African musical traits in African American music

[Thomas Altmann]

Villepastour emailed me to let me know that clave had made it to South Africa.

About 15 years ago, I had two South African percussion students. One time I had to excuse myself from the lesson, and when I came back from the bathroom, they played the 6/8 Bembé/Ewe bell (clave) pattern. I was pretty astounded and asked from where they got that, because that was something I had associated with West African music, and the answer was: "Oh, we play that in all Africa."

I also like to mention to the forum what you, David, probably remember: The CD with obviously clave-related or -oriented Jazz examples that I had put together for you. It showed that a rudimentary clave feel, less refined than in Cuba, is present in many Jazz melodies, arrangements and rhythmic comping. You must have given it to Mark Levine. Automatically he contacted me to let me know he was going to use it in his teaching. I could easily have collected the double amount of recordings to prove clave influence in Jazz.

Thomas

[davidpenalosa]

. . . a rudimentary clave feel, less refined than in Cuba, is present in many Jazz melodies, arrangements and rhythmic comping.

hi Thomas,
I will always be grateful for that compilation of jazz tunes you gave me. I did indeed pass it along to Mark Levine, who appreciated it as well. Do you think the "clave-isms" that can be heard on those songs are the result of exposure to Cuban music, an example of African retention, or a natural tendency in music where tresillo is common? Maybe it's some combination of all three? I don't remember hearing your thoughts on the origins of those figures.

Concerning the existence of key patterns in South Africa, all evidence I’m aware of, confirms that it’s a relatively recent phenomenon. I’ve never heard it in traditional South African music. My experience with South African music is anecdotal and not comprehensive, but those who have done comprehensive research confirm this view. Gerhard Kubik states “broadly speaking, they [key patterns] are found in those parts of Africa covered by the Kwa and Benue-Congo subgroups of the Niger-Congo family of languages but with the notable exception that they are not found in most areas of east and south Africa”—Theory of African Music v. 1 (1994: 44).

The spread of “clave” (and its binary variants) reminds me of the proliferation of the Northwest African djembe. It’s common now to see that drum in Ghana and other countries of central West Africa.
-David

[Thomas Altmann]

Do you think the "clave-isms" that can be heard on those songs are the result of exposure to Cuban music, an example of African retention, or a natural tendency in music where tresillo is common? Maybe it's some combination of all three? I don't remember hearing your thoughts on the origins of those figures.

Hi David,

I don't remember having had concrete thoughts about it. I think, your "some combination of all three" sums up best what I feel about it. The "African retention" as you call it is a mystery anyway, in North America much more than in Brazil or Cuba. I think, at the center of it was New Orleans. Louis Moreau Gottschalk was a friend of Manuel Saumell, and the Cuban influence shows in Gottschalk's compositions long before Jazz was born. Jelly Roll Morton regarded the "Spanish tinge" (the Tango/Habanera cell) an indispensable element of Jazz. A rudimentary clave feeling (mostly 2-3) has always been incorporated in New Orleans music that was based on the Second Line parade beat. The "big four" is nothing but the Afro-Cuban "ponche". Some modern parade beats reflect exactly the rhythmic structure of the Conga Habanera. Somehow this rhythmic concept must have trickled through on Kansas City Blues riffs ...

Thomas

P.S.: After the Haitian revolution in 1791, refugees are known to have flocked to the Oriente of Cuba, bringing the Contradanza with the Tango rhythm, Vaudou, and the Tumba Francesa to Cuba. After a few years, some of these Haitian refugees traveled on to New Orleans. The crescent city is very much a part of the Caribbean, and at some period, N.O. was even Spanish. For more details check out Ned Sublette's "The World That Made New Orleans".

[jorge]

