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ninety miles
There is still a U.S. embargo of Cuba, but
the Obama administration has loosened travel
restrictions. Direct flights to Cuba are now
allowed from 11 U.S. airports, with a premium
awarded to religious and educational trips
(Arturo O’Farrill and Wynton Marsalis also
have made the journey to Cuba). In the wake
of these changes, Concord Picante joined with
the Montuno Producciones y Eventos S.L.
label to produce the CD/DVD package Ninety
Miles. What would actually transpire in Cuba
was unknowable before the trio of vibraphonist
Stefon Harris, saxophonist David Sánchez and
trumpeter Christian Scott arrived there in May
2010. Over the course of seven sweat-drenched
days, they would record with Havana’s new
breed of fiery jazz musicians and perform (and
be filmed) at one the city’s oldest venues, the
Amadeo Roldán Theater.
“These three musicians come from three
different parts of the U.S. and very different
backgrounds,” said co-producer John Burk,
chief creative officer of Concord Records.
“Christian represents the New Orleans tradition,
and you’ve got Stefon from New York, and
then David from Puerto Rico. The whole point
here was to mix it up and see what happens.”
What happened was a significant cross-cultural
exchange that illustrates the universal
power of music and its ability to conquer any
divide, be it musical, economic or cultural. “We
Are The World” commercialism and clichés
aside, the Ninety Miles recording is nuanced,
soulfully deep and brimming with inventive
textures. Scheduled to record and perform with
groups led by two brilliant young Cuban pianists—Rember
Duharte and Harold López-
Nussa—the trio of Harris/Sánchez/Scott finally
arrived after a year of legal wrangling with
the Office of Foreign Assets Control. They
came to Cuba with music written and attitudes
ready for anything. And as often happens when
oppressed people are involved, the spirit was
willing, and in abundance.
“I had an amazing experience,” Scott says,
seated alongside Harris and Sánchez in a
Universal Records conference room in New
York. “We learned a lot of music fast, and we
were rehearsing in this theater with no air conditioning.
After the performance, people were
really touched and captivated by what was
going on. I felt like they were listening with
more than just their ears. That’s one of the great
things about Cuban culture—you can tell that
music is a big part of their lives. They’re not
talking about the Foo Fighters or what’s the
new hot thing on iTunes. But they may listen to
more music than the average American.”
“When you look at a situation where people
are oppressed,” Harris adds, “and I don’t specifically
mean Cuba—you have oppressed
communities in the U.S. as well—but there
tends to be more of an appreciation [of music]
and even more so a need for artistic expression.
People need to let out what’s inside of them. So
their connection is considerably deeper than
someone who enjoys music as a pastime, a little
hobby on the side. You can feel that connection
in Cuba. It’s like we were having a spiritual
exchange with the audience. I play music
because music saved my life. I love this. It’s not
something that’s just interesting to me.”
The DVD in the Ninety Miles package
includes video footage from director Devin
DeHaven’s documentary of the trip. Along
with extensive footage of the three principals
touring Havana in ’50s-era U.S. cars (à
la Ry Cooder in Buena Vista Social Club), the
DVD has excerpts of two performances from
the Amadeo Roldán Theater concert. “City
Sunrise,” a Sánchez composition, and “La
Fiesta Va,” by López-Nussa, demonstrate the
power and grace shared among these cross-cultural
ambassadors.
The level of awareness and interplay
between these U.S. and Cuban players is inspiring,
and occasionally profound. Eye contact of
the highest order is present, and the emotional
communication is obvious. Each musician is
hyper-aware, paying rapt attention to all that is
happening around him.
Harris, Sánchez and Scott had never performed
together, but when they joined with
these stunning Cuban musicians—whose synthesis
of contemporary and traditional jazz
with their native music is often revelatory—the
results were thrilling. The music rises and falls
in waves, both melodic and rhythmic, the latter
ingredient a constantly churning (and often
odd-metered) theme in this burning, balmy
music.
Repeated listens to the CD (tracked in
Havana at EGREM Records’ Studio 18) reveal
additional layers of musical depth, like a painting
giving up her secrets. The only constant is
a lack of constancy: rhythms flash and flow,
propel and recede, often stylizations of rumba,
cha-cha or montuno. Fireworks between the
three principals are expected, while the subtlety,
power and communicative skills of the
Duharte and López-Nussa rhythm sections
are completely engrossing. Acoustic bassist
Yandy Martinez González, drummers Eduardo
Barroetabeña and Ruy Adrián López-Nussa,
and percussionists Jean Roberto San Miguel
and Edgar Martinez Ochoa perform like their
lives depend on it, but with great transparency,
airiness and spirit. Prior to making this journey,
the U.S. trio wasn’t exactly sure what the
Cuban collaborators would be like.
“I was thinking, ‘If they are going to be
recording with us, they are going to have to be
great,’ Scott, 28, claims. “I don’t want to waste
my time. We are in the record business, and I
would rather make a record with guys who can
really play than make a record with guys who
can’t. Call me elitist. But when we get there,
there’s these two great composers, and they
have their own bands. We played with two versions
of their groups, and that is basically what
the record is. I was taken aback at first, because
I expected everything to be one thing, and
24 DOWNBEAT SEPTEMBER 2011