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The Architect Of Afro-Cuban Jazz

Arturo O’Farrill, better known as “Chico” O’Farrill was born on October 28, 1921, in Havana (Cuba) at the height of Son. He had a normal childhood like any son of a Jewish family raised to continue the family profession, Law.

In the 1930s Chico was admitted to the Riverside American Military School in Gainesville, Georgia. His father, an eminent Irish lawyer recognized in the Afro-Caribbean country, decided to intern him to continue his studies.

During his stay at that institution, O’Farrill discovered the great jazz orchestras that made life in that territory. Those bands were known by the name of Big Bands. He entered that musical environment and began his process of love and passion for the industry. He listened to recordings by Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey while learning to play the trumpet on his own. In almost immediate time Chico became the trumpet player for the school’s military band and large dance groups.

Years later, Arturo returned to Cuba. He studied the same profession as his father (Law) and at the same time with his studies, he developed his facet as a composer. He received composition and harmony classes from important island musical instructors such as Félix Guerrero.

His progress, determination, and development in music were unstoppable. He was a member of the Armando Romeu Bellamar Orchestra and the Isidro Pérez Orchestra at the time of Mambo and Son, rhythms that prevailed and enhanced Latin music for decades.

MUSICAL HISTORY

“The Architect of Afro-Cuban Jazz” worked for four years (1943 – 1947) in Montmartre, the Cuban cabaret with the greatest French style. In the same way, he belonged to the Bellamar Orchestra, directed by Armando Romeu with Luis and Pucho Escalante, and Mario Romeu, among many other members.

As a trumpeter, Arturo traveled to Mexico and Europe. He created Los Raqueteros del Swing band, being the director and member of the orchestra. Subsequently, he founded Los Beboppers (the first Cuban bop group) with continuous performances at the Hotel Saratoga. Here, Chico was once again at the helm as director of the band and musician with his related instrument, the trumpet.

In the 1950s he began his successes as an arranger, working briefly for various musical directors such as Gil Fuller, Noro Morales, Frank “Machito” Grillo, and Benny Goodman.

Likewise, he composed his first masterpiece, Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite in five movements: Canción, Mambo, 6/8, Jazz, and Rumba Open. This masterpiece of composition was made and recorded for the imprint of the businessman Norman Granz, with the Machito Orchestra as the rhythmic base and accompanist.

The expert comments on Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite were numerous, but here are two of the most outstanding opinions:

Luc Delannoy: “It begins and ends with a hypnotic flute and conga duo that reflects the essence of Cuban treatment; the union of musical universes: the European (the flute) and the African (the conga). These two instruments are joined by the oboe, followed by the trumpets, saxophones, and the double bass “Tumbao”… After a return to swing and bebop in the fourth movement, Chico takes us back to the origins of Latin jazz with a melody of clear Arabic accents, before immersing himself in the universe of Afro-Cuban percussions.”

And Benny Carter commented on the Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite the following: “The reason for the coherence of the rhythmic parts and their relationships with the solos that have their own life and independence, Masterpiece of a genius.”

After the enormous success of this powerful piece of music, O’Farrill wrote Cuban Fantasy for Stan Kenton during his stay in New York (EE.UU). However, Kenton eventually changed the name of the piece and it was called the Cuban Episode.

In 1953 he moved from New York to the California state and founded his orchestra with renowned musicians such as Mario Bauzá, Doug Mettome, Jimmy Nottingham, Eddie Bert, Fred Zito, Lenny Hambro, Flip Phillips, and the saxophonist Eddie Wasserman. The orchestra used the Afro-Cuban rhythmic section of Machito, harp, and oboe.

Under this concept, he recorded for Norman Granz and performed in two emblematic venues of the American Jazz music scene: Birdland (New York) and Hat Ballroom located in Los Angeles, California. During this period he composed three new movements: “La Jungla”, “Contrast”, and “Rhumba Finale”, baptized as “Manteca Suite”. The latter recorded in 1954 with Jazzist Dizzy Gillespie and an orchestra with 21 talented musicians.

In 1956 he returned to Cuba in search of inspiration and immediately began to work for the best record companies such as Panart and RCA Víctor. In this record label, he made “Chico’s Cha-Cha-Cha”, adapting the Charanga rhythm to the Big band format. This album was released, once again, on compact disc by BMG during the last decade of the 20th century.

