WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.740 Okay, I want you to do something for me. Just 00:00:01.740 --> 00:00:05.379 for a second. Close your eyes. Picture it. You're 00:00:05.379 --> 00:00:08.160 walking into a record store, but not, you know, 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:10.800 a playlist on a screen. Right. A real one. A 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.800 real one. It's 1959. You're flipping through 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:16.320 the cardboard sleeves. You can smell the vinyl, 00:00:16.420 --> 00:00:19.420 the dust, and then something just visually shouts 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:21.719 at you from the bin. It's an experience before 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:24.579 you even hear a single note. Exactly. The cover 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:28.829 art is just... It's screaming. And the title 00:00:28.829 --> 00:00:31.329 isn't just words, it's a command. We're talking 00:00:31.329 --> 00:00:35.170 about Arriba, La Pachanga. And you can't talk 00:00:35.170 --> 00:00:37.770 about that title without talking about the punctuation. 00:00:37.829 --> 00:00:40.210 Oh, I was about to get obsessive about it because 00:00:40.210 --> 00:00:41.909 it was the first thing that really hooked me. 00:00:41.990 --> 00:00:43.950 It's not just an exclamation point at the end. 00:00:44.049 --> 00:00:45.929 It has the inverted one at the beginning, the 00:00:45.929 --> 00:00:48.170 proper Spanish opener, and then the standard 00:00:48.170 --> 00:00:50.829 one at the end, just slamming the door. It feels 00:00:50.829 --> 00:00:53.350 like... Like visual brackets of pure energy, 00:00:53.530 --> 00:00:55.590 it's noise. And the punctuation is percussion, 00:00:55.890 --> 00:00:58.049 really. It's telling you exactly how you're supposed 00:00:58.049 --> 00:01:00.310 to read that word. You don't just say arriba. 00:01:00.609 --> 00:01:02.929 You shout it. You have to shout it. But, you 00:01:02.929 --> 00:01:05.310 know, looking past just the graphic design, that 00:01:05.310 --> 00:01:07.989 title is doing a ton of work for the consumer, 00:01:08.150 --> 00:01:10.549 for the person flipping through that bin in 1959. 00:01:11.049 --> 00:01:14.109 How so? What's it signaling? Well, think about 00:01:14.109 --> 00:01:16.430 where it sits on the shelf. This is a Mongo Santa 00:01:16.430 --> 00:01:19.140 Maria record, right? But the title isn't Mongo's 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:22.120 Moods or An Evening with Santa Maria. Right. 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:24.680 It's not a quiet jazz title. Not at all. It's 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:28.019 Arriba, La Pachanga. It is explicitly promising 00:01:28.019 --> 00:01:31.599 you high energy. It's promising a party. And 00:01:31.599 --> 00:01:34.019 today, our whole deep dive is about tearing apart 00:01:34.019 --> 00:01:36.989 this specific party. Track by track, musician 00:01:36.989 --> 00:01:39.709 by musician. We're getting into Mongo Santamaria's 00:01:39.709 --> 00:01:42.829 1959 studio album released by Fantasy Records. 00:01:43.069 --> 00:01:45.370 It's funny you bring up the party aspect because 00:01:45.370 --> 00:01:47.109 when I first saw the title, I thought, OK, cool, 00:01:47.189 --> 00:01:49.709 a dance record. But then I looked at the personnel 00:01:49.709 --> 00:01:51.969 list. I looked at the history and I realized 00:01:51.969 --> 00:01:54.870 this isn't just a dance record. This is a document. 00:01:54.969 --> 00:01:57.590 It's a document of a supergroup at this this 00:01:57.590 --> 00:02:00.049 really pivotal moment in time. Pivotal is absolutely 00:02:00.049 --> 00:02:03.150 the right word. We're talking about May of 1959. 00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:06.609 Which is a heavy. Heavy date. Incredibly so. 00:02:06.709 --> 00:02:09.969 I mean, musically, people always cite 1959 as 00:02:09.969 --> 00:02:12.169 maybe the greatest single year in jazz history. 00:02:12.370 --> 00:02:14.770 Yeah. You've got Miles Davis releasing Kind of 00:02:14.770 --> 00:02:18.349 Blue. Dave Brubeck's Time Out. Exactly. Ornette 00:02:18.349 --> 00:02:20.349 Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come. It's this 00:02:20.349 --> 00:02:23.090 moment of massive innovation. But then you look 00:02:23.090 --> 00:02:25.710 at the geopolitics. Oh, yeah. The Cuban Revolution 00:02:25.710 --> 00:02:30.110 had just concluded in January of 1959. The entire 00:02:30.110 --> 00:02:32.409 relationship between the United States and Cuba 00:02:32.409 --> 00:02:35.490 is changing. I mean, literally day by day. And 00:02:35.490 --> 00:02:37.009 right in the middle of all that tension, you 00:02:37.009 --> 00:02:39.669 have this album recorded in the U .S. celebrating 00:02:39.669 --> 00:02:42.550 this hyper -specific, joyful Cuban sound. It 00:02:42.550 --> 00:02:44.889 feels like a cultural time capsule almost. It 00:02:44.889 --> 00:02:47.530 is. And that's our mission today, you know, to 00:02:47.530 --> 00:02:49.289 carefully unpack that capsule. We need to figure 00:02:49.289 --> 00:02:51.509 out how this record sits right at the intersection 00:02:51.509 --> 00:02:55.110 of three very different but related things. Pachanga, 00:02:55.250 --> 00:02:57.169 which was the dance craze. The pop music of the 00:02:57.169 --> 00:02:59.770 day. Right. Then you have Cuban jazz, the musical 00:02:59.770 --> 00:03:03.250 tradition. And finally, this raw, gritty, urban 00:03:03.250 --> 00:03:06.330 Afro -Cuban sound that Mongo specifically was 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:09.530 perfecting. And we are absolutely going to play 00:03:09.530 --> 00:03:12.550 detective with these liner notes, because honestly, 00:03:12.770 --> 00:03:15.090 when you look at the names on this jacket, it's 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:17.430 just ridiculous. This isn't just a band. This 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:19.770 is a lineup of future legends before they were 00:03:19.770 --> 00:03:21.569 all legends. It's basically a graduate school 00:03:21.569 --> 00:03:23.710 for Latin jazz, and they're all in the same room. 00:03:24.030 --> 00:03:26.069 So let's start with the context. We've got the 00:03:26.069 --> 00:03:29.650 album in our hands, Ariba, La Pachanga, May 1959. 00:03:30.449 --> 00:03:32.830 But this wasn't an isolated project, was it? 00:03:32.830 --> 00:03:34.669 This wasn't the only thing Mongo was working 00:03:34.669 --> 00:03:37.110 on. Oh, far from it. If you actually look at 00:03:37.110 --> 00:03:39.490 the chronology provided in the source material, 00:03:39.750 --> 00:03:43.009 the work ethic here is, it's kind of terrifying. 