Thomas, it is very interesting that you should mention Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a New Orleans composer who visited and lived in Cuba and brought back Cuban musical influences to New Orleans. For example, in 1863 Gottschalk composed El Cocoyé, which definitely has a clave influence, although I would not say it was clave based in the modern sense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzBGl2Aw51w
I have the score of El Cocoyé as a pdf file if you are interested, PM me.
Cocoyé (or Kokoyé) is a Lukumi term from the same Carabali origin as Abakua and Brikamo but in other parts of Cuba outside Matanzas and La Habana, and is uniquely Afrocuban. Gottschalk was well known and well respected in New Orleans and it is very likely that this piece influenced the development of pre-jazz roots in New Orleans in the late 19th century (if anyone has specific information on this, I would be very interested). Gottschalk also influenced Cuban and European music around the same time. My great grandfather, José Manuel (Lico) Jiménez arranged and performed El Cocoyé as a guaracha for voice and piano in 1885 in Cuba. Lico Jiménez then went on to become a professor of composition and piano in the Conservatory of Music in Hamburg and had many European students and audiences. In addition to bringing the German lied to Cuba, he brought Cuban music and musical influence to Germany in the early 1900s. So the influences were multidirectional, from New Orleans to Cuba to Germany and other European countries, and also from Africa to Cuba to New Orleans as well.

[davidpenalosa]

A rudimentary clave feeling (mostly 2-3) has always been incorporated in New Orleans music that was based on the Second Line parade beat. . . . Some modern parade beats reflect exactly the rhythmic structure of the Conga Habanera.

Thomas,
Can you refer me to some second line music with a 2-3 clave feel? Everything I’ve heard is in the simpler tresillo feel. By modern, do you mean post-1950s?

The "big four" is nothing but the Afro-Cuban "ponche".

In volume 1 of the Ken Burns documentary, Jazz, (2000) Wynton Maralis sings what he called “Buddy Bolden’s big four,” the first syncopated departure from the on-the-beat march.

Buddy Bolden’s big four

Notice that the bass drum plays the tango (habanera) in the second half of the pattern of the second measure. The first half is the same pattern, but with some strokes missing. Or, the tango figure can be thought of as embellishment of the first half. Because of the non-syncopated, on-beat emphasis of the first half of the pattern, the big four can be thought of as a 2-3 phrase. Is this the version of the big four you were referring to?

After the Haitian revolution in 1791, refugees are known to have flocked to the Oriente of Cuba, bringing the Contradanza with the Tango rhythm, Vaudou, and the Tumba Francesa to Cuba. After a few years, some of these Haitian refugees traveled on to New Orleans. The crescent city is very much a part of the Caribbean, and at some period, N.O. was even Spanish. For more details check out Ned Sublette's "The World That Made New Orleans".

I really like Ned Subllette’s Music of Cuba, and his first book about New Orleans. Peter Manuel, in Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean (2009), makes the point that Havana contradanzas may have absorbed the single-celled figures tango and cinquillo locally, not from the Oriente of Cuba. The cinquillo is heard in Havana-style Congolese makuta. I take your point though, New Orleans was a part of the Caribbean.

Cinquillo: X . X X . X X .

. . . in 1863 Gottschalk composed El Cocoyé, which definitely has a clave influence, although I would not say it was clave based in the modern sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzBGl2Aw51w

Jorge,
"El Cocoyé" is such a great piece. I’m only hearing the cinquillo pattern though. Is that what you mean by the clave influence?
-David

[Thomas Altmann]

David:

Can you refer me to some second line music with a 2-3 clave feel? Everything I’ve heard is in the simpler tresillo feel. By modern, do you mean post-1950s?

Because of the non-syncopated, on-beat emphasis of the first half of the pattern, the big four can be thought of as a 2-3 phrase. Is this the version of the big four you were referring to?

Without climbing into my collection of recordings that are scattered over LPs, CDs and MCs, I was referring to that general feel that is carried by the percussion section (bass drum / snare drum, or drum set), the entire rhythm section (especially tuba or bass), and the feel of the improvisers. I was not thinking of a particular piece or melody. By "modern" I meant the new brass band culture awakened by banjo/guitar player Danny Barker and others that led to the foundation of the Rebirth Brass Band, the Dirty Dozen, Chosen Few etc. Here in Hamburg we have a brass band where we play things like "Ain't My Fault", and that sounds like pure clave to me. Also, check out Smokey Johnson's original version of this tune; listen to his drum pattern, that's a classic! Listen to the Neville Brothers' version of "Iko Iko / Brother John". Now, that one is based on Mardi Gras Indian culture. One Jazz drummer where you could hear the 2-3 clave-like second line influence pretty well was Freddie Kohlman. In terms of that typical "Nuawlins" feel, I also enjoy listening to Bob French's record published by Marsalis Music.

Here are notations of more modern percussion parts in 2nd Line parades:




The older style had the snare drum playing just on 2 and 4, with emphasized rolls on the big four - every second measure.

