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participants. Duharte contributed the opening
track, “Ñengueleru,” and “Congo.” Harold
López-Nussa composed “E’cha” and “La
Fiesta Va.” Sánchez, who also acted as the de
facto interpreter, brought “City Sunrise” and a
gorgeous ballad, “The Forgotten Ones.” Harris
reengineered “Black Action Figure” (the title
track from his 1999 album) for the Cuban context,
and he composed the 9-minute gem “And
This Too Shall Pass,” as well as the cathartic
blues-meets-swing-meets-rumba tune “Brown
Belle Blues.”
Harris has an enthusiastic admiration for
Duharte: “I like ‘Ñengueleru.’ I got the sense
immediately that Rember occupies his own
sound space. He has a voice. If I heard one
of his compositions today and didn’t know
the composer, I think I would guess correctly
that it’s Rember. That’s very difficult to come
across in the world of the arts. I really appreciate
that about his writing.”
“That’s one of my favorite tunes as well,”
Sánchez concurs. “I can feel Africa in it as a
common denominator. The African American
experience, Caribbean Africa, it’s like nothing
else. [He pauses to sing the melody.] But
it’s something else! It’s the roots. That’s why
‘Ñengueleru’ is one of my favorite tracks. It’s
just crazy how the bass line relates to the piano;
it’s very clever.”
“Rember is a soulful musician,” Harris
interjects. “He reminds me of Horace Silver.
Just the concept and his placement.”
“It’s hard to find a ballad more beautiful
than ‘The Forgotten Ones,’” Scott says, jumping
in. “David wrote it for New Orleans, so
for me it struck a chord. And you’d be hardpressed
to find some shit as killing as ‘Brown
Belle Blues’! It was hard to play at first. Even
though you can argue that the three of us are
rooted in the blues, there’s something about the
way that melody speaks. It’s great. And when
Stefon would be singing it and we’d be going
over it, I’d be like, ‘Damn, that is killing!’”
Harris reflects on other highlights: “There
are great moments, like Christian’s solo on
‘E’cha,’ it’s so killing. The tone and feeling that
he generates in his solo, right off the bat, you
feel it. I love that moment. David’s solo on ‘And
This Too Shall Pass’—that’s incredible. I like
the way we played it—it was a real good merger
of everyone’s influences. Everyone opened up,
and there’s a lot of interaction going on.”
A focus on the here-and-now superseded
any concerns regarding star status or ego tripping.
But when it came to writing material, I
wondered whether these musicians were influenced
by past Cuban-American collaborations
like Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo, Buena
Vista Social Club or even the purely Cuban
band Irakere.
“Absolutely not,” Harris states. “I didn’t
live that experience. The only thing I can write
is that which is a reflection of my experience.
But I did consider that ‘Brown Belle Blues’ was
going to be played by a Cuban rhythm section
with percussion, and that I am coming from
more of a soul background. I wanted to create
a melody on top that embodied the blues, but
leave enough space for them to do what they
do. I did write in a way that brought the musicians
together. But I am not thinking about
anyone from the past.”
“But then again,” Sánchez adds, “being from
New York City, you have all these experiences.
You maybe didn’t play with Tito Puente or whoever,
but it’s in our inner ear. The experience
of New York City all alone, 14 years for me, it
brings to you so many different things that they
actually become part of your DNA. So it’s like
eating food and you process it.”
For three musicians who had never played
together, Harris, Sánchez and Scott are certainly
a simpatico and dynamic front line. Perhaps
it was the foreign surroundings, or that they are
simply great listeners, but there’s a sure connection
between these three evident on both
the CD and DVD. Though they were brought
together by a record label, they rose above the
basic construct of matching popular U.S. jazz
musicians with two younger Cuban rhythm
sections. And with a global tour ensuing, their
bond is only deepening.
“We played the Atlanta Jazz Festival just
the other day,” Harris says. “It was incredible to
see how when the lights came on these brothers
knew how to step it up. Not everyone knows
how to do that. There’s a reason that David and
Christian are who they are. They know how
to deliver. And to be onstage with that type of
chemistry, and that energy, it just makes you
elevate your game in the same way.”
“These monsters helped me and showed
me some different ways of approaching and
navigating the music,” Scott recalls. “David
knows so much about playing in clavé and really
getting around this kind of music that hasn’t
been my experience. And I’ve been listening to
‘Black Action Figure’ for years. You talk about
some shit that a lot of guys today still can’t navigate.
A majority of guys who would say they
are great musicians can’t play that.”
Harris, Sánchez and Scott came, they conquered,
they learned about Cuban music (and
the value of rehearsal) and, most importantly,
they opened a window into a world few of us
have ever seen. A closed Cuba can’t last much
longer, and traditions will surely undergo rapid
change once the proverbial wall falls. So what
did they take away from the experience
“I was happy to be in Cuba before the
change, which seems inevitable, before capitalism
puts its big foot down there,” Harris
replies. “As an American you read about it, but
until you’re on the ground and feel the city and
meet the people, you don’t really know what to
think. There are lots of systems that can work.
Our system is one system, and what they have
there, in Havana, what I saw, I saw good and
bad. Same here.”
“It’s really a testament to the individual,
what they can take, their backbone,” observes
Sánchez. “At the end of the day, the people are
the ones who suffer the most to make that system
work. You have education but these horrible
conditions. But these people are so uplifted.
How can they live in those conditions and
be oppressed yet have such a brightness It’s
amazing. I’ve been there five times, and every
time it has the same effect on me.”
“It’s not about the systems,” Sánchez continues.
“It’s about our hunger to learn not only
about music but about life. The main thing
to learn is really to listen. If we listen, that is
key. Listening is very special and not as easy
as we think it is—the willingness to relate to
something else and learn from someone else so
you can grow. Then you’re not a capitalist or a
socialist. Then you’re just a human being learning
about life.” DB
SEPTEMBER 2011 DOWNBEAT 27