00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:45.889 Terrifying how? Like creatively? It's the sheer 00:03:45.889 --> 00:03:47.810 volume of output. Look at the release schedule. 00:03:48.189 --> 00:03:51.150 In 1958, so the year right before this, he releases 00:03:51.150 --> 00:03:53.689 Yambu. Which is a monster of a record in its 00:03:53.689 --> 00:03:56.370 own right. A classic. A total classic. Then in 00:03:56.370 --> 00:04:00.189 May of 1959, he drops this album, Ariba. Okay. 00:04:00.430 --> 00:04:03.810 And then later in the same year, 1959, he releases 00:04:03.810 --> 00:04:06.550 another full album, simply titled Mongo. Wait, 00:04:06.590 --> 00:04:08.650 wait. So that's three full studio albums in what? 00:04:09.629 --> 00:04:13.430 Maybe 18 months, give or take? At most. And you 00:04:13.430 --> 00:04:15.629 have to remember, this isn't today. Recording 00:04:15.629 --> 00:04:17.819 in 1959 wasn't... you know, fixing everything 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:20.339 on a laptop, you have to book expensive studio 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:22.680 time, get the whole band in the room at the same 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:25.740 time, and play it live to tape. There's no undo 00:04:25.740 --> 00:04:29.259 button. So to release three high -quality, complex 00:04:29.259 --> 00:04:33.399 jazz albums in that short a window, it means 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.779 you are basically living in the studio. You're 00:04:35.779 --> 00:04:39.060 living there. It implies a few things. One, the 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:41.600 band was hot. Hot in the sense that they were 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:44.319 popular. Hot in every sense. Yeah. Popular, yes. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:46.810 Yeah. Fantasy Records. which, by the way, was 00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:49.329 based in San Francisco, not New York, they clearly 00:04:49.329 --> 00:04:51.379 knew they had a gold mine on their hands. You 00:04:51.379 --> 00:04:53.360 don't burn that much studio budget on an artist 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:55.740 unless the records are just flying off the shelves. 00:04:55.939 --> 00:04:57.759 Right. But it also tells us something crucial 00:04:57.759 --> 00:04:59.339 about the band's chemistry. That they were just 00:04:59.339 --> 00:05:01.720 incredibly tight. Beyond tight. Yeah. You can't 00:05:01.720 --> 00:05:03.759 just churn out that much complex rhythmic music 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:06.319 if you're only rehearsing once a week. These 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:08.319 guys were almost certainly playing gigs every 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.699 single night, probably finishing a set at two 00:05:10.699 --> 00:05:12.779 in the morning and then dragging themselves into 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:15.139 the studio the next day to record. They were 00:05:15.139 --> 00:05:17.779 a well -oiled machine. I want to pause on that 00:05:17.779 --> 00:05:19.860 fantasy records connection you just made. San 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:22.019 Francisco. Because that's important, isn't it? 00:05:22.220 --> 00:05:25.300 When we think about this era of Latin jazz, the 00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:27.319 conversation is always dominated by New York 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:30.639 City. The Palladium Ballroom, the Bronx. But 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:33.139 this is a West Coast record. Does that change 00:05:33.139 --> 00:05:35.160 the sound? It's a crucial distinction, yeah. 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:37.879 The West Coast Latin jazz scene, especially the 00:05:37.879 --> 00:05:40.160 one centered around the Bay Area, had a slightly 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:42.399 different flavor. It was often mixed in with 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:44.720 the cool jazz scene. You know, the beatnik culture 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:46.899 was happening right there. So a little more... 00:05:47.889 --> 00:05:49.709 Intellectual, maybe. A little more intellectual, 00:05:49.810 --> 00:05:53.550 but still deeply visceral. And Mongo was right 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:55.709 at the heart of that scene. It wasn't quite the 00:05:55.709 --> 00:05:58.110 same pressure cooker as New York, which maybe 00:05:58.110 --> 00:05:59.810 allowed for a different kind of experimentation. 00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:04.470 And releasing Uriba, which means up or hooray 00:06:04.470 --> 00:06:08.930 in May. That feels like a very deliberate, calculated 00:06:08.930 --> 00:06:11.439 move. Do you think it's about the timing? I do. 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:14.680 May is the gateway to summer. You release a record 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:17.560 with a giant exclamation point and the word pachanga 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:20.139 right when the weather starts to break. That 00:06:20.139 --> 00:06:23.600 feels like marketing 101 for 1959. You want this 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.160 record spinning at every barbecue and block party 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:28.540 from June to August. That's a great point. It's 00:06:28.540 --> 00:06:31.879 a seasonal, aggressive push. And it aligns perfectly 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:34.899 with what our source material calls the genre 00:06:34.899 --> 00:06:37.699 soup. Let's get into that soup, because the source 00:06:37.699 --> 00:06:41.199 lists four distinct genres. Pechanga, Cuban jazz, 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:44.259 Latin jazz, and Afro -Cuban jazz. Now, to the 00:06:44.259 --> 00:06:46.160 average listener, those might all sound, you 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:48.259 know, pretty much like the same thing. But they 00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:50.720 are not, are they? No, not at all. They are very 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:52.939 distinct ingredients in this recipe. Let's start 00:06:52.939 --> 00:06:55.339 with the one in the title. Pachanga. The headline 00:06:55.339 --> 00:06:58.100 genre. Exactly. Pachanga wasn't just a vibe. 00:06:58.220 --> 00:07:01.339 It was a specific named dance craze. It was huge 00:07:01.339 --> 00:07:03.720 at the time. It's fast. It's highly syncopated. 