Cuban Fire!
A celebration of Cuban influences on the big band through the Kenton lens.
Thornbury Theatre - VIC
Fri October 9, 7:30pm
For ONE NIGHT ONLY witness the power, colour and spectacle of one of jazz’s most thrilling works in a very special evening as 25 of Melbourne’s finest musicians present Stan Kenton’s Cuban Fire Suite & other Latin hits. Hosted & with vocals by the fabulous Nina Ferro and performed from the original Johnny Richards & Gene Roland manuscript scores used on these landmark Capitol sessions.
In the lead up to this exciting show we spoke with the person responsible for bringing it all together - Andrew Mott.
What was the inspiration to present Cuban Fire Suite?
I’ve thought about this a lot lately and I guess it’s a fascination for presenting something iconic from the past and ‘restoring’ it for the modern stage. And it has been a restoration process. When you examine some of this great material, you see it was created in an environment you can’t completely understand - maybe on tour; or under pressure for a recording or concert deadline - and so there are shortcuts and abbreviations in the scores and parts which must be interpreted – and any questions which arose came to be answered by close listening to the original recordings. But it’s also pretty special taking in the writing of those great arrangers: Johnny Richards – Pete Rugolo – Gene Roland. I have a few more ideas for future themed events which I’m working on at the moment in this vein of restoration.
When I realised I could access this music from various overseas sources, I started assembling the band, knowing it had to be without compromise given the immense demands of the parts. And everyone said yes! There was a great collective feeling of being in on something special, so that’s been very gratifying,
What has struck me most about the whole process is how hip & relevant this music still is after 70 years. It stands up really well and it also invites you in: the infectious groove and Johnny Richards’ great writing, the keys he used and how he wrote for each section.
The Kenton band’s initial attempts at infusing Cuban influences into the band were not altogether successful. When the band was in New York in the late 1940s (having recorded a few commercially successful hits like Bongo Riff & Cuban Carnival), local Cuban musicians were very quick to inform them their music was ‘all wrong’, chiefly because it did not respect clavé. So Kenton, ever serious about cutting new ground with integrity, instructed his chief writers (Richards especially) to make a serious study of the style … paving the way for his iconic Cuban Fire Suite.
What is your favourite aspect of the project?
Well, the material we’re performing from the Kenton book covers a fifteen-year window up to 1963 – and you notice it mature a lot across that timespan. The presence of Latin percussionists settles in over time and the drummer has to consider a different approach. The horn articulations seem to crisp up – lots of unison writing too. In the original 1956 Cuban Fire Suite recording, it’s been written that drummer, Mel Lewis played wide, which I take to mean he had to be less busy, making more space for the percussion, and with a slightly more relaxed time - and within the band’s sound. As some of that generation did, he also favoured softer calfskin drum heads which added to warmth to his role within the band. Interesting concepts.
I love the 1960 session titles like El Panzón, Malibu Moonlight & Carnival. Fabulous.
And being able to pore over these original parts has been fascinating: the art of the music copyist (now largely lost)… and then the musicians’ markings from their 1950s & 1960s Capitol studio sessions. Lines tacetted, cuts scrawled across pages, accidentals written in. Clearly the band undertook a lot of on-the-spot editing in the studio. So I’ve worked closely with Toshi Clinch, who’s now living back in the US and we edited and adjusted the parts together – and he has a way of cleaning up parts which is second-to-none! We also had to re-write those famous mellophonium parts for French horn.
With just nine hours of rehearsal preparation time for the 21 titles, it was going to be important for me to present the music to the band as cleanly as possible. Having said that, having the luxury of those nine hours has been welcomed by everyone – to be able to really get to know the soul of this music.
How hard was it to get the original manuscripts?
It’s taken perhaps 18mths to research where the music was that I sought; to find the many contacts to write to and decide the titles which would build an interesting show program with a strong story. I wanted to create an event which took the audience on a ‘journey’, showing what was happening in those heady post-war days of Bop & Cuban and a bunch of other influences all colliding – and through the Kenton lens.
I had initially sought the charts to analyse this period of Latin influences – just for my own interest. I’ve always enjoyed studying the lineage in jazz. But as the Kenton story came into focus I could see it would make a great concert event. I formed the contacts, kept up the email negotiations, paid interns to scan the arrangements and then when they arrived, set about how to edit them into playability. A slow process, but ultimately a very rewarding one.
Cuban Fire! is at Thornbury Theatre, Fri Oct 9, 7:30pm
The legendary sounds of the Stan Kenton orchestra were era-defining and changed the course of jazz through their innovative and progressive approach. Audiences will have a unique opportunity to hear this dazzling music performed LIVE, with its huge brass & reeds, driving percussion, colourful solos and latin fire which has made the work a milestone.
An opening set will describe the arrival of Cuban influences on the NY scene around 1947; then feature all six movements of Johhny Richards’ dazzling Cuban Fire Suite of 1956; followed by a third set performing more Kenton tracks from his famous 1960 Capitol sessions. Set within the beautiful Thornbury Theatre, Cuban Fire! captures the lush, hip style of the era, complete with Cuban-themed cocktails, bar service and in a mid-century cabaret setting.
A bold, glamorous and unforgettable night of classic latin-jazz, Cuban Fire! celebrates the excitement and sophistication of big-band music at its most spectacular, with a stellar all-star band.