho Valdes playing a swing tune, is this Cuban Jazz? In other words, are we talking about the rhythms or the musician?

Categorize by Style: Titles could refer to the song’s specific style - Bomba Jazz, Salsa Jazz, Tango Jazz, Samba Jazz, etc . . . This approach cues more closely into the genre, but it lacks a connection to the music’s cultural background. It also may confuse listeners that don’t understand the musical differences between styles.

Categorize by Musical Trends: Traditional Jazz history takes this approach, but I’m not sure whether it would be appropriate for Latin Jazz. We could isolate Mambo Big Bands, Latin Jazz Big Bands, Small Group Latin Jazz, Smooth Latin Jazz, Avant-Garde Latin Jazz, and more. These categories seem too broad for me though, and again, they don’t necessarily reflect the musicians’ priorities.

Categorize by Region: Artists create different music based upon their surroundings - should we isolate East Coast Latin Jazz, West Coast Latin Jazz, European Latin Jazz, South American Latin Jazz, and more? This again builds large categories, but shows differences between musicians.

*Do you think that we need a term other than Latin Jazz?

*How would you best categorize the sub-sets of Latin Jazz?

*Do you think that smaller categories would help clarify people’s understanding of the music or just confuse the issue?

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Chazro - e-mail me with your address so that I can send those CDs out to you!

On another note - Reginald’s comment about new releases also brought a thought to mind - would a weekly new feature with album releases, performance dates, etc . . . be useful? It may take a while to build, but once I get the word out to artists, labels, and promo people, I’m sure that I could provide weekly info. Let me know if you’d like to see this.
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