00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:06.160 You can feel almost frantic. It was the pop music 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:08.839 of the Latin sector. So by slapping that word 00:07:08.839 --> 00:07:10.620 right on the cover, they are telling the buyer, 00:07:10.740 --> 00:07:12.839 this is modern. This is what you dance to. This 00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:15.360 is the hot new thing. So it's like putting disco 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.899 or EDM on a record cover in a later era. It's 00:07:18.899 --> 00:07:21.660 a market signal. In a way, yes. But then you 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:25.160 have a tag like Afro -Cuban jazz. Now, that tag 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:27.339 is doing some very heavy lifting, too. Okay. 00:07:27.480 --> 00:07:30.259 Unpack that one. When you see Afro attached to 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:32.579 Cuban jazz, especially on a Mongo Santa Maria 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:35.000 record, it's a direct signal about the drums. 00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:37.759 Because Mongo is a drummer. He's not just a drummer. 00:07:37.779 --> 00:07:39.800 He's a rumbero. He comes from the streets of 00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:42.519 Havana, from the solar, the courtyards. Afro 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:44.680 -Cuban implies that the music deeply respects 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:46.699 the religious and folkloric roots of the rhythm. 00:07:46.970 --> 00:07:49.829 We're talking about beta drumming, about rumba, 00:07:49.949 --> 00:07:53.410 about the Abakua secret societies. It's telling 00:07:53.410 --> 00:07:55.449 the serious listener, sure, you can dance to 00:07:55.449 --> 00:07:57.750 this on the surface, but the engine driving this 00:07:57.750 --> 00:08:00.269 party is ancient and powerful. So it's popular 00:08:00.269 --> 00:08:02.689 packaging with this incredibly deep traditional 00:08:02.689 --> 00:08:06.069 core. Precisely. It's designed to satisfy the 00:08:06.069 --> 00:08:08.350 casual dancer who just bought it for the title 00:08:08.350 --> 00:08:10.470 and the serious jazz head who bought it for the 00:08:10.470 --> 00:08:12.769 name Mongo Santa Maria. It works on both levels. 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:15.699 Okay, so we've established the when, this incredibly 00:08:15.699 --> 00:08:20.899 fertile moment in 1959, and the what, this genre 00:08:20.899 --> 00:08:23.360 soup. Now I want to get into the who, because 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:25.259 as I said, when I looked at the personnel list 00:08:25.259 --> 00:08:28.680 you sent over, my jaw, just, it hit the floor. 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:31.439 This is not just a backing band. No, this is 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.200 a lineup that today you probably couldn't afford 00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:35.940 to get in the same room. Let's start with the 00:08:35.940 --> 00:08:39.379 engine room, the rhythm section, because On any 00:08:39.379 --> 00:08:41.419 Afro -Cuban record, if the drums aren't right, 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:43.580 nothing else matters. The whole building collapses. 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:45.519 That's absolutely correct. And here, the drums 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.620 are everything. You have Mongo Santa Maria as 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:50.860 the leader. Which is already rare, isn't it? 00:08:50.860 --> 00:08:52.519 I mean, usually the guy with his name on the 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:54.799 cover is playing the trumpet or the saxophone 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:58.279 or the piano. It was very rare in 1959. Having 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:01.830 a conguero... A conga player, as the marquee 00:09:01.830 --> 00:09:04.250 artist, was a powerful statement. It immediately 00:09:04.250 --> 00:09:06.850 shifts the center of gravity of the music. The 00:09:06.850 --> 00:09:08.750 melody is important, sure, but the rhythm is 00:09:08.750 --> 00:09:11.250 the absolute dictator here. Okay, so Mongo's 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:13.110 on congas and bongos, but look who's sitting 00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:15.629 right next to him. Willy Bobo. Willy Bobo, just 00:09:15.629 --> 00:09:18.070 saying the name. It has a rhythm. Willy Bobo 00:09:18.070 --> 00:09:21.570 is a titan of this music. At this point in 59, 00:09:21.870 --> 00:09:25.330 he's still young, he's incredibly hungry, and 00:09:25.330 --> 00:09:28.919 he's listed as playing timbales and bongos. Now, 00:09:28.940 --> 00:09:31.299 for any listener who might not know, Willy Bobo 00:09:31.299 --> 00:09:34.039 was born William Correa. He grew up in Spanish 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:36.759 Harlem, and he was, for all intents and purposes, 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.799 Mongo's protege. So you have the master, Mongo, 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:42.600 and his top student, Willy, in the same percussion 00:09:42.600 --> 00:09:45.200 section. And they were said to be telepathic. 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:47.120 When you listen to their recordings together, 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:49.220 they don't step on each other's toes. They wheeze. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:51.700 They interlock their patterns. But wait, it gets 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:53.799 even crazier. There's more. There's Cuco Martinez. 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:56.740 Also on timbales and percussion. Okay, so let's 00:09:56.740 --> 00:09:59.639 do the math here. You've got Mongo listed on 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:01.960 congas and bongos. You have Willy Bobo listed 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:04.500 on timbales and bongos. And you have Cuco Martinez 00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:07.419 listed on timbales and percussion. So you have 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:09.220 two people who can play bongos and two people 00:10:09.220 --> 00:10:11.379 who can play timbales. That is a ridiculous amount 00:10:11.379 --> 00:10:13.580 of high -frequency percussion. It's what we call 00:10:13.580 --> 00:10:16.389 a wall of drums. But think specifically about 00:10:16.389 --> 00:10:18.789 the Timbalese for a second. Those are the high 00:10:18.789 --> 00:10:21.210 -pitched metal -shelled drums that sound like 00:10:21.210 --> 00:10:23.090 gunshots when you hit the rim, the cascara. Right. 