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1947 Part One – Cubana Bop
From time to time in music there are sparks which briefly spring to life, then almost immediately fizzle out again, but not without leaving long-lasting reverberations. One of these moments began in the summer of 1947, when 32-year-old dancer, bodyguard, shoeshiner and noted percussionist Chano Pozo arrived in New York on a passenger ship from the rich man’s playground of Havana. Raised in one of the most dangerous slums in Cuba, Pozo had found himself in reform school at the age of 13, only having had three years of education. His crime may have been the accidental killing of an American tourist. While there he learned not only literacy and the Afro-Caribbean religion Santería, but also to play a range of percussion instruments. On release he became a “rumbero” – the beating heart of a musical/dance troop at carnival, and after only a few years he had had become perhaps the most famous one in Cuba.
He may have achieved fame, but there was no fortune to be found in working-class Cuba, and in 1947 he decided to move to the USA, where a nascent Cuban music industry was already in place. Band leader Mario Bauza, who already had a good deal of success, arranged a series of recording sessions for Pozo, and at a party at Harlem in September introduced him to Dizzy Gillespie, who was already interested in Cuban music, and who immediately invited him to join his band. Before the end of the month they would be on stage together at Carnegie Hall.
The music that Gillespie and Pozo made together in the next 15 months is so arresting that it’s astonishing that it isn’t better-known. Perhaps the musicianship on display prevented anyone else from easily borrowing. In any case the 75 years since have done nothing to blunt its power. Taking all the unpredictable, stimulatingly jarring musical shapes from be bop and fusing them to this driving, complex Cuban rhythm is nothing short of magical.
The collaboration was cut short prematurely when Pozo was murdered by another Cuban expat outside a Harlem bar, but by that point Pozo and Gillespie had collaborated on Cubana Be, Cubana Bop, Tin Tin Deo and Manteca, all to be featured prominently in these two mixes.
There’s been a bit too much history in Centuries of Sound of late, too many events taking place. This is supposed to be a celebration and exploration of sound. Sure, 1947 traditionally marks the start of the Cold War – and there is one large international event which we’ll get to in part two – but I’m pleased to say there’s little sign of it here. When I listen back to the records (and the sounds) here the joy in experimentation is the biggest takeaway. I hope it is for you too.
If you want to chat as listen, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/5a7f6wqjcJ
Tracklist
0:00:00 Unknown Birds – Birdsong (from Louis Kaufman – Vivaldi Four Seasons intro)
(Clip from You Bet Your Life – Secret Word ‘Air’)
0:00:36 Dizzy Gillespie – Cubana Be
(Clips from Are You Popular?)
(Clip from Easy To Get)
0:02:59 Amos Milburn – Chicken Shack Boogie
January
0:05:25 Charlie Parker Quintet – Bird Of Paradise
(Clip from Alastair Cooke – Letter From America – New Year 1947)
(Clip from Are You Popular?)
0:08:31 Maddox Brothers & Rose – Honky Tonkin’
(Clip from The Walgreen Show – Groucho Marx/Bob Hope)
0:11:01 Ella Fitzgerald – How High The Moon
(Clip from Are You Popular?)
0:14:23 Wild Bill Moore – We’re Gonna Rock
0:16:11 Frank Sinatra & Jimmy Durante – From The Heart
0:20:47 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – William Tell Overture
0:23:54 Sonny Boy Williamson II – Shake That Boogie
(Clip from You Bet Your Life – Secret Word ‘Air’)
0:26:53 Sister Rosetta Tharpe And Marie Knight – Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air
(Clip from Monsieur Verdoux)
0:29:19 Julia Lee – Tell Me, Daddy
(Clip from Easy To Get)
0:32:18 Little Brother Montgomery Quintet – El Ritmo
(Clip from Home Record of a Birthday Party)
0:35:21 Tadd Dameron Sextet – The Chase
February
(Clip from Bob Hope & Bing Crosby – The Road To Hollywood)
0:38:26 Chet Atkins – Canned Heat
(Clip from Dark Passage)
0:41:51 Hank Williams – Move It On Over
(Clip from Montreal By Night)
0:44:45 Chano Pozo Y Su Orquestra – Rumba En Swing
0:47:18 Dizzy Gillespie – Manteca
(Clip from Human Reproduction)
0:50:20 Manhattan Paul & Paul Bascomb Orchestra – Rock And Roll
(Clip from Alan Lomax – What Makes A Work Song Leader?)
0:53:18 ’22’ With Little Red, Tangle Eye, & Hard Hair – Early In The Mornin’
(Clip from Alan Lomax – What Makes A Work Song Leader?)
