The other mexican jazz: music in the borders of borders
by René Penaloza Galván
Personality itself is technique.
– Gary Giddins writing on pianist Cecil Taylor
Few creative endeavors have suffered so many drawbacks as jazz in our country. Its erratic history ranges from relatively hopeful seasons -festivals, dedicated spaces, institutional support, media presence- and streaks of generalized barrenness. This way, Mexican jazz has enjoyed multiple lives and suffered a similar number of deaths (declaring it extinct from time time is almost essential among its most prominent musicians and critics).
The San Pedro Jazz Band was a worthy representative of the national scene around 1930, quality that, unfortunately, did not result in contracts, so they were forced to also offer their services as Mariachi San Pedro of Tlaquepaque. This story holds what to this date has been the fate of our country’s jazz artists: to rely on diverse jobs (participation in dull pop records, presentations of trendy singers, etcetera) to survive. The fact that it is practically impossible to make a living as a jazz artist around here is certainly due to its current features in Mexico: for one thing, a light sound, quite “lobby-bar” type, a desperate and despairing appeal to the current adult market (Did anyone say Kenny G?); secondly, there are the ostensibly ‘serious’ manifestations, aligned with the foul version of jazz as “the XXth century’s classic music”.
However, there has also been an alternate school of musicians who -commended to the spirits of people like Albert Ayler, Thelonius Monk, John Coleman and Ornette Coleman- do not forget that, in its most profound sense, jazz is a kind of music of a passionate, playful and relentless search. Call it creative jazz, free jazz or contemporary jazz, the diverse expressions that have appeared through the years offer a sound that actually squeezes and excite those who crave for something more than a background to taste their martini or an innocuous bath of ‘chic culture’.
Saxophonist Henry West was a singular character in the national scene. Maker of free music with his band Atrás del Cosmos (At the back side of the Cosmos) -so called because their practice place was located behind the Cosmos theater-, an actor in plays by Alejandro Jodorowsky, having shared the scenarios with the legendary trumpeter Don Cherry, West finally left for the United States, disappointed and not willing to surrender to the inescapable call of “any job” (a “hueso”, in Mexican slang). Later, expressions like La Banda Elástica (The Elastic Band), a band that incorporates minimalistic winks played on prehispanic instruments under its peculiar understanding of jazz, which has fortunately been captured in various albums. Also saved in a recording, the 1st International Encounter of Free Improvisation gathered Mexican musicians such as Germán and Francisco Bringas, Roberto Aymes and Raúl Aranda in various sessions with the German duet Statements. In turn, the flautist Cipriano achieved a daring sound of a delicious carnival taste with his Mitote Jazz. And more recently, the multiple instrument player Marcos Miranda has been building a series of projects, amazing for their commitment and exquisite flamboyance.
The history of jazz in Mexico has been so disperse and sporadic as the preceding paragraph (no wonder that Alaín Derbez subtitles his Jazz in Mexico, “data for history”), more so if we delve into “the other Mexican jazz”, the one located at the margins of an already marginal expression. However, the proliferation of home studios and the emergence of spaces such as Art Life and PapaBeto -the latter fully dedicated to jazz- rise hope that these delicious expressions of otherness may still have a place and an an outlet.
This article would not have been possible without Xavier Quirarte’s valuable assistance.
Where to listen:Café Jazzorca (obtain address)
PapaBeto (Manuel Villalongín 196-H, tel 5592.1638)
Art Life (obtain address)
Centro Nacional de las Artes (Río Churubusco #79, tel. 5420.4509)
El Hábito (obtain address)