00:10:23.190 --> 00:10:25.970 To have two timbaleros in the same band, that 00:10:25.970 --> 00:10:29.370 is an incredibly aggressive sound. It creates 00:10:29.370 --> 00:10:32.669 this constant shimmering metallic wash of rhythm 00:10:32.669 --> 00:10:34.970 that just cuts through absolutely everything. 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:37.070 It must have been deafening in the studio. I 00:10:37.070 --> 00:10:39.549 imagine it was. It was controlled chaos. And 00:10:39.549 --> 00:10:42.190 then the man with the hardest job in the world 00:10:42.190 --> 00:10:45.740 holding all of this down. Victor Venegas on bass. 00:10:45.980 --> 00:10:48.679 Oh man, God bless the bass player in a band like 00:10:48.679 --> 00:10:51.100 this. You have to feel for him. His job is to 00:10:51.100 --> 00:10:54.179 be the anchor, while three of the greatest percussionists 00:10:54.179 --> 00:10:56.399 on the planet are basically setting off fireworks 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:58.899 around his head. If he rushes a beat, the whole 00:10:58.899 --> 00:11:01.379 thing falls apart. If he drags, the energy dies 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:04.220 instantly. Victor Venegas is the unsung hero 00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:06.200 of this entire record. So that's the rhythm, 00:11:06.259 --> 00:11:08.279 that's the earth. But then, this is where I got 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:10.019 confused. I looked at the melodic instruments, 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:11.820 you know, the people playing the actual notes 00:11:11.820 --> 00:11:14.600 of the song, and I was expecting a big brass 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:18.519 section. Like a mambo orchestra? Exactly. Trumpets, 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:21.759 trombones, that huge roaring Mambo King sound 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.000 that was so popular. And instead, what did you 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:26.899 find? Instead, we get Rolando Lozano on flute 00:11:26.899 --> 00:11:30.899 and Felix Pupi LaGretta on violin. Just flute 00:11:30.899 --> 00:11:33.419 and violin leading the charge. That seems, I 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:37.620 don't know, quiet, delicate. How can a flute 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:39.759 and a violin compete with that wall of drums 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:42.279 we just talked about? It seems completely counterintuitive, 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:44.289 doesn't it? But this is where the genius of the 00:11:44.289 --> 00:11:46.929 arrangement lies. This specific instrumentation, 00:11:46.929 --> 00:11:49.590 flute, violin, and a heavy rhythm section is 00:11:49.590 --> 00:11:52.830 the absolute blueprint of a style called Taranga. 00:11:52.970 --> 00:11:55.110 Taranga. Okay, walk me through that style. So 00:11:55.110 --> 00:11:57.429 Taranga has these elegant roots going back to 00:11:57.429 --> 00:11:59.750 the turn of the century in Cuba. It was influenced 00:11:59.750 --> 00:12:02.450 by French Denzon orchestras that played for the 00:12:02.450 --> 00:12:05.090 upper class. It was originally considered parlor 00:12:05.090 --> 00:12:08.230 music. Very polite. Lots of violins, flutes. 00:12:08.470 --> 00:12:11.559 So like high society tea party music. Originally, 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:14.600 yes. But what Mongo and his band are doing here 00:12:14.600 --> 00:12:18.480 is revolutionary. They take that sweet or polite 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.879 instrumentation, the airy soaring flute and the 00:12:21.879 --> 00:12:24.700 crying lyrical violin, and they bolt it onto 00:12:24.700 --> 00:12:27.879 the chassis of that aggressive, street -level 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:29.980 Afro -Cuban drumming we just described. It's 00:12:29.980 --> 00:12:32.679 a complete mashup of high and low culture. It's 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:34.899 a sonic trick. See, a trumpet or a trombone? 00:12:35.489 --> 00:12:37.669 They operate in the mid -range frequencies. They 00:12:37.669 --> 00:12:39.950 take up a lot of sonic space. If you had a loud 00:12:39.950 --> 00:12:42.409 trumpet section, it would be fighting for attention 00:12:42.409 --> 00:12:44.990 with the complex overtones of the congas and 00:12:44.990 --> 00:12:48.090 the timbales. It would get muddy. But a flute, 00:12:48.149 --> 00:12:50.629 a flute sits way, way up high in the frequency 00:12:50.629 --> 00:12:52.830 spectrum. It floats above everything. So the 00:12:52.830 --> 00:12:54.570 flute can just soar over the top of the drum 00:12:54.570 --> 00:12:57.149 battle without getting lost in the mix? Precisely. 00:12:57.149 --> 00:12:59.370 And the violin can play these incredibly fast, 00:12:59.629 --> 00:13:02.129 intricate, almost percussive runs. Pizzicato 00:13:02.129 --> 00:13:04.850 plucking are these searing bowed lines that actually 00:13:04.850 --> 00:13:07.149 mimic the rhythm. It creates a sound that is 00:13:07.149 --> 00:13:10.490 lighter, breezier, but still unbelievably fast 00:13:10.490 --> 00:13:13.049 and intense. It's like, it's aerodynamic jazz. 00:13:13.230 --> 00:13:15.960 I love that phrase. Aerodynamic jazz. It's the 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:18.399 difference between a big heavy tank and a speedboat. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.000 This band is a speedboat. And sort of bridging 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:23.580 the gap, we have Jose Chombo Silva on saxophone. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:27.460 Chombo is the crucial bridge. He adds that smoky 00:13:27.460 --> 00:13:30.159 jazz texture. He's the one guy who can sound 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:32.460 like he's in a classic bebop club in New York, 00:13:32.519 --> 00:13:35.600 but he knows how to lock into the Cuban clave 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:38.240 rhythm perfectly. He connects the two worlds. 00:13:38.379 --> 00:13:41.440 And on piano, Juan Donato. Donato is a fascinating 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:43.879 choice because he's actually Brazilian, not Cuban. 