Afro-Peruvian jazz, Latin jazz and what´s in a name

Afro-Peruvian jazz...the child of Afro-Peruvian traditional music and New York jazz.  In a nutshell, it's what happens when a musician who plays Afro-Peruvian traditional music goes to New York and gets caught up in the jazz scene there.  Or the other way around, when a New York jazz artist goes to Peru....

The best-known musician of Afro-Peruvian jazz is Daniel Alegria, who is not Afro-Peruvian (although he is Peruvian).  Daniel Alegria currently spends his time going back and forth between New York and Peru, and plays in both countries with his sextet.  He also has a night-club in New York which features not only his own sextet, but also other practitioners of Afro-Peruvian jazz, and sometimes of Afro-Peruvian traditional music.



Other musicians of the genre Afro-Peruvian jazz include the guitarist Richie Zellon and the singer-songwriter Corina Bartra.

What, then, IS Afro-Peruvian jazz.  What's the mix?

Well, the text book definition is A "fusion of jazz with Afro-Peruvian rhythms."

Ok, so some of these artists really stick to the rhythms found in the music developed by the Afro-Peruvian community.  Many even make some use of Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments, especially the cajón.  But the sound?  Well, it doesn't really have all that much to do with Afro-Peruvian music.




There is, first of all, a lot of brass in Afro-Peruvian jazz.  There is NO brass in any Afro-Peruvian music that I´ve ever heard. Next, some of it uses big bands...again, not something you´d exactly expect to find in Afro-Peruvian traditional music.

The songs, if there´s singing, doesn´t normally relate to the Afro-Peruvian community or its history and traditions.  Not all that surprising if the artists don´t in fact come out of the Afro-Peruvian tradition.  These people are NOT black Latinos, which as it turns out, really makes a difference.  So why are we calling this music "Afro-Peruvian jazz?"

Then, there´s Latin jazz.  Afro-Peruvian jazz is said to be part of Latin jazz.  Several people have pointed out that there really is no such animal as "Latin jazz."  I agree.



Unfortunately, we´re in the misty realm of communication.  "People" are familiar with the term "Latin jazz" and to a lesser extent, "Afro-Peruvian jazz."  It may be that neither one means much, but people THINK they mean something.  People THINK they understand what it means and that they either like, or don´t like what they think it means.

To get right down to the point, the term "classical music" doesn´t really mean anything, either.

So we´re left in the fog of non-communication, believing we´re saying something when really, all we´re doing is saying "hey, you might like this and since you won´t check it out unless it has a name you´re familiar with, the closest I can come is THIS name."

(Compare the "Afro-Peruvian jazz" musicians above with Afro-Peruvian traditional music from our CD and our documentary, below.)



Nothing new under the sun here.

(NOTE:  if you like this rendition of Zamacueca, you might want to check out our CD on CDBaby LINK.)

OUR NEXT POST will be about the song "el negrito Chinchivi" and its composer, José Alberto (Pepe) Villalobos Cavero.