C - This next
question is very open. Who was your biggest influence in Cuban Music?
J - Well for
me as well as everybody in my generation it was Changuito when he
played with Los Van Van. Changuito had any idea or something other
thing, and all the kids would be playing it the next day. Like trumpet
players had Arturo Sandoval, percussionists had Changuito. Later
on you start to find your own way, your own language. I'm sure that
there are others who liked this guy or that guy. For me when I was
a child my favorite was Changuito.
A - I was very
impressed with Walfredo Reyes Sr. who was one of my first teachers.
And so much of an influence was Guillermo Barreto. Those two were
a huge influence on me. And because they were very famous men and
much older than me. At the moment I was beginning there were four
very popular drummers and timbaleros playing around. Very honestly,
I learned how to work as a drummer from these guys, sitting next
to them, seeing how they did this and that, looking at them. They
told me they were working at certain places and I would go. I would
sit next to, for example Blas Egües at the Habana Libre. He
would give me sticks and let me play along with him. I really learned
with these guys. Their names are Emilio Del Monte, Blase Egües,
Filiberto Sanchez and Luisito Palau. Those were the four I learned
from. Emilito would use me a lot when I came into my own. I was
a sub for him. I would go to the Teatro Martí to play with
Chucho Valdez who had a combo. TV shows that he would do with Chucho,
Paquito de Rivera, Papito Hernandez. He was kind enough to send
me on all those jobs.
C - Where else
have you played outside of Cuba.
A - I have played
everywhere in the world, Asia, everywhere.
J - Zaire, Belgium,
CAnada, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico, Martinique, Trinadad and Tobago,
and othe places.
C- Have there
been any other influences from other countries in your playing?
A- No.
J- Same with
me. To tell you the truth the only influences I have outside of
here is from somewhere I have never been. That is drummers from
the United States. It’s a curious thing . But, for example,
when I was in Trinidad and Tobago in 1995, there was a group of
tambores (drums) that were very similar to ours, it had different
mechanics to it, there was no clave, just a big crazy thing. The
drums sounded like they had plastic heads on them. They sounded
very...
A - "Metall-y"?
J - Yes. But
if one would put the clave down it would all fit . The players were
all kids, must have been 9 or 10 years old.
C- Wow!
J - It was fabulous.
I liked it a lot.
J - Another
thing I liked was in Martinique, but there everything was based
in threes.
C - Like in
3/4
J - Yes. (Jose
sings a song he learned in Martinique ) It definitely has it’s
own charm.
A - Look, now
that your talking about the southern hemisphere, I heard a drummer
in Brasil, Flavio Pimenta,
C- Oh yeah !
He’s a friend of mine!
A - Yeah? I
heard him do a moña (beat). Super interesting. With a very
big drumset it was a typical Brazilian beat , and it was very very
interesting groove.
C- He has his
own school out there.
J - I have been
there.
C- Great place.
Amado...how do you use the cowbell. How many bells do you use?
A- One bell
only. On the bell I’ll do many different things. On occasion
I’ll play like a cascara, with the right hand on cymbal and
a clave rhythm on the bell.
C - About Walfredo...
A - Walfredo
is a very important person, a fabulous person. My father who was
an excellent clarinetists and saxophonist, played, for seventy years,
with everybody here in Cuba. He played lead alto with many great
bands here in Cuba. He was very well known. He played lead alto
with Walfredo Reyes (the father of Walfredo Sr. !) in his band .
He was actually the senior Walfredo at that time. Walfredo Senior
now was Jr. at that time. He played in the Casino Parisian in the
Hotel Nacionál. They had two orchestras in 1958. Walfredo
was the director of the dance band. He was the first drummer that
I ever saw. He was the only percussionist in the band. He had a
very basic drumset with two congas on the side. That was who first
inspired me to play drumset.
C - What was
the most important thing Walfredo taught you?
A- Well ....let
me tell you, nowadays people are much more informed, as to what
it is to really study drumset. He taught me out of the Louie Bellson
book for reading, he taught me reading and technique.
C- He didn’t
show you patterns?
A- No no, I
was a small kid, I must have been 15 or 16, a short while later
he left Cuba and after that I went to the conservatory.
C- Do you know
Walfredo?