0:55:39 Tangle Eye – Tangle Eye Blues
(Clip from Black Narcissus)
0:58:00 John Cage, Maro Ajemian, William Masselos – Three Dances for Two Pianos
(Clip from Marlon Brando – Screen Test for Rebel Without A Cause)
0:59:48 Nellie Lutcher – He’s A Real Gone Guy
(Clip from Inner Sanctum – Death Bound)
1:02:51 Vladimir Horowitz – The Hut On Fowl’s Legs
(Clip from The Postman Always Rings Twice)
(Clip from The Lady From Shanghai)
(Clip from The Postman Always Rings Twice)
1:06:15 Charlie Parker Quintet – Superman (The Hymn)
March
(Clip from British Movietone Review of the Year)
1:08:48 Band Of The Gold Coast Police – Dagomba
(NBC in Chicago ident)
1:11:41 Muddy Waters – I Feel Like Going Home
(Clip from Out of the Past)
1:15:01 Betty Hutton – I Wish I Didn’t Love You So
1:17:41 Henry Red Allen – Indiana
(Clip from India Breaks Free – British Pathe)
1:21:34 Ivory Joe Hunter – I Like It
(Clip from Oor Willie – The Man With Many Voices)
1:24:13 Johnny Doran – My Love Is In America
(Clip from Oor Willie – The Man With Many Voices)
1:27:01 Pete Seeger – Come All Fair Maids
(Clip from Don’t Be A Sucker)
1:29:48 Robert Mitchum – Foolish Pride
(CLip from The Lady From Shanghai)
1:32:59 The Four Aces Of Western Swing – Yodel Your Blues Away
(Clip from Lux Radio Theatre – The Jazz Singer)
1:35:46 Freddy Martin & His Orchestra – Managua, Nicaragua
(Clip from Lux Radio Theatre – The Jazz Singer)
1:37:12 Edmundo Ros – Manana
April
1:39:10 Ella Logan & Donald Richards – Look To The Rainbow (Introduction)
1:39:27 Annie Laurie – Since I Fell For You
(Clip from Black Narcissus)
1:42:21 Thelonious Monk – Who Knows?
(Clip from Dark Passage)
1:45:03 Ichimaru – Samisen Boogie
(Clip from Shanghai)
1:47:05 Yukie Kubo – Shin Shin Tankoubushi (Coalminer’s Tale)
(Clip from Shanghai)
1:49:06 Tabata Yoshiro – Machi No Dateotoko
(Clip from The Lady From Shanghai)
1:51:59 Gatemouth Moore – Did You Ever Try To Cry
(Clip from Babe Ruth – Farewell To Baseball)
1:54:10 Dizzy Gillespie & Charlie Parker – Dizzy Atmosphere
(Clip from Babe Ruth – Farewell To Baseball)
1:57:16 Bill Harris And Charlie Ventura – High On An Open Mike
(Clip from Babe Ruth – Farewell To Baseball)
2:02:03 Stan Kenton – Peanut Vendor
(Clip from Babe Ruth – Farewell To Baseball)
2:06:51 Ted Weems & His Orchestra – Heartaches
May
(Clip from Are You Popular?)
2:09:34 Ray Noble & His Orchestra – Linda
(Clip from Shy Guy)
2:13:00 Ernest Tubb – Have You Ever Been Lonely?
(Clip from Shy Guy)
2:15:48 Big Maybelle – Sad And Disappointed Girl
(Clip from DDT – So Safe You Can Eat It)
2:18:25 Mamica – Nwomboko
(Clip from DDT – So Safe You Can Eat It)
2:19:36 Woody Herman – Sabre Dance
(Clip from Along Came Daffy)
2:22:10 Cab Calloway – Everybody Eats When They Come To My House
(Clip from Along Came Daffy)
2:25:02 Spike Jones – Popcorn Sack
(Clip from Easy To Get)
2:27:39 Stick Mcghee – Drinkin’ Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee
(Clip from Crowing Pains)
2:29:46 The Sons Of The Pioneers & Roy Rogers – Cool Water
(Clip from Bob Hope & Bing Crosby – The Road To Hollywood)
2:31:58 Sons Of The Pioneers – Tumbling Tumbleweeds
(Clip from The Humpbacked Horse)
2:33:36 Joe Morris – The Applejack
June
(Clip from Don’t Be A Sucker)
2:35:15 Mahalia Jackson – Amazing Grace
(Clip from Don’t Be A Sucker)
2:38:24 Louis Kaufman – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons
(Clip from Odd Man Out)
2:41:57 Louis Jordan – Run Joe
(Clips from Montreal By Night)
2:45:19 Les Baxter – Radar Blues
(Clip from Montreal By Night)
2:48:18 Ernie Harper – Chicago Boogie
(Clip from Out of the Past)
2:51:15 Merle Travis – Sixteen Tons
(Clip of Albert Camus reading L’etranger)
2:54:12 Line Renaud – Ma Cabane Au Canada
(Clip of Albert Camus reading L’etranger)
2:56:40 Django Reinhardt Et Le Quintette Du Hot Club De France – Diminishing
2:57:36 The Stanley Brothers – Standing In The Need Of Prayer
2:59:23 Jimpson With Men Chopping Trees – No More, My Lord
(Clip from Odd Man Out)
3:00:59 Sister Rosetta Tharpe – How Far From God
Ending
(Clip from Odd Man Out)
3:03:15 Ethel Waters – A Hundred Years From Today
(Clip from Monsieur Verdoux)
3:06:13 Big Maceo Merriweather – My Own Troubles
(Clip from Monsieur Verdoux)