Machito, as bandleader, singer, and maraca player, was a key figure for Latin music in the United States. Machito and His Afro-Cubans was one of the premiere dance orchestras of the 1940s, setting the stage for Latin jazz and a lively big band scene. Machito’s mambo style, especially the brass-section work, was thought to be jazz’s first major influence on Latin music. The so-called “Mambo King’s” collaboration with both Latin and non-Latin artists changed the direction of Latin music and jazz alike. Most importantly, Machito was the inspiration for the Latin music of Dizzy GILLESPIE.
Machito was born Frank Raúl Grillo Gutierrez on February 16, 1909, in Tampa, Florida. His family soon returned to Cuba, where his father ran a restaurant, and Machito sang and played there with many popular musicians. By the 1930s, he had become a popular sonero in his own right. In 1937, he followed his childhood friend and his brother-in-law to be, Mario BAUZA, to New York City. Bauzá was musical director for Cab Calloway and Machito worked as a sporadic vocalist for Noro Morales and Xavier Cugat’s orchestra. In 1940, he and Bauzá formed the Afro-Cubans. The band was Latin, but with three saxophones and two trumpets, its American big band influence was clear. Recording with Decca, they released their signature hit “Tanga” (later “Machito’s Theme Song”) and “Sopa de Pichon” (Pigeon Soup). In a direct affront to the decaffeinated Cuban arrangements of Cugat and similar dance bands, the Afro-Cubans mixed raw Cuban rhythms with jazz, becoming perhaps the most popular orchestra of the decade. Machito was important in bringing about the Latin/jazz crossover of the mid- and late 1940s.
When the U.S. Army drafted Machito in 1942, his sister Graciela went to New York to sing and co-direct the band with Bauzá. With a medical discharge in 1942, Machito returned to New York and got the band a gig at La Conga Club, with weekly radio broadcasts.
The early 1940s gave birth to “Cubop,” a fusion of jazz and Cuban music that, once mixed with other rhythms, gave birth to Latin jazz. The Latin sound attracted many jazzmen, and the late 1940s brought experimentation and collaboration with a variety of progressive U.S. jazz musicians, including artists such as Stan KENTON, Stan GETZ, Charlie PARKER, and Dexter GORDON. Kenton hired Machito and his percussionists in 1947 for the hit recording, “Peanut Vendor,” which was more jazz than Latin.
The definitive “Latin-jazz” link came in 1948, when record producer Norman GRANZ recorded a series of arrangements and compositions by Bauzá and Chico O’Farrill, which featured Machito, Parker (alto), and Flip Phillips (tenor). Parker also recorded with the Afro-Cubans in 1950, lending his saxophone to cuts like Okidoke and Mango Mangue.
New York saw the emergence of a lively Latin scene, featuring artists such as Tito PUENTE, Tito Rodríquez, and José Curbelo. The scene’s epicentre was the legendary nightclub, the Palladium.
As rock’n’roll displaced American big swing bands, the Latin dance orchestra also saw its decline. But Machito kept on playing and he attracted a new, younger audience. He employed several jazz players, including Doc Cheatham, and was receptive to stylistic trends, such as salsa. The sound was characterised by inventive percussionists, sharp arrangements, and swinging horn sections, accompanied by energetic and sometimes acrobatic dancing. In 1982, Machito and His Salsa Big Band won a Grammy Award for best Latin album. On April 15, 1984, while he was waiting to perform at a London nightclub, Machito suffered a fatal heart attack.
Brett Allan King
SEE ALSO:
AFRICA; CARIBBEAN; CUBA; LATIN AMERICA; MEXICO; SALSA.
Birnbaum, L. “Machito: Original Macho Man” (Down Beat, vol. xlvii, no. 12, 1980, p. 25).
Guampampiro; Machito and His Afro-Cubans: Carambola; Machito and His Afro-Cubans 1941; Machito and His Orchestra: Mucho Mucho Machito; Machito and His Salsa Big Band; Machito Plays Mamo and Cha Cha Cha.