J - I know him
only through video tape.
A - With Dave
Weckl?
J - Yes, I never
heard of Walfredo Reyes before that. For me the Cuban drumset player
that made the revolution was Guillermo Barreto and Blasito Egues.
I never ever heard of Walfredo. And let me tell you that happens
to all the drummers of my generation.
A- It’s
not unusual.
J- Nobody knows
them, unless the older drummers have family here.
A - But Walfredo
must be kept in mind always. I was doing a recording with a singer
and he was coming for the jazz festival around this time last year.
He never got here and it was unfortunate.
C - Walfredo
is a good friend of mine, and he told me at the NAMM show he would
very much like to come to Cuba but he needs at least 5 months to
straighten things out with the government. But he will come eventually.
C - It would
be great if you could explain how you go about creating patterns
that incorporate drumset and timbales.
J - When it
comes down to it, the two instruments have fused together a lot
over time. It is impossible to discriminate one instrument from
the other. If your are using all the different patterns and instruments
of the percussion section what goes on is what we call "repartir"
or "to distribute."
C - How did
you invent that?
j- No no, it’s
not a question of inventing. If you hear something here, you hear
another thing here , another here...something gets your attention
, I don’t know. For example, a pattern that Changuito has been
using over the last ten years, Changuitos signature bell pattern,
( he sings it). Each player incorporates it and interprets it differently,
the only rule to follow is that it must go along with the clave.
But each player does his pattern a different way.
C - When Changuito
went to Los Van Van, you were able to fill his shoes right? to follow
in his foot steps?
J - Now times
have changed , there is no longer the Changuito euphoria. There
is much more information than there was in the 80’s. There
is a very big awareness about American drummers. American drummers
are being heard more and more by Cuban drummers and vice versa.
It’s not like it was before. Before there was very little information.
Before everyone was like Changuito wow! But not anymore. now there
are many unknown players that are just unbelievable!
c- I know I
know. How many bells do you use?
J - I now use
3 bells on the timbales
C- A lot of
American drummers mount a bell on the bass drum. You don’t
use one on the bass drum?
J- I don’t
use one on the bass drum because you would need a mike for it. Over
here you never know what you're going to get as far as amplification.
So ...
C - You play
Paila also right? (Chuck: "Paila" is another word for the "cáscara"
pattern".)
J- I attempt
to play paila once in a while.
C- What are
you playing these days in your group. what patterns do you use with
your timbalero.
A - I’ll
play all my patterns on bell . bass drum or maybe a pattern on the
toms without using the bells. There are many patterns.
C - What style
would you say your group is?
A - I would
say it’s Timba. It’s not salsa, It was never salsa , it’s
all timba. The people named it timba because there was no timbal,
there was only drumset. So, since then the rhythm section has developed
in that sense. We have recorded this style 10 years ago. Some numbers
have drumset and others don’t. (Chuck: "Timba" is the style
most prevalent in Afro-Cauban popular music, especially in Havana.)
C- Do you have
a favorite group from Cuba?
A - Of course,
Irakere and Van Van.
C - And you?
J- Van Van,
I like a lot.
C- Why Van Van?
J - The Groove!
Because of the mechanics of the groove. It’s heavy!
c - Modern Cuban
music is very different now, it’s changing every day. What
do you think? Because you have played in many generations.
A - That music
must be understood as Cuban music. It has that sticker on
it. It must be appreciated as Cuban music. There has been a very
rapid change in the concepts especially about rhythm. I consider
that the majority of the rhythm sections in those bands, maybe you
will corroborate or tell me I’m lying...
J & A (In
unison) - All sound the same.
A - Before,
when I started out in music you would hear, (lets forget about Walfredo
because he was gone by then), but you would hear Blasito (Blas Egues)
and you would recognize him , You would heard Filiberto (Filiberto
Sanchez) and you would recognize him, Barreto (Guillermo Barreto)
and you would recognize him. You would here the rhythm sections
that they would command and they sounded different. I modestly...
- and it’s valid because it’s Cuban music - but I think
there is a monothematic thing in there that is frankly boring. I
don’t want to offend anyone, I give my humble opinion and I
enjoy what they do, I like it but it is too repetitive. In the old
days the drumset being an American instrument, you had to breath
a little American influence into your playing. You have to play
Cuban style but with an American influence. All the drummers I’ve
been mentioning, including Blasito had his moña with American
influences in it. Now there is a very strong bombardment of American
drummers. Very strong, very strong.
