Afro Blues

Composer: Mongo Santamaria
Arranger: Diane Downs and Rick Mattingly

General Info

Year: 1959
Duration: c. 3:00
Difficulty: Advanced
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Series: Leopard Percussion Ensemble
Cost: Score and Parts - $30.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Player 1: Glockenspiel
Player 2: Vibraphone
Player 3: Xylophone 1
Player 4: Xylophone 2
Player 5: Marimba 1
Player 6: Marimba 2
Player 7: Shekere
Player 8: Timbales
Player 9: Bongos
Player 10: Congas
Player 11: Drumset

Program Notes

Mongo Santamaria recorded his composition "Afro Blue" in 1959 when playing with the Cal Tjader Sextet. The first recorded performance was on April 20, 1959, at the Sunset Auditorium in Carmel, California, with Santamaría on percussion.[1]

"Afro Blue" was the first jazz standard built on a typical African 3:2 cross-rhythm, or hemiola.[2] The song begins with the bass repeatedly playing six cross-beats per measure of 12 8 or six cross-beats per four main beats—6:4 (two cells of 3:2). The following example shows the ostinato "Afro Blue" bass line. The cross noteheads indicate the main beats (not bass notes).

While the bass sounds the six secondary beats, Paul Horn's flute solo and Emil Richards' marimba solo emphasize the four primary beats. Francisco Aguabella takes the conga drum solo on the first recording, quoting phrases from the vocabulary of the abakuá bonkó drum.

Using brushes, Willie Bobo plays an abakuá bell pattern on a snare drum. This cross-rhythmic figure divides the twelve-pulse cycle into three sets of four pulses. Since the main beats are grouped as four sets of three pulses (dotted quarter-notes in the top example), the bell pattern significantly contradicts the meter. Bobo played this same pattern and instrumentation on the Herbie Hancock jazz-descarga "Succotash."[3]

The harmonic structure of Santamaria's version is a simple B♭ pentatonic blues.

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by Mongo Santamaria

Afro Blues - Percussion Ensemble (11) Arr.

Works for Percussion by Rick Mattingly

Afro Blues - Percussion Ensemble

Works for Percussion by Diane Downs

Afro Blues - Percussion Ensemble (11)