CUBOP LIVES! is going to be one of the best albums of 2024.
TRR Collective
Zaccai Curtis – Piano; Willie Martinez – Drums, Voice, Timbales; Camilo Molina – Percussion; Reinaldo DeJesus – Percussion, Drums; Luques Curtis – Bass
Cubop is bebop stirred up with Afro-Cuban jazz rhythms, and in the hands of pianist Zaccai Curtis, it is a joy to behold.
Dizzy Gillespie, along with percussionist Chano Pozo, introduced Cubop in 1947 on George Russell’s ‘Cubana-Be ’and ‘Cubana-Bop.’ In 1948, Charlie Parker and Machito’s Cubop were recorded on Norman Granz’s Clef label.
Zaccai Curtis is a three-time ASCAP Young Jazz Composer winner. He has won Boston Music Awards. He won the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award. He has played with Donald Harrison, Brian Lynch, Ray Vega, Ralph Peterson, and Eddie Palmieri.
Curtis performed an amazing range of music on CUBOP LIVES! Besides turning ’Someday My Prince Will Come ’into a cha-cha-cha, there is Kenny Dorham’s ‘Minor Holiday ’from his Afro-Cuban album, Kenny Drew’s ‘Contour, ’and, maybe surprisingly, Scott Joplin’s ‘Maple Leaf Rag.’
At first, Curtis plays the ragtime classic pretty close to the way it was written. His Cuban percussionists try to make him sound like he is playing in Havana. Curtis noticed similarities to Afro-Cuban piano and ragtime. Curtis said Joplin’s right hand was close to the way Cubans played a montuno, a rhythmic call and response pattern that usually occurs toward the end of a piece.
Curtis wrote three of the tunes on CUBOP LIVES!. ‘ Earl ’takes cues from Bud Powell, his favorite bop pianist. Curtis’s piano technique is astonishing. To say he has a powerful presence on the keys is an understatement. He repeats motifs that gleefully take on a Latin spin, with help from some exceptional musicians, including his brother, Luques on bass, Willie Martinez III on drums and percussion, Camilo Molina on congas and the Brazilian pandeiro, and Reinaldo DeJesus on bongos, chekere and guiro, two gourd instruments.
‘Maria Cervantes ’is a beautifully done piano solo. Imagine Jelly Roll Morten adding his “Spanish tinge” to something romantically classical. The tune was written by Noro Morales, who is remembered for his classic mambo and rumba records. When Morales wrote this his use of the piano as both melody and rhythm was revolutionary.
It sounds like there are two pianists on Dizzy Gillespie’s ‘Woody’n You.’ Curtis’s right hand dazzles with flights of fancy, tempo changes, pulling back on the beat, while his left anchors the rhythm with panache.
Zaccai Curtis wanted to make an album celebrating the early jazz fusion of bebop and Afro-Cuban music. He said, “I wanted to make a period piece album that brought a new perspective to an older style, one that wasn’t covered the way I thought it could be.” He succeeded. CUBOP LIVES! is going to be one of the best albums of 2024.