Peter Manuel, in Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean (2009), makes the point that Havana contradanzas may have absorbed the single-celled figures tango and cinquillo locally, not from the Oriente of Cuba. The cinquillo is heard in Havana-style Congolese makuta.

Well, I guess that's disputable on an ethomusicological level. They have cinquillo in Haiti, too, as you know (Petro style Vaudou rhythms).

@Jorge:

I do have a record of Gottschalk's music, and that's why I mentioned him. He was a touring pop music star in his time. If it is no big deal for you, I would indeed be interested in that score. I think you have my email address. (At least I receive your circulars.)

It's sad to notice that an academic inclination towards Cuban music is not really sensible anymore in Hamburg. Your great-grandfather's influence was probably one of the things that were simply wiped out by the Nazi guys during their regiment.

Greetings,

Thomas

[jorge]

@David, yes the cinquillo pattern and in places tresillo was what I was referring to. Not clave, but with a little bit of a danzon-like feel. Or given that this predated the danzon, probably the danzon was influenced by pieces like this from the US and Europe.

@Thomas, I sent you the score. The physical music scores in the Conservatory were destroyed by the bombings of Hamburg and destruction of 2 world wars. The Nazi campaign to sterilize all people of African descent and discredit everything African was pretty effective in getting folks to leave Germany in the 30s and put a serious damper on passing down of African and Afrocuban influences in music during that era. I am surprised at what you say about lack of inclination in German academic circles toward Cuban music persisting to the present day. This does not seem to be the case for popular music, am I right?

[Thomas Altmann]

I am surprised at what you say about lack of inclination in German academic circles toward Cuban music persisting to the present day. This does not seem to be the case for popular music, am I right?

Sorry George; my words may have been misleading, and I must set it straight. I was not saying that German academic circles (and I was referring to the music academy/conservatory in Hamburg only) does still ignore Cuban culture; as a matter of fact, in Hamburg as well as in other German cities, conservatories and universities really opened up for Afro-American, Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music and culture, especially in the 1980s. But it had taken quite a while, after all. What I was missing is a certain continuum in the Hamburg conservatory, a kind of obligation towards, or heritage of, a former professor who established a special relationship to Cuba and its music. If it wasn't for the effort of Joe Gallardo and of the present director Wolf Kerschek (and since January also for mine) to revive the recognition of Latin music, the legacy of Lico Jiménez would be forgotten. The next time I work there I will mention that Cuban connection in the conservatory's history.

Thanks again for the score,

Thomas

[davidpenalosa]

. . . yes the cinquillo pattern and in places tresillo was what I was referring to. Not clave, but with a little bit of a danzon-like feel. Or given that this predated the danzon, probably the danzon was influenced by pieces like this from the US and Europe.

Jorge,
I think you were the one who turned me onto Peter Manuel’s Creolizing Contradance in the Caribbean (2009), when you mentioned the book in this forum. From everything I’ve read, the earliest known written music to use tresillo and its single-celled variants, was the Cuban contradanza, and its subsets, the habanera and danza. The Cuban contradanza influenced Gottschalk's compositions, the cakewalk, ragtime, early jazz and other nineteenth-century Caribbean popular genres. The Cuban contradanza’s offspring was the danzón, the first two-celled genre.

Most of my recent posts in this thread have been focusing on the difference between single-celled and two-celled rhythms, the former being simpler and the latter being more complex. A lot of writing I’ve encountered refers to single-celled patterns as clave. In an otherwise excellent Afropop Worldwide segment on early African American music produced by Ned Sublet, tresillo was referred to as clave.

X . . X . . X . tresillo

. . . X . . X . bombo—ponche cell

X . . X X . X . habanera (also known as tango, congo, and congo-tango)

X . X X . X X . cinquillo

The cinquillo is often attributed to Bantu-based music, but the cinquillo and the other single-celled figures are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Since they are in duple-pulse (2/4) they were easily adaptable to European popular genres of the nineteenth-century. They are heard in Afro-Haitian, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Puerto Rican, and Afro-Brazilian music, but they were probably used extensively throughout the entire Caribbean.