00:13:44.819 --> 00:13:47.340 He brings a slightly different harmonic sensibility, 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:50.539 a touch of bossa nova maybe, but in this context, 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.759 his main job is to play the montuno. The montuno. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:55.860 I see that word a lot in liner notes for this 00:13:55.860 --> 00:13:58.019 kind of music. Describe that for me. What is 00:13:58.019 --> 00:14:00.019 the piano doing? So in a lot of straight -ahead 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:02.019 jazz, the pianist is playing chords, they're 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:04.879 comping, they're reacting to the soloist. In 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.139 this music, the piano is essentially a tuned 00:14:07.139 --> 00:14:09.879 drum. The montuno is that repetitive, hypnotic, 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:13.480 rhythmic, melodic vamp. You know the sound. Right, 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:17.159 it just loops. It loops. It doesn't change much. 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:19.820 Its job is to lock the bass and the percussion 00:14:19.820 --> 00:14:22.639 together. It's the spine of the track. It's the 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:24.720 part of the song that puts you in a trance. Okay, 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:27.820 that makes sense. And finally, rounding out this 00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:31.720 killer lineup, we have one vocal credit. Rudy 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:35.559 Calzado. Listed simply as voice. Which is funny 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:38.220 because you have this army of eight instrumentalists 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:41.179 and then just voice. He feels like the odd man 00:14:41.179 --> 00:14:44.159 out. But he's absolutely essential. In this style 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.679 of music, the voice isn't always singing a traditional 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:51.590 verse chorus pop song. The vocalist is often 00:14:51.590 --> 00:14:54.009 the inspirador. He's improvising chants. He's 00:14:54.009 --> 00:14:55.610 doing call and response with the rest of the 00:14:55.610 --> 00:14:58.070 band who act as a chorus. He's the hype man, 00:14:58.210 --> 00:15:00.309 and the storyteller all rolled into one. He's 00:15:00.309 --> 00:15:02.629 urging the band on. So he's another rhythmic 00:15:02.629 --> 00:15:05.629 instrument in a way. 100%. Okay, so we have this 00:15:05.629 --> 00:15:07.509 incredible cast of characters, and I want to 00:15:07.509 --> 00:15:09.610 go back to their names for a second because the 00:15:09.610 --> 00:15:11.690 credits don't just say Felix Legareta. They say 00:15:11.690 --> 00:15:14.909 Felix Pupi, Legareta, and Jose Trombosilva. The 00:15:14.909 --> 00:15:17.629 nicknames are so important. They feel incredibly 00:15:17.629 --> 00:15:19.669 intimate. I mean, Pupi. Poopy sounds like a name 00:15:19.669 --> 00:15:21.309 your grandma calls you when you're a little kid. 00:15:21.529 --> 00:15:23.470 And it signals to the listener that this is a 00:15:23.470 --> 00:15:26.330 family. In the Latin jazz world, especially in 00:15:26.330 --> 00:15:29.309 this era, these nicknames were badges of honor. 00:15:30.230 --> 00:15:33.090 Chumbo, Poopy, Mongo itself is a nickname. His 00:15:33.090 --> 00:15:35.690 real name was Ramon. It tells you that this isn't 00:15:35.690 --> 00:15:38.149 some stiff, formal orchestra where everyone just 00:15:38.149 --> 00:15:39.769 shakes hands and goes home at the end of the 00:15:39.769 --> 00:15:41.960 night. Right. These guys lived together. They 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:43.980 traveled on the same bus. They ate together. 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:46.580 They argued together. It was brotherhood. And 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:48.759 what's amazing is that brotherhood actually shows 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:52.679 up in the songwriting credits. This was my favorite 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:55.639 part of digging into the source material for 00:15:55.639 --> 00:15:58.700 this deep dive. Mine too. The track list is basically 00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:00.960 a map of their friendship. It is. Okay, lay it 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:03.320 out for us. So look at track A4 on the first 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:05.620 side of the record. The song is titled Chumbo 00:16:05.620 --> 00:16:08.039 Chivada. Okay. And who's the saxophone player 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:10.500 in the band? Jose Chumbo Silva. And who wrote 00:16:10.500 --> 00:16:13.769 the song? Mongo Santa Maria. So, just stop and 00:16:13.769 --> 00:16:15.929 think about that for a second. The leader of 00:16:15.929 --> 00:16:17.830 the band, the guy whose name is on the cover, 00:16:17.929 --> 00:16:20.309 sits down and writes a whole composition specifically 00:16:20.309 --> 00:16:23.710 dedicated to his saxophone player. He literally 00:16:23.710 --> 00:16:25.870 names it after him. It's a musical shout out. 00:16:25.970 --> 00:16:28.370 It's so much more than that, though. It implies 00:16:28.370 --> 00:16:31.549 that he wrote the melody to fit Chombo's specific 00:16:31.549 --> 00:16:34.929 style of playing. He knows Chombo's tone. He 00:16:34.929 --> 00:16:37.970 knows his favorite phrases, his improvisational 00:16:37.970 --> 00:16:40.289 tics. So he builds a musical playground just 00:16:40.289 --> 00:16:42.889 for him to play in. That's a level of generosity 00:16:42.889 --> 00:16:44.899 and respect you don't always see from band. leaders. 00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:47.539 It's not just, here's a song, play my notes. 00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:50.220 It's, here, I made this for you. Exactly. And 00:16:50.220 --> 00:16:52.100 it doesn't stop there. It happens again on side 00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:55.059 B. Oh, side B is absolutely the pupae show. It 00:16:55.059 --> 00:16:57.919 really is. Look at track B1, Antonio Y. Pedro, 00:16:58.139 --> 00:17:01.059 written by Felix Legareta. Then you go down to 00:17:01.059 --> 00:17:04.319 track B4, Loco Porti, who wrote that one. So 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:07.779 Pupi, the violin player, isn't just some session 00:17:07.779 --> 00:17:10.140 musician hired for the date. He's a key composer. 