C- What do you
think?
J - He is absolutely
right!
C - Even the
concepts of arrangements. before you could close your eyes , listen
to the radio and know who was playing. In other words we had different
colors.
A - It’s
like Chico O'Farrill told me in Finland. The principal element that
a musician must have is not technique, or popularity, but his own
voice. I will never forget that. If so and so doesn’t like
it whatever , but your own voice, that is what matters.
C - I understand
what you mean.
A - Now you
hear the singers of these groups that we mentioned earlier, Medico
etc...those are the people doing things with a good amount of decorum,
but below them are a tremendous amount of people that uh...we don’t
know what’s going on.
J- Now, the
guys that are really in a different catagory, a very serious catagory
are Van Van, Adalberto...
A - yes those
are the serious people. Everyone else sounds like they are influenced
by each other.
C - In your
future what do you see?
J - Playing
with American players.
C - You would
like to play with American groups?
J - Yes, that’s
the future.
C- The future
of Cuban Music...
A - I think
that the musical tension must be released, not the tension between
musicians, but so much pressure, the music is carrying a lot of
pressure. From the begining of a tune it’s pressure, tension.
I feel that the next phase is coming something slower, mellower,
because all of the Cuban music is bass, snare, clave and the red
devil!
C - The red
devil!
A - You know
what I mean?
C - I do! But
in the future you think that...
A - One has
to travel on the road that the music travels, because it’s
not a question of saying, "no! From now on I declare I’m going
to play this way or that" because then you run the risk of distancing
yourself, of being left behind. Everything that can be done has
been done, nobody is going to come along and invent something new.
It’s all been invented.
J - Well you
can do a treatment of a rhythm. Some kid can be looking at Chucks
book for example and say, well gee... if the drumset can do this
then I will do this moña...that exists! And that kid will
do it with a friend and...
A - Oh well
sure, that’s a valid point. Then we just have to just keep
studying and playing. Nobody knows what will happen.
C - Another
question. Your musical career, what is your next move?
A - Definitely
stretch out. It’s not a question of just looking at it from
the point of view of sitting on a drum stool. But I’m taking
the first steps. I’m producing a record, that’s what I
really like to do, work in the studio , doing arrangements, stuff
like that.
C - Do you play
piano?
A - No. I can
play the piano but I don’t consider myself to be a pianist.
C - You have
good ears for arrangements?
A - I guess
that’s it!
C - What do
you imagine is the future of music?
A - I can’t
even imagine what’s going to happen, honestly because what’s
happening now, nobody could have imagined it would turn out like
it has. Nobody! I honestly don’t understand what’s going
on today, I have never seen some of these new guys play live so
I don’t know what the commotion is about. I don’t know.
I’m sure they’re fine drummers. But it’s like Stan
Kenton said, "the drumset is the element that adds swing to
everything else." and I see that swing is achieved through
playing, supporting the soloists knowing how to play. These days
there doesn’t seem to be an identity with that.
J - Public opinion
seems to be influencing to much. Always energy, on top, full pressure,
you know.
A - It’s
like Dave Weckl for example. Here is a guy who has influenced many
people out here, but Dave is a drummer of a different quality. There
seems to be a Dave Weckl syndrome out there. I don't know...
J - It’s
true, it’s true.
C - What will
you do now.
A - I do lots
of recording and touring, Europe and such. We will be promoting
a record I played on. I still teach and things like that.
C- Would you
like to add anything Jose?
J- I would like
to extend my greetings to the drummers of America and would also
like to say that we admire faithfully what they have done for many
years and what they are doing now. I hope to see you all soon.
Recommended
Records from Jose Sanchez
Clave y Guaguanco
- "Cantaremos y Bailaremos"
Los Van Van
- "Anda Ven y Muevete"
Carlos Varela
- "Como los Peces"
Son 14 - "A
Bayamo en Coche"
Records on which
Jose Appears
"? Y Que to
Qiueres Que Te Dén?" Adalberto y su Son
"Homenaje a
Kabaselé" Combinación Cubana
