Rutgers University Jazz Lab Big Band Concert

Jazz and the African, Latin American Tinge

Jazz is emblematic of our cultural heritage. It is an art form that emerged out of the encounter of African, Caribbean, and European sensibilities and approaches to music-making. It is because of the coming together of musical elements from diverse ethnic groups representing the Western and non-Western Worlds that a uniquely American form of artistic expression came into being. However, the emergence and evolution of jazz in this country has its musical parallels in other parts of the New World. Unique musical styles also developed in Latin American, South American, and Caribbean Island countries such as Cuba, Brazil, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Jamaica; styles such as the habanera, danzones, son, mambo, and rumba from Cuba; the lundu, samba, and bossa nova from Brazil; the carabinier and meringue from Haiti; the merengue from the Dominican Republic; the tango from Argentina; the danza, seis, bomba, and plena from Puerto Rico; the calypso and soca from Trinidad; and mento, ska, and reggae from Jamaica. This concert by the Rutgers University Jazz Lab Big Band, directed by Anthony Branker, will spotlight the strength of the African and Latin American influence on the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Chico O’Farrill, Michael Mossman, Anthony Branker, and Duke Ellington with music featured from his “Latin American Suite.”