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:13.240 He's contributing a third of the music for the 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:15.960 entire second side of the album. It completely 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:18.700 changes how you listen to it. Knowing that the 00:17:18.700 --> 00:17:21.680 guy playing that searing violin solo actually 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:25.000 wrote the tune, you can just hear the ownership 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:27.000 in the performance. There's a different level 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:29.880 of pride there. Absolutely. Okay, I want to go 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:32.299 even deeper into this track list now because 00:17:32.299 --> 00:17:35.059 there are some... Real mysteries here that the 00:17:35.059 --> 00:17:37.700 source material hints at but doesn't fully solve. 00:17:37.900 --> 00:17:39.839 I love a good liner note mystery. Let's look 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:43.140 at side A again. We establish Mongo wrote four 00:17:43.140 --> 00:17:46.700 of the six tracks, Quindimbia, Sobroso, Chumbo 00:17:46.700 --> 00:17:50.460 Chivada, A Ti No Mas. He is clearly the creative 00:17:50.460 --> 00:17:52.539 director of this session. He's setting the tone. 00:17:52.660 --> 00:17:55.579 And a title like Sobroso is a perfect descriptor 00:17:55.579 --> 00:17:58.099 for the whole album. It means tasty or flavorful. 00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:00.279 It's basically him saying, this track has sauce. 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:03.839 But then we get to track A6, a beautiful tune 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:07.220 called Minovia. Which means my girlfriend. Right. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:10.059 And it's written by... Alicia Correa. Now that's 00:18:10.059 --> 00:18:11.640 a name that jumps right out at you. It does, 00:18:11.819 --> 00:18:15.140 because I scoured the musician list. There is 00:18:15.140 --> 00:18:17.440 no Alicia Correa playing an instrument on this 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.700 record. There is no Alicia Correa in the production 00:18:19.700 --> 00:18:22.900 credits. She's a ghost. Who is she? This is where 00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:24.579 we have to put on our detective hats and do a 00:18:24.579 --> 00:18:26.940 bit of speculation based on jazz history. Let's 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:29.099 go back to Willie Bobo. The Timbales player, 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:31.980 Mongo's protege. What was his real given name? 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:35.420 William Correa. William Correa. Oh, wait a second. 00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:39.259 So, Alicia Correa is... Almost certainly related 00:18:39.259 --> 00:18:44.839 to Willie Bobo. Is it his wife? His sister? In 00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:47.799 the 1950s, publishing rights were a really messy 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:50.799 business. Sometimes musicians were under an exclusive 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:53.400 contract to one publisher and couldn't legally 00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:55.680 write songs for another record label. So what 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:58.339 did they do? A common trick was to put the song 00:18:58.339 --> 00:19:00.599 in their wife's name or their mother's name. 00:19:00.829 --> 00:19:03.509 The old ghostwriter wife trick? It's a classic 00:19:03.509 --> 00:19:06.190 move in the music business. Or, you know, maybe 00:19:06.190 --> 00:19:07.910 it's something more romantic. Maybe Willie wrote 00:19:07.910 --> 00:19:10.329 a song called My Girlfriend, and he literally 00:19:10.329 --> 00:19:12.910 gave the songwriting credit, and more importantly 00:19:12.910 --> 00:19:15.349 the royalty checks, to his actual girlfriend, 00:19:15.549 --> 00:19:18.769 Alicia. That is either incredibly savvy or incredibly 00:19:18.769 --> 00:19:21.589 sweet. Or both. It connects the dots, though. 00:19:21.690 --> 00:19:24.130 It makes the song Minovia feel like this very 00:19:24.130 --> 00:19:26.970 personal artifact, from the drummer to his partner, 00:19:27.109 --> 00:19:29.430 hidden in plain sight on his mentor's album. 00:19:29.690 --> 00:19:31.950 I love that theory. It just makes the whole record 00:19:31.950 --> 00:19:34.890 feel so much more human. It does. Okay, let's 00:19:34.890 --> 00:19:37.049 flip the record over to Side B. We've talked 00:19:37.049 --> 00:19:39.670 about Pupi's compositions, but I want to stop 00:19:39.670 --> 00:19:42.670 and hover over track B2 for a minute. Guajira 00:19:42.670 --> 00:19:45.289 at the Blackhawk. This title is doing a lot of 00:19:45.289 --> 00:19:47.920 geographic work. The Blackhawk. I mean, that 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:49.859 sounds like a place where you'd either get stabbed 00:19:49.859 --> 00:19:52.099 or you'd buy a really good drink. Maybe both. 00:19:52.339 --> 00:19:55.420 You're not far off on either count. The Blackhawk 00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:58.400 was a legendary, and I mean legendary, jazz club 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:01.380 in San Francisco. It was on the corner of Turk 00:20:01.380 --> 00:20:03.880 and Hyde Streets in the Tenderloin District. 00:20:04.059 --> 00:20:05.660 The Tenderloin. Okay, so a gritty neighborhood. 00:20:05.940 --> 00:20:09.220 Very gritty. But it was the spot. Miles Davis 00:20:09.220 --> 00:20:12.220 recorded a famous live album there. Thelonious 00:20:12.220 --> 00:20:14.759 Monk played there. Jerry Mulligan. Everybody. 00:20:15.210 --> 00:20:18.069 It was this long, narrow, smoke -filled room 00:20:18.069 --> 00:20:21.569 with a weird wire mesh fence separating the underage 00:20:21.569 --> 00:20:24.009 section from the bar. And Mongo titles a track 00:20:24.009 --> 00:20:26.230 Guajira at the Blackhawk. Which is a beautiful 00:20:26.230 --> 00:20:29.049 paradox. Why is it a paradox? Because a guajira 00:20:29.049 --> 00:20:33.000 is Cuban country music. It's the music of the 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:34.960 guajiros, the farmers and peasants out in the 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:37.579 Cuban countryside. It's traditionally very acoustic, 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:40.500 very laid back, very rural. So he's taking this 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:43.559 rural farm music and he's planting it right in 00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:46.779 the middle of a grimy urban American jazz club. 00:20:47.079 --> 00:20:49.160 Exactly. He's taking the countryside to the tenderloin. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:53.400 The title itself encapsulates the entire experience 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:55.759 of the immigrant musician, doesn't it? You bring 00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:58.240 your roots, your home music, and you perform 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:01.140 it in this high pressure foreign environment. 00:21:02.289 --> 00:21:04.490 Do you think this was a song they actually played 00:21:04.490 --> 00:21:06.470 live at the Blackhawk? Oh, almost certainly. 00:21:07.309 --> 00:21:09.690 This was probably a staple of their live set. 00:21:10.430 --> 00:21:13.329 Naming it this way is likely a nod to the venue 00:21:13.329 --> 00:21:15.250 that was paying their rent that month. What a 00:21:15.250 --> 00:21:17.150 great story. Then right after that, we get Come 00:21:17.150 --> 00:21:20.059 Candela. Which translates to Eat Fire. Eat fire. 00:21:20.180 --> 00:21:22.059 I mean, come on. That has to be one of the most 00:21:22.059 --> 00:21:24.400 metal titles for a jazz song I've ever heard 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:26.500 in my life. It's a challenge, isn't it? It's 00:21:26.500 --> 00:21:28.779 the band saying to the listener, can you handle 00:21:28.779 --> 00:21:31.480 this heat? Can you keep up? But then, just as 00:21:31.480 --> 00:21:33.460 you're catching your breath, the mood shifts 00:21:33.460 --> 00:21:37.680 dramatically. Track B3, Palomeombe. Written by 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.180 Rudy Calzado, the vocalist. This one feels different. 00:21:40.299 --> 00:21:42.940 The title sounds heavy. It is extremely heavy. 00:21:43.500 --> 00:21:45.900 Palomeombe isn't a dance style. It's a religion. 00:21:46.430 --> 00:21:49.329 It's a syncretic religion practiced in Cuba with 00:21:49.329 --> 00:21:51.809 roots that trace back to the Congo Basin in Africa. 00:21:52.230 --> 00:21:55.130 It's often considered the darker, more intense, 00:21:55.410 --> 00:21:58.529 more mysterious cousin of Santeria. It deals 00:21:58.529 --> 00:22:00.869 with spirits of the dead, with the power of nature, 00:22:00.990 --> 00:22:04.150 with wooden sticks or palos. So in the middle 00:22:04.150 --> 00:22:07.109 of this high energy pachanga party album, they 00:22:07.109 --> 00:22:10.210 just drop a track that directly references a 00:22:10.210 --> 00:22:13.210 very serious, very deep Afro -Cuban spiritual 00:22:13.210 --> 00:22:16.079 practice. It's a reminder. It's the band reminding 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.519 the listener that this music at its core isn't 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:20.960 just entertainment. The rhythms they are playing 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.519 on the congas and the bada drums, they aren't 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:25.539 just beats, they're prayers, they're invocations. 00:22:25.740 --> 00:22:27.740 Even when it's packaged as a pop dance record, 00:22:27.900 --> 00:22:30.160 the spiritual DNA of the music is still right 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:32.140 there under the surface. It grounds the whole 00:22:32.140 --> 00:22:34.160 project. It gives it a kind of gravitas you wouldn't 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:37.000 expect. It does. And then just as things get 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:39.079 really heavy and spiritual, they pull you right 00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:42.960 back out. Track B6, The Closer, Olga Pechanga. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:46.480 Written by a Nicholas Martinez. Who I am guessing 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:49.220 is probably related to Cuco Martinez, the Tim 00:22:49.220 --> 00:22:51.299 Bowles player. That would be a very safe bet. 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:53.980 Another family connection woven into the record. 00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:57.130 And the title? Olga Pechanga. We end exactly 00:22:57.130 --> 00:23:00.269 where we started. With the Pechanga. It bookends 00:23:00.269 --> 00:23:03.150 the entire album perfectly. You open with the 00:23:03.150 --> 00:23:06.430 visual and sonic scream of Ariba, and you leave 00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:08.849 with the name of the dance on your lips. It's 00:23:08.849 --> 00:23:11.609 a perfect, satisfying exit. It's such a tight, 00:23:11.670 --> 00:23:14.369 brilliant package. Twelve tracks, absolutely 00:23:14.369 --> 00:23:16.789 no filler. Just straight, uncut energy. It's 00:23:16.789 --> 00:23:18.710 a real statement of intent. So we've dissected 00:23:18.710 --> 00:23:20.430 the music, we've gone through the band, the history, 00:23:20.589 --> 00:23:23.490 but I have to ask the big, so what? Question. 00:23:23.670 --> 00:23:26.069 Did it matter? Did anyone actually care about 00:23:26.069 --> 00:23:29.009 this record in 1959 or did it just kind of disappear 00:23:29.009 --> 00:23:31.450 into the bargain bin over time? No, it definitely 00:23:31.450 --> 00:23:33.529 mattered. And we know this because of the legacy 00:23:33.529 --> 00:23:35.829 data that the source material points to. The 00:23:35.829 --> 00:23:38.250 ratings. The ratings, right. The source specifically 00:23:38.250 --> 00:23:40.730 points to ratings from the Penguin Guide to Jazz 00:23:40.730 --> 00:23:43.750 Recordings and from the website AllMusic. Now, 00:23:43.789 --> 00:23:45.230 I've heard of the Penguin Guide. That's that 00:23:45.230 --> 00:23:47.250 massive book. It looks like a phone book or a 00:23:47.250 --> 00:23:49.670 dictionary, right? It is the Bible of modern 00:23:49.670 --> 00:23:52.839 jazz criticism. For decades, it was the essential 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:56.319 reference book. And the fact that Ariba La Pachanga 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:59.680 is listed and rated in the ninth edition, which 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:02.819 was published in 2008, that's hugely significant. 00:24:03.019 --> 00:24:05.299 That's almost 50 years after the record was released. 