THE YEAR 1958 WAS GOOD FOR MUSIC.
Miles Davis recorded
Milestones [Columbia/
Sony, with Paul Chambers on bass], an
album considered by many to be his best
effort. Sonny Rollins made his politically
musical statement with Freedom Suite [Riverside,
Oscar Pettiford on bass], and Art
Blakey’s Jazz Messengers laid down the alltime
hard-bop classic
Moanin’ [Blue Note,
Jymie Merritt on bass]. In the same year,
pianist and American jazz icon Nat King
Cole recorded something groundbreaking:
a fusion of Cuban rhythm and American
pop sensibility that used the cha-cha-chá
dance rhythm.
“El Bodeguero” [Cole Español, Capitol, 1958], or “the grocer’s cha-cha,” was recorded
in Havana with a studio orchestra led by
Armando Romeu Jr. Cole later overdubbed
his vocal tracks in Hollywood. Travel and
business between the U.S. and Cuba had not
yet been restricted by el bloqueo (the blockade),
which went into effect in 1960. For the
Cuban orchestra, this was a normal studio
session, a recording of the dance rhythm of
the day. For Nat King Cole, it would become
one of his biggest-selling hits.
The cha-cha-chá rhythm developed from
danzón, the traditional Cuban dance. The
name cha-cha-chá (often shortened to chacha)
is derived from the sound of the guiro
and the shuffling of the dancers’ feet. In the ’50s, music with the cha-cha-chá rhythm
developed along with the cha-cha-chá dance
craze.
Example 1 is a basic cha-cha bass line
on Cole’s version of the “El Bodeguero”
harmony. Example 2 shows the end of the
tune: The rhythm section goes into a double-
time feel, and Cole sings “toma chocolate
paga lo que debe” (he drinks chocolate,
he pays what he owes). I can imagine all the
Sputnik-era dancers shuffl in’, bouncin’ and
shakin’ when the tune hits the double time.
It still makes me want to get up and dance.
The trick to playing the cha-cha-chá bass
line is that the notes are relatively short
and percussive. The bass line should have a hypnotic groove that serves as an integral
voice in the percussion section.
On the heels of Cole’s success, the great
trombonist and bandleader Tommy Dorsey
had a huge cha-cha hit with his big band
version of “Tea for Two” [The Tommy
Dorsey Orchestra starring Warren Covington,
Tea for Two Cha-Chas, Decca, 1958,
George Boehm on bass]. Still one of the
most-requested cha-cha numbers at weddings
and society gigs, “Tea for Two” has an
infectious groove and a mellifluous melody.
Example 3 is a cha-cha bass line over
the harmony of “Tea for Two.” This is what
will get feet on the dance floor—the over-60
society folks remember the groove from back
in the day, and the under-40 lounge lizards
hear the groove as vintage chic.
The cha-cha-chá groove is intrinsically
connected to the dance. If you can’t chacha-
chá, the dancers can’t cha-cha. Yes,
it’s completely corny and retro, but no one
ever said society gigs were havens of musical
integrity. Plus, the cha-cha-chá remains a basic rhythm used in modern Afro-Cuban
music. So lighten up, get your cha-cha going,
and let it groove!
Despite being raised in the woodlands and rolling
hills of Kentucky, the Bluegrass State, John
Goldsby has played on several Latin jazz albums,
including Arturo Sandoval’s Mambo Nights
[Connector] and Lalo Schifrin’s Latin Jazz Suite
[Aleph]. He recently played “El Bodeguero” with
Hilario Durán and Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez.
Visit John at www.johngoldsby.com