Thomas,
I’m still listening to your recent recommendations. I would like to comment though on the two charts you posted. The modern New Orleans parade rhythms you show definitely consist of two-cells. Here is the snare portion:

|| X . X . . X . . | X . . X . . X . ||

It is almost identical to the snare accents played in Baby Dobbs’s 1946 solo, posted by PC:

|| . . X . . X . . | X . . X . . X . ||

Unlike the classic funk pattern I posted earlier, these patterns do not seem to have an obvious connection to the Cuban mambo or conga. Instead, they are based on a pattern of five consecutive cross-beats, beginning on the first and offbeat (I'm thinking of the measures as 2/4). The patterns above are intriguing and I am very happy to have learned of them. I might have more to say later after I acquaint myself further with these modern NOLA rhythms.

It’s ironic that the Nazis had a particular interest in African musical traits in jazz. I saw a documentary in which it was stated that the Nazis allowed the Dutch jazz bands to continue to perform, but they could not play high notes, or employ other techniques which the Nazis deemed to be of African origin. In other words, the bands could only play jazz in the most “whitebread” fashion possible.
-David

[jorge]

@Thomas, thanks for the clarification. I am glad to hear the current Hamburg conservatory has a good interest in modern Cuban music. I did find an article that mentions that Lico Jimenez became co-director of the Hamburg conservatory in 1892, and directed a section of the conservatory dedicated to facilitating studies there for Latin American and other foreign students. So there must have been some bidirectional influences of Cuban and other Latin American music into German music and vice versa.http://www.ecured.cu/index.php/Jos%C3%A9_Manuel_Berroa

@David: It was guarachon who mentioned the book "Creolizing contradance in the Caribbean", not me, although I was in on the discussion.

Back to our discussion of African musical traits in African-American music, I found another article by Cuban-American musicologist and composer Aurelio de la Vega commenting on the influence of AfroCuban music in the mid 19th century on music in the US via its influence on the music of Gottschalk, "...Historically, many injustices and omissions have been committed regarding the recognition of the influence of Cuban music on the music of the United States. For example, forgetting that the proto-forms of ragtime music were brought from the Caribbean through New Orleans by the American composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869), many do not realize the extent of Cuban musical influence on the development of jazz, and often Afro-Cuban rhythmic formulas are mistakenly labeled as jazzy patterns of rhythmic activity." http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y98/dec98/29e6.htm
Not a completely unbiased observer, as he is Cuban, but he is a full professor of music at Cal State Northridge and extraordinarily knowledgeable about American music as well as Cuban music.

[Thomas Altmann]

(deleted)

[Thomas Altmann]

Hi David,

Unlike the classic funk pattern I posted earlier, these patterns do not seem to have an obvious connection to the Cuban mambo or conga. Instead, they are based on a pattern of five consecutive cross-beats, beginning on the first and offbeat (I'm thinking of the measures as 2/4).

Right. This is one standard stylistc device of rhythmic abstraction in probably all types of African and African derived/influenced music. I am using the terminology that I have been applying for decades in my own teaching here. I have called this phenomenon "Umperiodisierung" in German, something like re-periodizing (or re-cycling :-) in English. You can start it from three different positions, if you are laying three over a duple meter. You may base it on three sixteenth, eighth, or quarter note cycles, and you can extend it over 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or any amount of bars or fragments of it. The 1-bar version starting from the first position is the tresillo. The above example of the Second Line snare drum part is the 2-bar version starting from the third position. It is an almost used-up solo pattern in many drum solos from Dixieland to Rock. (I regard my example as identical with PC's pattern; note the accents! It's hard to notate the respective amount of stress you put on those strokes. The notes without head are ghost notes here.)

While none of these patterns shows a direct Cuban influence, both the two-bar patterns from the first position and from the third position show a strong resemblance to the 3-2 and the 2-3 Son clave, respectively:

||: x..x..x.|.x..x..x :|| -----> ||: x..x..x.|..x.x... :||
||: ..x..x..|x..x..x. :|| -----> ||: ..x.x...|x..x..x. :||

The bass drum pattern in my second example creates a cross clave effect, as it represents the two-bar re-periodization, starting from the first position, but closing with a "musical ending":

||: x..x..x.|.x..x.x. :||

The effect is very similar to the ensemble of conga drum parts in Havana-style Conga over the clave. In this instance I don't believe that either the N.O. paraders nor the Cubans have copied from, or were even inspired by, each other; I believe it is simply a rhythmic device that suggests itself, especially within any (Central-/West-) African or African-derived music culture. So both Cuban Conga and the New Orleans parade beat have common roots, perhaps something like that mysterious "African retention" that seems to have survived the hardest hardships of slavery "in the veins".