Two years later the restless O’Farrill traveled to Mexico due to the great platform that this country provided for Latin American musicians at the time. During that residency, he once again stood out with a special sound. He appears on television as music director for singer Andy Russell, and there his life takes a dizzying turn. He started the semi-retirement period but never stopped composing. By that time, he composed his next and one of his greatest works “Azteca Suite” for trumpeter Art Farmer. And he made history once again!

In the 60s and with the rise of rock, Chico returned to New York and made arrangements for such important figures as La Lupe (They Call Me La Lupe); Cal Tjader (Along with Comes Cal); Count Basie (High Voltage); Gato Barbieri (Chapter Three: Viva Emiliano Zapata); Ringo Starr (Night and Day) and dabbled in Rock music with David Bowie (I Know That It Will Happen and Looking for Lester) and finally was the director of the Venezuelan Aldemaro Romero’s Orchestra.

In this stage that lasted until the end of the 20th century and already in the 70s, the Big bands went from being an innovation to being displaced by other rhythms that were rapidly increasing in popularity. These genres used new techniques, styles, sounds, and harmonies. It led to the appearance of icons in Jazz and the disappearance of the exclusive Bing bands for ballroom dancing.

For this reason, Chico O’Farrill reinvents himself and begins to work in the lucrative field of music for audiovisual advertising.

In the mid-nineties, American Jazz producer and director Todd Barkan contacted the “Afro-Cuban Jazz Architect” to pay tribute to his career with a compilation of his musical hits. The name of the album was Pure Emotion and it got a nomination for Best Latin Jazz Performance at the 37th Grammy Awards.

O’Farrill toured Europe with his orchestra in 1996 and recorded his latest album entitled “Heart Of A Legend” with 14 tracks.

For this album, they had an orchestra of 18 musicians and a collaboration of international artists. The arrangements and musical direction of “Heart Of A Legend” were in charge of his son Arturo O’Farrill Jr. and who continues with his legacy.

On June 29, 2001, at 80 years old in New York City, Arturo “Chico” O’Farrill passed away.

Undoubtedly, Chico O’Farrill was always a visionary, and he was at the forefront for more than half a century of the musical genre today recognized worldwide as Latin Jazz.

In memory of the 20 years of his physical disappearance

Arturo “Chico” O’Farrill Forever!

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Short but successful music career and life trajectory

Alexis Enrique Navarro Velásquez, artistically known as Cherry Navarro, was a singer and musician from Venezuela, whose talent quickly became evident in a variety of rhythms such as pop, ballads, and others. He was born on 9 July 1944 in Caripito, Monagas State, from the union of Manuel Rafael Navarro and María de Jesús Velásquez de Navarro. 

Young Alexis was only 14 years old when his mother decided to move to the country’s capital, specifically to the El Valle parish, where he began his formal education. Around this time, he met another future Venezuelan music legend, José Luis Rodríguez El Puma. The boys not only became good friends, but also they formed their first musical group known as Canaima, which took its first steps at parties and small gatherings.   

When the artist decided that he wanted to devote his life to the music world, he started training in a variety of instruments such as the trombone and piano. It might not be long before his efforts paid off and he managed to perform on the TV show Club del Twist, representing a great start in the public and musical life of this young promise. 

After having earned considerable fame, he began to be part of the Chelique Sarabia Y Su Conjunto, with which he had intense television activities,  making presentations in the most popular variety shows of that moment. One of them was that of the unforgotten presenter Renny Ottolina. 

In the early 60s, he met his first wife and mother of his only son, Belkis Montero, but the relationship would not last for long due to the travel and continued musical commitments of the artist. The success that he was accomplishing caused the end of his marriage, but this, far from discouraging the singer, further boosted his career and provided him with the necessary push to start out as a soloist. 

After seeing one of his performances in the programme hosted by Chelique Sarabia Cada Minuto Una Estrella, businessman Renato Capriles proposed him to join Los Melódicos, with whom he recorded a few singles, but then he quit the orchestra and ventured to experience a solo career. 

Thanks to the support and contacts provided by his new partner María De Las Casas, Navarro managed to sign an important contract with the record label Polydor, with which he recorded his first solo album. That was how the artist finally established himself as a solo artist with a short, but very successful musical career. Something that characterized the musician is that he ever wanted to stand out from other artists, so he always found a way to give a unique touch to his outfits and musical arrangements. 

After a very intense artistic career and life trajectory, he fell ill as a result of medullary aplasia which took away his life on 28 September 1967 at the age of 23, ending his life, but giving rise to a music legend. 

