How a Latin Jazz Rhythm Section Works

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Modern Drummer: What are some of the common mistakes that drummers make when performing Latin music?

Johnnie Rae : From a Latin point of view, the most common mistake is that American drummers tend to put in too many fills and change the basic beat. When you’re working with a conga and other percussion, you only play your part; you can make little changes, a note here and there, but you can’t change the basic rhythm. Jazz drummers, even though they may have a good Latin concept, tend to think in terms of fills as if they were playing jazz music. Latin rhythms have got to be more solid and settled because there’s more syncopation going on. Also, when you’re working in a multiple-percussion section, there are more things that are slotted around what you’re doing. You have to play your part in the correct place so that there is that space on either side of your beat for that bongo part, cowbell beat, or whatever.

Also, American drummers should be aware of their tonality. That means being aware of when to use the cymbals, the sides of the toms, the closed hi-hat, and the cowbell. Those types of effects are important, and they are best worked out in the arrangement, depending on the type of tune it is and who is soloing. If you’re working with a conga drummer, you should try to stay away from the toms, because you don’t want to get into the conga’s tonality. Armando Peraza showed me a way of playing a mambo on a set that works very well with conga drummers. With the snares in the “up” position on your snare drum, and playing with both hands in unison, you play the mambo beat on the snare drum and cymbals. At the same time, you play a variation of the bass figure on the bass drum; the tone of the bass drum will be below the conga drum. What I usually play on the bass drum is a “spacy” clave figure. That means I play only the two notes in the second bar and I don’t play anything on the bass drum on the first bar. It’s a simple bass drum figure, but it’s solid.

When it comes to 20th-century American pop music, "virtually all of the major popular forms--Tin Pan Alley, stage, and film music, jazz, rhythm and blues, country music, and rock--have been affected throughout their development by the idioms of Brazil, Cuba, or Mexico." So writes eminent musicologist John Storm Roberts of the often-overlooked role that Latin American rhythms, musical forms, and musicians have played in shaping American culture. The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States [Oxford, 1979].

While it may sound like a lot of clap trap to the uninformed ear, the Latin rhythm section is actually a well-oiled machine with everything in its place.  When done correctly, the rhythms, counter-rhythms and accents played in combination by the conga and bongo drums, timbales and a variety of hand-held percussion instruments create a fluid, rippling foundation over which the melody glides.

While jazz rhythms are swung, most Latin jazz tunes have a straight eighth note feel. Latin jazz rarely employs a backbeat, using a form of the clave instead. 

Most jazz rhythms emphasize beats two and four. Latin jazz tunes rely more on various clave rhythms, again depending on regional style.

Since the underlying “feel” of Latin or Afro-Cuban Jazz relates to the clave, perhaps a word at this point as to its meaning, role and its relationship with the instruments, compositions and arrangements

Clave in its original form is a Spanish word and its musical usage was developed in the western part of Cuba, particularly the cities of Matanzas and Havana. However, the origins of the rhythm can be traced to Africa, particularly the West African music of modern-day Ghana and Nigeria. There are also rhythms resembling the clave found in parts of the Middle East.

By way of background and very briefly, there are three types of clave.

The most common type of clave rhythm in Latin Jazz is the son clave, named after the Cuban musical style of the same name. Below is an example of the son clave rhythm in Western musical notation.

Because there are three notes in the first measure and two in the second, the above is said to be in the 3:2 direction or forward clave. The 2:3 clave is the same but with the measures reversed [i.e.: reversed clave].

Another type of clave is the rumba clave which can also be played in either the 3:2 or 2:3 direction, although the 3:2 is more common.  Here is an example of its notation:

There is a third clave, often called the 6/8 clave or sometimes referred to as the Afro Feel clave because it is an adaptation of a well-documented West African [some claim Sub-Saharan] 12/8 timeline.  It is a cowbell pattern and is played in the older more folkloric forms of Cuban music, but it has also been adapted into Latin Jazz.

Below are the three major forms of clave, all written in a 3:2 position:

The choice of the direction of the clave rhythm is guided by the melody, which in turn directs all other instruments and arrangements.

In many contemporary compositions such as those recorded by Mongo Santamaria, George Shearing and Cal Tjader groups, the arrangements make use of both movements of the clave in different sections of the tunes.

As far as the type of clave rhythm used, generally son clave is used with dance styles while rumba and afro are associated with folkloric rhythms.

To re-emphasize a point, while allowing for some embellishment, these clave rhythmic patterns must be strictly adhered to by the percussionists in the playing of Latin Jazz to keep the music controlled and grounded, while at the same time, flowing.

To the uninitiated, Latin Jazz rhythm sections might sound more like controlled chaos, but when it all comes together properly it is a thing of beauty, especially as one’s ear becomes more informed.

The first time I heard the Cuban Jazz group IRAKERE’s music, I was absolutely overwhelmed by how well all of these rhythmic conventions were honored thus providing a platform for a music rich in passionate intensity and melodic intrigue.

IRAKERE is the Yoruba word for “vegetation.” And “Yoruba” refers to an ethno-linguistic group native to West Africa, but the dialect is also spoken in some parts of Cuba. I have no idea as to the idiomatic hip meaning of IRAKERE, but I certainly hope to find out what arcane symbolism may lurk behind the name of the band.

This blending of Cuban folkloric elements with indigenous Cuban and West African rhythms perhaps indicates that the 1950’s term of Afro-Cuban Jazz may be a more appropriate appellation for many forms of Latin Jazz today.

However, the influx into the United States during the last quartet of the 20th century of large populations from Puerto Rico, parts of the Spanish Caribbean and Mexico, that is to say, immigrants of ethnic Hispanic origin, may be responsible for the adoption and current prevalence of the more generic term – Latin Jazz. 

For all intents and purposes, the terms Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz interchangeably and you can hear one example of its many rhythms in the following video featuring Lucas van Merwijk’s Cubop City Big Band performing Mulata Rumbera.