What to Have The Rhythm Section Play When The Music Says 6/8 Afro-Cuban

Hands down, Afro-Cuban influenced jazz has to be some of the hardest driving music in any school big band library. Something about the syncopation of the bell pattern mixed with how students engage with the style creates a special feeling. So then why do so few people actually understand the style, given that it is so popular?

My introduction to 6/8 Afro-Cuban music was sometime in high school when I was in a student led recording session. We were playing a small group rendition of Nature Boy and in the outro the drummer decided to change to a different groove. I didn’t quite know what he was doing but I knew I liked the sound of it and thought it really lifted the quality of the whole session. Only years later, when listening back to the track for fun, I realized that he was playing a 6/8 bell pattern. 

While at university I was given a bit more of a taste through various big band charts and discovered that a lot of people referred to a 6/8 Afro-Cuban groove as a Bembe. I became obsessed. Anywhere I could use the style in my writing I would, not knowing anything about it other than I liked it. Needless to say, I followed the rule of cool and butchered my way through the style one arrangement at a time until I finally did some proper research. That’s when I realized that Bembe was one style out of hundreds of 6/8 grooves from Cuba and that just because I used a 6/8 bell pattern didn’t mean it was actually a Bembe at all. 

Bembe itself is from the Yoruba culture in Cuba, one of the major African nations which were transplanted through slavery to the island. More specifically, it comes from the Santeria religion which is a hybrid of the older Yoruba religion and Catholicism. The iconic parts of Bembe actually come from the percussion parts, the singing, and the accompanying dance, not the 6/8 bell pattern. It is also locked to a certain tempo range, one which is much slower than most Latin Jazz 6/8 big band charts. Some arrangements are proper Bembe’s but it’s pretty safe to say that most are not (at least based on the ones I’ve seen).

So getting back on track, why do so few people understand 6/8 Afro-Cuban music? It’s because the music is complicated and there are very few resources available. It’s pretty easy to get people to play things that feel good and when those listening also fall into the same camp no one knows any better. So why does it matter? In one sense it doesn't, if the music feels good and sounds good then everything is great. However, when music feels good then come the questions from the students. Many times I’ve been asked to explain a Bembe or a Columbia, and in that moment if you can help inspire the student further, you know there’s going to be a satisfying reward for everyone at the end. Also, if you understand just a bit about 6/8 styles, then you can recreate that awesome feeling every time and know exactly when a certain instrument isn’t quite hitting the mark. There’s also something to be said about authenticity but I’ll leave that out of this newsletter for now.

The best thing about generic 6/8 Afro-Cuban grooves is that almost anything that feels good works over the bell pattern. Unlike duple time Cuban styles, crossing clave isn’t really an issue and so it’s harder to make rhythmic mistakes. From a beginner’s standpoint, I’d recommend becoming familiar with the two bar 6/8 bell pattern in both orientations, being able to tap the big beats on one hand while tapping the bell pattern on the other. 

With that as a base, we can build the other parts. Before diving into style specific rhythms, in general if the rhythm section is playing any sort of 6/8 feel with the bell pattern being accented, I would usually call the style “Afro-Cuban” as it isn’t directly linked to one particular groove. In this context the drums could play any sort of triple feel rock pattern with other instruments playing some kind of quaver/8th note based pattern and it would sound great. For those looking to add a bit more authenticity into your 6/8 grooves, there’s two specific styles I would recommend: Rumba Columbia and Bembe. The first one can be used for most tempos, with the second dealing with the slower side of things. 

Rumba Columbia is great for any 6/8 feel in the dotted crotchet/dotted 8th range of 110-144 bpm. It features the classic bell pattern but also has a secondary bell pattern and accompanying conga parts. Traditionally the conga parts would be played by three different musicians but for our purposes they can be played by one person with two drums. 

But how does this authentic situation help big band directors? Well to begin with, it gives you all you need to know to make the style actually a Columbia. Everything else can be added to this as a base. Below you’ll find a few combinations that I’ve used to apply the authentic style in a big band rhythm section.

Switching gears to Bembe, the authentic style is similar in instrumentation being made up of one bell apart and three drums. 

Similar to what I did with Columbia, here are some examples of how I implement the authentic Bembe into a big band rhythm section.

So where does that leave us? Well you should hopefully now have two awesome Afro-Cuban styles up your sleeve the next time you confront a 6/8 big band chart. Like I said earlier, there are hundreds of Cuban styles out there that can be used in the same way as Bembe or Columbia so treat this as just the introduction. They aren’t as scary as you may have imagined and can really make a difference in a live setting.

Thanks so much for checking out this week's newsletter post. Next week I’m going to give the rhythm section a break and look at non-traditional big band instruments. Specifically, how to incorporate them into your band or what to do when you have an odd lineup of instruments that doesn’t quite line up with what the score says.

Thanks,

Toshi