Tom McDermott: When you’re talking about fusion of Western composition and Latin rhythms in this country, a logical place to start is Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who is born in New Orleans in 1829. Gottschalk was playing very syncopated piano music a good forty years before the ragtime era. He later traveled all around the Caribbean. For instance, there's the rhythm that's known as the habanera. I guess you could also call it the tango rhythm. And maybe the most famous example of that in the classical world is the one that Bizet used in Carmen.
(demonstrates)
TM: A couple of Gottschalk pieces use this rhythm. One is called "Creole Eyes,” which he called a "danse cubaine," a Cuban dance.
(demonstrates)
TM: Keep in mind this was in the 1850's that he was doing this, and there really was nothing like that in European music.
(demonstrates)
TM: Jelly Roll Morton was, like Gottschalk, raised in New Orleans, and he has this Caribbean influence in his music. He called it the Spanish Tinge, and he wrote four or five pieces that use what is called the tresillo rhythm, which is three notes. You might hear a bass player play it even in early rock and roll tunes like Elvis's version of "Hound Dog," just very simply.
(demonstrates)
TM: Being from New Orleans, Morton was immersed in blues music and one of his earliest pieces combines the blues form with this tresillo rhythm. It's called "New Orleans Blues," also called "New Orleans Joys.”
(Demonstrates)
TM: If you take the combination of blues scale and the tresillo rhythm, it's not such a jump to go to Professor Longhair. Longhair started recording in the late ‘40s and was the really most important musician in New Orleans after World War II, very influential. I can show you the tresillo rhythm that he used in a piece called "Willie Fugal's Blues,” which is very close to "Tipitina," which is maybe his most famous tune.
(Demonstrates)
TM: So Longhair died in '80, there were other great pianists: James Booker who died in '83, Dr. John, and another fellow named Henry Butler who I wrote a piece for to try and kind of capture his piano style. So anyway, here's my homage to Henry Butler called "Heavy Henry," accompanied by my trusty assistant on clave.
(Demonstrates)
To hear the full program, tune in Saturdays at 5 and Sundays at 6 on WWNO, or listen at americanroutes.org.