Ever since he was part of Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra, Puerto Rican saxophonist David Snchez has dedicated much effort to tracing the influences of African music on jazz. In 2000, Snchez released “Melaza (Molasses)," a meditation on the cultural legacy of African sugar-cane workers in Puerto Rico. His sister, Margarita Snchez de Len, subsequently wrote a poem of the same title, which in turn has inspired Snchez's latest work, “La Leyenda del Caaveral," premiering at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall (212-247-7800) Wednesday.
Commissioned by Chamber Music America, “La Leyenda del Caaveral" draws inspiration from Snchez's recent investigations into the music of Tanzania as well as the Baca Forest people of Cameroon. “I thought since Margarita was inspired by 'Melaza,' what if I forget about that album and just follow the cadence of her poem to do something new," said Snchez in a phone interview. “The piece is in three motifs, three sections. Originally it was supposed to be for two horns, but since I've been using guitar in my quartet, I replaced the second horn with a guitar."
Snchez allows that the “backbone" of this new work is jazz, but what he does in the composition process is to reinterpret these African music forms through jazz conventions. But the more he studies African music, the more he sees unexpected connections with the music of his Caribbean homeland. “They play music in Sierra Leone and Senegal that has unbelievable similarities with [Puerto Rican] bomba and plena," Snchez said. “They have a stringed instrument that is like a kalimba, and when they do the finger parts, one is doing the 'primo' part and the other is doing the 'seguidor' part that you hear in plena. I always thought this music is ours, but it came from there."
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Commissioned by Chamber Music America, “La Leyenda del Caaveral" draws inspiration from Snchez's recent investigations into the music of Tanzania as well as the Baca Forest people of Cameroon. “I thought since Margarita was inspired by 'Melaza,' what if I forget about that album and just follow the cadence of her poem to do something new," said Snchez in a phone interview. “The piece is in three motifs, three sections. Originally it was supposed to be for two horns, but since I've been using guitar in my quartet, I replaced the second horn with a guitar."
Snchez allows that the “backbone" of this new work is jazz, but what he does in the composition process is to reinterpret these African music forms through jazz conventions. But the more he studies African music, the more he sees unexpected connections with the music of his Caribbean homeland. “They play music in Sierra Leone and Senegal that has unbelievable similarities with [Puerto Rican] bomba and plena," Snchez said. “They have a stringed instrument that is like a kalimba, and when they do the finger parts, one is doing the 'primo' part and the other is doing the 'seguidor' part that you hear in plena. I always thought this music is ours, but it came from there."
Continue...
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