Episode 99: Uptown Latin

We have a latin music theme today, with a primary focus on Cuba and the Cuban diaspora. But this is a musical theme with one foot firmly planted right here in the United States. The theme is Uptown Latin: these songs were produced in the biggest cities, especially Havana and New York, aimed at the most cosmopolitan audiences anywhere in the latin music scene. These audiences would be familiar with the more rootsy latin sounds you listeners hear on my country latin shows… Cuban son and guajira, and other sounds built around Spanish guitar. But city listeners demanded music that captured the sound of modernity and sophistication. In that era between the 1920s and the advent of international rock in the mid-60s, the sound of modernity meant just one thing: Jazz music from the United States. I often tell you listeners about how latin influences came into US music during that era, but the reverse was even more true: influences from US jazz reshaped latin music throughout the Americas.