The origin of the name Cherry Navarro  

Many could see that Cherry Navarro was the singer’s artistic name and perhaps others are wondering where this invention that would immortalize the artist for generations came from. Well, we have recently spoken with a dear childhood friend of Cherry Navarro, who has some interesting things to mention and we quote his words verbatim:   

«Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. This is Luis Guillermo Rangel. I am a person one of those who grew up in Coche, in the urbanization Delgado Chalbaud, since I was nine or ten. During the 1950-60s, I had the honor of growing up with the respected and beloved Navarro family. Cherry’s mother, Mrs. María Jesús, and his brothers Manuel, René, Carlitos, Cherry, Leslie, and another older sister whose name escapes me at the moment.  

After we met for some time in the urbanization, we even formed a Venezuelan music group and entered a music contest that was on Channel 2, Radio Caracas Televisión. It was a program broadcast at 6:00 p.m. and was called “El Programa de José Bhor”. He was an Argentinian man who came to Venezuela to do television and spaces, including this original tv show.  

Through music, we as restless young people formed a group bwith friends who lived in the same parish between El Valle, Coche, and the urbanization Delgado Chalbaud. Its director and founder was our friend Frank Acevedo, who was a renowed harpist. In the meantime, I was the cuatro player and let’s say I was an alternate member because I was not fixed there. However, I had my group with Cherry Navarro until we integrated to the CONJUNTO  ALMA JUVEIL DE CHELIQUE SARABIA. At the José Bhor’s show, we participated, performed, sang, and won first place in that contest. As I said then, that was on Radio Caracas Televisión.   

But ahead, Cherry, or let’s call him Enrique, moved to Los Chaguaramos and I to La Campiña. If memory serves me, he lived in the Naiguatá building. In front of the Luis Caballero Mejías Industrial Technical School (ETI fpr its initials in Spanish) and the Central University of Venezuela (UCV for its initials in Spanish). Cherry moved to that building and we stayed friends.

He did not yet use the nickname “Cherry Navarro” at that time and it was there in Los Chaguaramos where that name was born. I remember there was a candy store where all the boys at ETI AND UCV used to go.

I started to study at ETI, Cherry was very close to me and we took walks in the area with Chelique Sarabía, who studied oil at ETI back then. And we were out there most of the time.  

Cherry had a things for certain sweets, was highly selective and quite a character. In those days, a new chocolate product came out to the consumer market. It was a new product made from chocolate and cookie that would compete with another brand in the market that was well-known. That brand that he liked so much was called “Cherry” and every time we went to the candy store to buy something, he wanted some sweet and us to provide him with his favorite Cherry. Of so much saying “Cherry”, he stayed with that name. that nickname is vivid in our mind, even until today that we affectionaly refer to him as CHERRY NAVARRO, who will remain engraved in the hearts of all his followers.

So much so that when he came here, we said “here comes Cherry” because he was always eating chocolates and candies. It was one of his preferred candies because he was a sweet tooth. So much so that his nickname, as I said earlier, came from that Cherry cookie and so remained.   

In the family of Cherry in Coche, there were many anecdotes for him. He had a yellow strand of hair on one side and my dad thought he dyed his hair, but he did not. In those days none of that was used. He had a mole there and, of course, we, who had a baseball team there in Coche, made fun of him and someone came up with the name “tongolele”. She was a trendy Mexican actress and when someone called him “tongolele” he got angry because he did not like to be called in this way. Cherry was very friendly and pleasant, but I remember that he was always in fashion, so the nickname “tongolele” went very well. For that reason, “tongolele” stayed in Coche for quite some time.   

We organized many get-togethers with friends that ended in fights because Cherry also liked to throw punches, but he did not like to be called in this way. 

I remember once on Radio Caracas Televisión, when we entered the programme Club Musical with Chelique Sarabia Y Su Conjunto, someone from the audience approached Cherry and called him ‘tongolele. He just looked at him in the studio and said “Look, if you call me ‘tongolele’ again, you don’t know what’s waiting for you”. I do not forget that, either. That is the story of our great Cherry Navarro and may the good Lord rest his soul because he was a great friend and brother. We grew up from the age of 10 or 11 and spent so much time together. He died at 23 on 26 September because he was born on July 1943. I was older than him by three or four years.   

Thanks a lot for the interview and we are to order.

God bless you and thank you». 

Words from the friend and teammate of Cherry Navarro from the Conjunto de Chelique Sarabia, Luis Guillermo Rangel 

Luis Guillermo Rangel’s Facebook page: Luis Guillermo Rangel

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