When Dizzy Gillespie Met Chano Pozo

"It’s amazing. Latin jazz was born in New York with Mario Bauzá, Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. It was called Afro-Cuban because they added Afro-Cuban drums into Dizzy’s band. It was a fusion of many elements."—Chucho Valdés, Artistic Advisor, Voices from Latin America

September 29, 1947 was a milestone event in the development of Latin jazz. On that day, a young Cuban conga virtuoso and composer Chano Pozo joined Dizzy Gillespie’s band onstage at Carnegie Hall in the first attempt to fuse elements of jazz and Cuban music at a serious artistic level. The marriage of syncopated Cuban rhythms with the be-bop melodic virtuosity was to be a happy one.

In this archival footage, legendary jazz bandleader Gillespie recalls how he was introduced to Chano Pozo by Cab Calloway, the background to that meeting, and the impact that collaboration had on jazz in the US and beyond.

On November 16 two rising Cuban stars at the opposite of the Afro-Cuban jazz timeline from Gillespie and Pozo—Dayramir and Aldo López-Gavilán—bring their bands to Zankel Hall for an evening of music making that gives the audience a glimpse into the future of jazz in Cuba. Here's a taste of what to expect that evening.

Dayramir and Habana enTRANCE perform "Sitaciones in 12/8."

Aldo López-Gavilán Performs "Epílogo."

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When Dizzy Gillespie Met Chano Pozo