00:24:05.579 --> 00:24:08.380 Exactly. Most pop records, most dance fads are 00:24:08.380 --> 00:24:10.339 completely forgotten in five years, let alone 00:24:10.339 --> 00:24:13.759 50. If you are still being cataloged and critically 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:15.779 assessed to the Penguin Guide half a century 00:24:15.779 --> 00:24:19.650 later, you are considered canon. You've transcended 00:24:19.650 --> 00:24:22.190 being just a pop record, and you are now considered 00:24:22.190 --> 00:24:24.450 essential art. It validates the quality. It's 00:24:24.450 --> 00:24:26.230 the critical world saying, no, this wasn't just 00:24:26.230 --> 00:24:28.690 some kitschy dance music. This is serious, important 00:24:28.690 --> 00:24:31.730 music. And the all music rating, which was checked 00:24:31.730 --> 00:24:34.930 as recently as 2017, shows that even in the digital 00:24:34.930 --> 00:24:37.369 streaming age, people are still discovering this 00:24:37.369 --> 00:24:38.930 album. They're still listening to it and they're 00:24:38.930 --> 00:24:41.549 still rating it. It has incredible longevity. 00:24:41.569 --> 00:24:44.230 There was one little detail in the source material 00:24:44.230 --> 00:24:46.390 about its digital footprint that made me laugh, 00:24:46.410 --> 00:24:48.710 though. The visual description part. Yeah. The 00:24:48.710 --> 00:24:51.750 metadata tag that says album articles lacking 00:24:51.750 --> 00:24:54.829 alt text for covers. The irony of the modern 00:24:54.829 --> 00:24:56.750 age, right? It's hilarious. We have all this 00:24:56.750 --> 00:24:59.299 incredibly detailed information about. The personnel, 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:01.519 the release date, the genres, the songwriters. 00:25:02.339 --> 00:25:04.160 But the computer doesn't know what the cover 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:06.519 looks like. It's a digital blind spot. But, you 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:08.359 know, based on the music we've been talking about, 00:25:08.500 --> 00:25:10.599 I think we can generate our own alt text for 00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:13.700 it. I like it. Go for it. What do you see when 00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:16.819 you hear this music? I see red. just bright fire 00:25:16.819 --> 00:25:21.519 engine red i see bold yellow block letters and 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.319 i see motion blur maybe it's a dancer skirt spinning 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:27.480 so fast it's just a streak of color or maybe 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:29.700 it's hands hitting a conga drum so hard they 00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:32.619 look like ghosts pure energy I think you're spot 00:25:32.619 --> 00:25:35.119 on. The music is recorded in Technicolor, so 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:37.519 the cover has to match that energy. So to bring 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:39.559 this all home, we've spent this whole deep dive 00:25:39.559 --> 00:25:42.480 breaking down Arriba La Pachanga. We've looked 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:44.819 at the history, the wall of drums, that unique 00:25:44.819 --> 00:25:48.180 flute and violin combination. What's the big 00:25:48.180 --> 00:25:50.319 single takeaway for you? What's the lesson of 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.079 this album? For me, the biggest takeaway is about 00:25:53.079 --> 00:25:57.119 the blurred line between a solo artist and a 00:25:57.119 --> 00:25:59.849 true collective. How do you mean? Well, the cover 00:25:59.849 --> 00:26:02.109 of the album says Mongo Santamaria. He's the 00:26:02.109 --> 00:26:04.809 star. He's the brand. But when you actually dig 00:26:04.809 --> 00:26:07.150 into the liner notes, when you see Pupi writing 00:26:07.150 --> 00:26:09.230 these beautiful love songs and Rudy writing the 00:26:09.230 --> 00:26:12.750 deep spiritual chants and Willy Bobo or his family 00:26:12.750 --> 00:26:15.670 contributing their own tracks, you realize this 00:26:15.670 --> 00:26:17.849 wasn't a dictatorship. It was a village. It was 00:26:17.849 --> 00:26:19.750 a village. Mongo was a chief, no doubt about 00:26:19.750 --> 00:26:22.529 it. But he was a wise chief who allowed his people 00:26:22.529 --> 00:26:25.990 to shine. He created a platform where a brilliant 00:26:25.990 --> 00:26:28.640 violinist. Could also be a respected composer, 00:26:28.940 --> 00:26:31.359 where a young kid from Spanish Harlem like Willie 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:34.680 Bobo could become a percussion god right alongside 00:26:34.680 --> 00:26:37.059 his mentor. It's a lesson in leadership, really. 00:26:37.259 --> 00:26:40.539 It is. Great music, truly great music, doesn't 00:26:40.539 --> 00:26:43.220 happen in a vacuum. It happens when you gather 00:26:43.220 --> 00:26:45.380 the best possible people, you give them a cool 00:26:45.380 --> 00:26:48.000 nickname, and you trust them enough to let them 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:50.059 write what they feel. And you let them play loud. 00:26:50.700 --> 00:26:53.859 Exceptionally loud. So my final thought for everyone 00:26:53.859 --> 00:26:56.750 listening is this. The next time you pick up 00:26:56.750 --> 00:26:59.950 a jazz record, especially from this era, don't 00:26:59.950 --> 00:27:02.849 just look at the front cover. Flip it over. Read 00:27:02.849 --> 00:27:05.210 the names in the tiny print. See who actually 00:27:05.210 --> 00:27:08.170 wrote the songs. Because you might find a Pupi 00:27:08.170 --> 00:27:11.009 or a Chumbo or a Secret Alicia hiding in there 00:27:11.009 --> 00:27:13.009 waiting to tell you the real story behind the 00:27:13.009 --> 00:27:14.670 music. And that's our provocative thought for 00:27:14.670 --> 00:27:17.130 you to chew on. The artist is listed as Mungo 00:27:17.130 --> 00:27:19.819 Santa Maria and his band. Oh. But after looking 00:27:19.819 --> 00:27:22.119 at these writing credits where the violinist 00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:23.960 and the flutist and the vocalist are all writing 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:26.460 their own features, where do you draw the line 00:27:26.460 --> 00:27:30.299 between a solo artist and a collective? Is this 00:27:30.299 --> 00:27:32.740 a Mongo album or is it a document of a community? 00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:34.819 A question to think about next time you listen. 00:27:34.980 --> 00:27:37.599 And if you ever see an inverted exclamation point 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:41.119 on a record cover, just buy it. Always buy the 00:27:41.119 --> 00:27:43.039 inverted exclamation point. That's the rule. 00:27:43.220 --> 00:27:46.220 Thanks for taking this deep dive with us. Keep 00:27:46.220 --> 00:27:47.180 digging deep.