#JELLY ROLL MORTON SPANISH TINGE SKIN#

Jazz tends to be more or less dotted Latin rhythms are very even, and evenly sub-divided. The reason there’s such a contrast between Garner playing Jazz and Garner playing Latin is that the two types of music have a totally different approach to the beat. There’s an almost melodramatic contrast between the jazz and the Latin approach, and a great feeling of release when it slides back into a straight jazz 4/4 again, as you can hear at the start of a version by Erroll Garner. St Louis Blues has one section, which is always played in a sort of tango rhythm – it’s even written that way in the original sheet music – and jazz musicians have always delighted in sticking to that bit of Latin rhythm. Jelly Roll Morton, who thought he had invented jazz, said jazz should have a Spanish tinge and it’s ironic that one of the earliest examples of this should be found in a tune copyrighted by his deadly rival, WC Handy.

The tango craze at the start of this century right down to the current salsa fad, passing, en route, milestones marked samba, cha cha cha and mambo. Until recent years Western music has been fairly poor on the rhythmic side, so it’s not surprising that Latin rhythms have made triumphant inroads from time to time.

#JELLY ROLL MORTON SPANISH TINGE SKIN#

I don’t think this experiment has ever been tried but what Huxley was getting at was the power of Latin American rhythms to get under the skin and control the mind and body. He said that if he had to crack the will of the most intellectual philosopher in the world, he would lock him up for the night in a room full of Cuban drummers. I don’t suppose Aldous Huxley has ever been quoted in a jazz programme before but he once had a very interesting idea about brainwashing.

Jelly roll morton spanish tinge