Thomas

[davidpenalosa]

It was guarachon who mentioned the book "Creolizing contradance in the Caribbean", not me, although I was in on the discussion.

That’s right! Thanks for the correction Jorge. Interesting article by Aurelio De La Vega. He seems to be very strong in the art music department, but not so knowledgeable when it comes to the folk music, or even popular music and jazz. I take exception with his use of the term Cuban tresillo, because in the context he uses it, he implies the figure was created in Cuba, the result the mixing of African and Spanish cultures.

While none of these patterns shows a direct Cuban influence, both the two-bar patterns from the first position and from the third position show a strong resemblance to the 3-2 and the 2-3 Son clave, respectively:

|| x..x..x.|.x..x..x || -----> || x..x..x.|..x.x... ||
|| ..x..x..|x..x..x. || -----> || ..x.x...|x..x..x. ||

Yes, I have long pondered the correlation between five consecutive cross-beats and clave. I hadn’t encountered the cross-beat pattern until lately, when I played it in a batucada group I recently joined. To now learn of its existence in North American music is exciting! Baby Dodds seemed to be using the figure as a theme in his 1946 solo.

The bass drum pattern in my second example creates a cross clave effect, as it represents the two-bar re-periodization, starting from the first position, but closing with a "musical ending":

|| x..x..x.|.x..x.x. ||

Yes, it creates a musical period effect (antecedent—consequent) similar to clave. The pattern is also one of the tamborim parts used in that batucada group I mentioned. I think of the second measure as a displaced tresillo. That is, the figure consists of the same pattern of strokes, but in a displaced in relation to the main beats. I’m currently writing an article that shows how various positions of the displaced tresillo appear in different musical genres.

This pattern has a displaced tresillo in each measure:

|| x..x.x..|x.x..x.. ||

I’m sure you recognize it as a modern cáscara pattern used in timba.

So both Cuban Conga and the New Orleans parade beat have common roots, perhaps something like that mysterious "African retention" that seems to have survived the hardest hardships of slavery "in the veins".

I like what Kubik says about that:

“Cultural transmission works through codes, and the individual can stitch between channels, from the auditory to the motional to the visual. As long as the codes are transmitted intact, the individual’s unconscious can reassemble the missing patterns. The outcome depends on stimuli and constraints exerted by the social environment variable in place and time” (1999: 62).

The phenomenon of individuals reassembling the missing patterns is quite mysterious.
-David

[jorge]

I like what Kubik says about that:
“Cultural transmission works through codes, and the individual can stitch between channels, from the auditory to the motional to the visual. As long as the codes are transmitted intact, the individual’s unconscious can reassemble the missing patterns...

The phenomenon of individuals reassembling the missing patterns is quite mysterious.

In a way it is not misterious at all. A simple example would be the 12/8 guataca pattern we often play in guiro or bembe,
.XX.XX.X.X.X
The first downbeat is silent, but is felt in the dance step that the singers and dancers are doing on that downbeat. Only the last note falls on one of the 4 downbeat pulses in the 12/8 phrase, all the other 3 downbeats are felt and danced but not played by the guataca. A casual listener not dancing or singing might have a hard time figuring out what is being played, while it is very simple from the perspective of a dancing person who feels the downbeats strongly. That may be what Kubik means by switching channels from the auditory to the motional. We do this all the time in many situations in Afrocuban music.

[davidpenalosa]

Jorge,
That's interesting, I interpret Kubik's statement differently, but I get what you are saying. In fact, I would say that you are simply addressing another aspect of what Kubik describes.

I thought the transmission refers to those African elements, which after the Middle Passage, surfaced in Diaspora music. Thus, my comment on the mysterious reassembling of missing patterns. Not only did complex rhythms reappear in the New World, but original rhythms based on the same principals were also created. Some genres could be said to have gotten "more African" as they evolved. On the previous page, Kubik states:

"One can prevent people from making drums, or from gathering in large groups, or from playing loud music, if that was what authorities found so threatening; but time-line patterns can be tapped silently on any object—they are permanently engraved in the brain once they have been implanted through enculturation" (p. 61).

And of course "clave" is one of the most common African time-line patterns.
-David