Donald Harrison Jr. and Mario Bauza are true jazz professionals. Both have had successful careers and transformed the way many people view jazz as not only a work of music, but as an art form. Harrison is known as a prominent New Orleans jazz artist and one of his notable albums is Indian Blues. Mario Bauza is one of the best Cuban jazz artist of all time and recorded an inspiring album called Tanga. Both albums are rich in their particular culture, yet have similarities. Donald Harrison was born in New Orleans in 1960. He grew up surrounded by New Orleans traditional brass bands, modern jazz, R&B, funk and classical music. He and his father were Mardi Gras Big Chiefs for an African tribe, which is a unique culture in New Orleans …show more content…
He passed away in July 1993, but his music and influence lives on. He was an accomplished musician by the age of nine playing with the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra. While is Cuba, he studied under some of the best Cuban musicians, including Antonio Maria Romeu and Lázaro Herrera. At age 19, he moved to New York, and switched his focus to the trumpet and big band swing music. His formal music training, understanding of traditional Cuban music, and love for jazz allowed him to play a key role in the integration of Afro-Cuban music and jazz in the 1940s. He is a known as the founding father of Latin …show more content…
One of the more famous songs, “Chucho,” was written, arranged and conducted by a special guest, alto saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera from Cuba. The melody has a great tune and it’s hard to miss the signature Cuban style of the screaming trumpets playing throughout the song, the screaming trumpets return throughout the album. Many of the solos are fast and contain difficult chord changes. This is great Afro-Cuban jazz album because many of the instruments are common to Cuban big bands and the main of this album, like most Cuban jazz, is to dance. The primary rhythm section in many songs such as “Chucho” and “Son Cubano” are Cuban with the percussion of the congas, bongos, and the beautiful guir. The song, “Mambo” is another great hit that embodies Cuban music. The screaming trumpet in the beginning warns the listener that a Cuban hit is coming. As suggested by the name, this contains a mambo that starts off steady, but then speeds up when the melody enters. Bauza with his trumpet has an amazing solo where he is able to vary his pitch as points get very high and very low. The rhythm section is very Cuban with the timbales, cowbell, clave, macros, and the percussion of the congas and bongos. Throughout the album there is a constant beat made up of common Cuban instruments with exciting melody’s and fast paced solos with flaring instruments, none more evident than the very song of “Afro