Machito

by Richard S. Ginell
Machito played a huge role in the history of Latin jazz, for his bands of the 1940s were probably the first to achieve a fusion of powerful Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz improvisation. At its roaring best, the band had a hard-charging sound, loaded with jostling, hyperactive bongos and congas and razor-edged riffing brass. Machito was the front man, singing, conducting, shaking maracas, while his brother-in-law Mario Bauza was the innovator behind the scenes, getting Machito to hire jazz-oriented arrangers. The son of a cigar manufacturer, Machito became a professional musician in Cuba in his teens before he emigrated to America in 1937 as a vocalist with La Estrella Habanera. He worked with several Latin artists and orchestras in the late 30s, recording with the then-dominant Latin bandleader Xavier Cugat. After an earlier aborted attempt to launch a band with Bauza, Machito founded the Afro-Cubans in 1940, taking on Bauza the following year as music director where he remained for 35 years. After making some early 78s for Decca, the Afro-Cubans really began to catch on after the end of World War II, appearing with — and no doubt influencing — Stan Kentons orchestra (Machito played maracas on Kentons recordings of The Peanut Vendor and Cuban Carnival) and recording some exciting sides for Mercury and Clef. Upon Bauzas urging, Machitos band featured a galaxy of American jazz soloists on its recordings from 1948 to 1960, including Charlie Parker (heard memorably on No Noise), Dizzy Gillespie, Flip Phillips, Howard McGhee, Buddy Rich, Harry Sweets Edison, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Mann, Curtis Fuller and Johnny Griffin. Playing regularly at New Yorks Palladium, Machitos band reached its peak of popularity during the mambo craze of the 1950s, survived the upheavals of the 60s and despite the loss of Bauza in 1976, continued to work frequently in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s when the term salsa came into use. The band recorded for Pablo (in tandem with Gillespie) and Timeless in its later years, and was playing Ronnie Scotts club in London in 1984 when Machito suffered a fatal stroke. A ary film by Carlo Ortiz, Machito: A Latin Jazz Legacy, was released in 1987.