Jubileo del Contrabajo
A Cuban Star Rises over the Big Apple
On a lovely afternoon in New York a group of enthusiastic music lovers gathered in the
breathtakingly beautiful sanctuary in the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel on the upper
east side of Manhattan, a shrine that seems as dedicated to art as religion. They had come to
hear the unique musical offering of Carlos Del Pino, the great Afro-Cuban virtuoso of the
double bass violin, along with his few fellows musicians who were presented in concert by
the Cuban Cultural Center. The quiet in the church was first broken by the voice of Mr. Del
Pino who informed us: "Throughout the history of Cuban Music it has been influenced."by
various musical sources. The Cuban Bass did not scape these influences." Then he proceeded
to thank his major mentors and influences beginnings with his father, a great bassist before
him, who first introduced him to the instrument. He also gave props to the great
Afro-American bassist and professor of music, Ron Carter, who was present in the audience.
From the opening chorus of Caprice #8 for Bass, a composition by Edourd Nanny, which
featured solos by Carlos and Chiemi Nakai, The diverse influences could be heard in the
electric nature of music. As it is Carlos' stated intention to demonstrate that the double bass is
capable of the same level of technical Virtuosity, lyrical musicality and spiritual depth as the
lead violin, from the outset the contra bass was right out front. His approach to the bass as a
solo instrument reminds me of what the great Afro-American percussionist Max Roach, the
pater-familias of the most influential school of post-bop jazz drumming, when he decided to
take the drum set out of the background and expand its role from time keeper to soloist. The
physical dexterity and lyricism with which Carlos played has of such grandeur that none who
heard it could ever think of the bass again as simply an instrument designed to keep the
bottom beat. And to accomplish this feat he had to invent a new technique for fingering the
bass.
Although the first composition was rather abstract in its free flowing irregular rhythms and
dissonant harmonies, other tunes on the program showed much more of the typical
Afro-Cuban influence flowing from the son tradition. But Carlos's virtuosity was in no way
diminished. On Suite for violoncello, which was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and
presents a different kind of technical challenge, Carlos's performance was breathtaking as he
played all over the instrument, combining a blinding velocity and deep musicality in a way
that I have never heard it performed before. And I have been listening with a tutored ear to
great performances by by bassist for half a century.
Mr. Del Pino has been as careful with his selection of musicians as he has been in his choice
of music for his spectacular program. The pianist Cheimi Nakai' was simply fabulous, moving
effortlessly from classical compositions to jazz changes to marvelous Montunos that would
fire up any Mambo band. The violinist David Eure is also a virtuoso who can sing in several
musical languages and, like Carlos,never allows his technical prowess to get in the way of his
musicality. This was made indelibly clear on the hauntingly beautiful Topacio es Puro
Corazon, composed by the Afro-American master bassist Stanley Clarke. The Conga
drummer, Emmanuel Bizeau, a Parisian who fell in love with Afro-Cuban music and traveled
to the Island to study with some of Cuba's great masters of the drum, can play dead on the
clave or paint abstract portraits free of the rhythmic constraints of clave. Then Was Manolo
Mairena, a wonderful singer who can conjure the traditional feeling of typica dance event
when singing over non-traditional rhythms. During the course of the concert we were treated
to a musical palette of many colors.
The tutored ear can distinguish everything from the classical configurations of Bach to
modernist colors characteristic of Stravinsky and Ellington, to Charlie Parker and Weather
Report. To my surprise the band made full use of electronic musical instruments; especially
the keyboards, played marvelously by pianist Chiemi Nakai - who me reminds of the great
Joe Zwanul in her approach to the instrument which has greatly expanded the range and
possibilities of musical invention. Before the concert began the great Afro-American bassist
Bob Cunningham expressed some disappointment that Carlos would be playing an bass rather
that the acoustic double bass violin as it emerged from the classical European orchestra and on
which the art of the pitsecato, which was an ornament in European music, was developed into
the virtuoso art by jazz men in US. And I must admit that his disappointment. But that's
before I heard Carlos actually play his electrified bass. Once he began hi made sing as
beautifully as the acoustic bass a marvelous feat in it self.
Then came a thrilling duet between Carlos and David Eure playing a passage from Mozart's
Eine Kliene Nacht. However this proved to be a prelude to Chan Chan, a cha cha composed
by the great Company Segundo of the Buena Vista Social Club orchestra, which featured yet
another bravura performance from Carlos on the bass. The evening was a tour the force that
served to reinforce something that has been apparent to lovers of Afro-Cuban music since
1940's. There are no greater musicians in the world that are to be found in Cuba. Carlos Del
Pino is but the latest in a long line of marvelous virtuosos to emerge from that musically
enchanted Island; the pearl of the Caribbean indeed!
Although he is peerless on his instrument and his musical ideas are as innovative as his
playing, Carlos didn't just emerge from nowhere. He is the descendent of the great
Afro-Cuban innovator Israel "Cachao" Lopez, as well as a peer of such contemporary
Afro-Cuban Master as pianist "chucho" Valdez, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval,and saxophonist/
clarinetist Paquito Rivera, who was also present in the audience. And like Chucho, whose
father Bebo Valdez was a great pianist/composer, his first teacher was his father. The
pervasiveness of master/student relationship between great musicians and their musical father
is nos fully appreciated. Whoever it is a relationship that has been critical in the musical
development of wynton and Brandford Marsalis, Kent and Marlon Jordan, and Wlter
Banding to name a few of the contemporary musical luminaries whose careers followed this
path.
Even in a city that overflows with great muscians, and musical performances average about
50,000 a year,this performance stands out as exceptional by any standard. After played
things unheard of before on the bass, ranging widely through the western musical tradition,
classical and vernacular, Carlos then performed a marvelous solo on the bass where he sang
the lines as he played them ala Slam Stewart, although I found his rendition reminiscent of
Clarke Terry's "Mumbles." The high levels of creativity and stellar performances displayed
by the musicians on his autumn evening in New York was not lost on the multi-racial crowd,
who responded with several standing ovations, the last of considerable duration, and only
grudgingly allowed the hand to leave the stand as they clamored for more. Virtuoso bassist
Bob Cunningham sat right up front where hi had a bird's eye view summed up Carlos's
performance in one word:"Mesmerizing!" Bravo Carlos! Ole!!
By Playtell Benjamin
FM 99.5
