In a couple of firsts at the 61st Annual Monterey Jazz Festival this weekend, Oscar Hernández and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra with special guest Hubert Laws will be performing the 2018 Monterey Jazz Festival Commissioned work as the headlining act in the Saturday afternoon program on the Jimmy Lyons Stage at the Monterey Fair & Event Center. Never before has artistic director Tim Jackson chosen a Latin jazz composer or scheduled the premiere performance in an afternoon setting.
Hernández acknowledged that the freshly minted composition has a number of different traditional salsa rhythms included in the five-section piece which might inspire the audience to get up out of their seats to dance, although he thought the music would be better appreciated if not distracted by the dance aspect. There’s no knowing what will happen, but the musicianship of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and jazz flute master Laws is sure to move the heart if not the hips.
The three-time Grammy Award winner Hernández has long been considered one of the most gifted and prominent pianist/arrangers on the contemporary Latin, Latin jazz and salsa music scenes. Born and brought up in New York’s Bronx neighborhood, the youngest of 11 kids of Puerto Rican descent, the 64-year-old pianist was deeply immersed in and inspired by the history of Latin jazz and salsa music that exploded around him on the Spanish Harlem music scene during its heyday in the 1970s. In his own words in an interview from his current home base in Los Angeles he explains the background of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and the music he’s written for Jazz Fest.
Q: What’s the background on the orchestra and its music?
A: The band is New York based and recognized as representative of what salsa music from New York is, harkening back to the ‘50s, ‘60s and mainly the ‘70s which was the heyday of the music when I grew up playing with all the people I was blessed to play with at an early age. The ‘70s was the era of New York-based Fania Records, a salsa record label like Motown was for R&B and soul.
Q: How long has the band existed?
A: We’ve been together for 15 years. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished in those years. We have six CDs out, the latest being “Anniversary,” celebrating our 15th year. So I’m really excited about that. It’s gotten a great reaction. It’s only been out for about four months. This is one of the few bands that still records live in the studio, without a click track.
Q: Your music is based on traditional salsa forms, but how would you describe the style you’ve developed over the years?
A: I would say I don’t think that we invented the wheel, but we certainly have our own unique take. Most of the stuff we do now is original. First of all, nine of the 13 songs on the new record are original, composed by myself and the guys in the band. And the arrangements are all new and original, so we are creating as we go, but obviously with a deep respect to that tradition and to that legacy. We’re people who have their finger on the pulse of what this music is and where it came from. But obviously made today with all the influences that we’re listening to today and with the technology of today.
Q: Are band members brought in from other countries?
A: My parents are both from Puerto Rico. I’m born and raised in New York. Actually Spanish Harlem Orchestra took on the name of our neighborhood; it’s made of real deal people. Spanish Harlem was one of the most important places culturally for the development of Latino culture in the city of New York. So there’s a lot that goes behind that name. And music was a huge part in the development of the culture back in those days. It has the same parallel to black culture in Harlem, but in Spanish Harlem it’s about being Latino. The band’s cultural makeup is mostly from Puerto Rico, although one of the guys is from Venezuela, one of the singers is from Costa Rica and another is from Ecuador. But they’ve all been part of the New York tradition, being there for up to 30 years. They’re all like me, immersed in what that scene is. I think musicians need to understand the important people that went before us and how the music developed to where it is now and where we are now.
Q: How did you and Tim Jackson work to decide what you would create?
A: Well, he gave me what he felt was his parameters as to the piece. I looked at them and I went ‘OK. Yeah, whatever I’m going to do is going to fit the bill with what he’d like.’ I just took it into account and then I just did whatever I wanted to do, in terms of featuring the band and featuring Hubert and doing justice to Hubert in terms of giving him room to improvise and at the same time I wrote parts specifically featuring alto flute, flute and piccolo.
Q: How did it all come together for you?
A: I finished the piece about three weeks ago. I lived with it for about a week before I decided to go to print and send it to Hubert. I had run into him in Los Angeles at a concert, and he said, ‘Oh man. I’m waiting. You haven’t sent me nothing.’ I said, ‘I just finished it a couple days ago and want to live with it for a few just to make sure.’ Three days later I emailed it to him and he got it and finally he wrote back to me three days ago now, and said ‘Hey man! It sounds amazing! I love it. Let’s go on tour.’ So it’s cool. We’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun.
Q: Would you say the music is Latin jazz or salsa?
A: Well, the piece is basically the best of both those worlds. Basically a Latin jazz suite featuring the flute. In this case we have an amazing flute player in our band whose going to basically share the stage with Hubert Laws. People are going to see just how good he is when they hear both of them together trading solos. They’re going to be blown away.
Q: Overall, are you happy with what you’ve accomplished?
A: I got a feeling from my gut they’re not going to be disappointed. On the contrary, they’re going to be raving about how good it is, how good it sounds, and the concept and how it was just a special thing to have. I’m very honored to have been chosen. I want while we’re here to thank Tim Jackson personally for thinking of me. Honestly if I had to take a guess, we played at Kuumbwa Jazz last year and we almost blew the roof off that place. He probably said, ‘Man I got to get these guys.’ I’m sure that was part of his impetus for having us at the festival.
This weekend’s festival still has tickets available in all categories. To get tickets online, visit www.montereyjazzfestival.org, or call 888-248-6469. There is an MJF App available for download as well. Otherwise just come out to the festival and get your tickets at the gate.
Have a local arts and entertainment event you want to tell us about? Contact Beth Peerless at beth@2bpeerless.com