During the opening riff to 's classic composition " ," the legendary trumpeter-composer usually had the members of his band chant "I'll never go back to " over and over. It was an extraordinary thing that the single most important figure in the development of the medium now known as Latin jazz was not Latin himself but rather a black man from the American South; it was as if the creator of Viennese waltzes had come from or the originator of the Argentine tango had been born in .
Gillespie's contributions to the medium were the subject of a tribute concert Friday and Saturday night at Rose Theater by the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, which is the Latin wing of .
Titled "Cubana Be, Cubana Bop," after one of the Gillespie band's breakthrough works, the concert was directed by the pianist . Mr. O'Farrill is the son of the late , one of the most distinguished composerarranger-bandleaders in all of Latin jazz and, not coincidentally, one of Gillespie's closest collaborators.
Although this second Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra is beginning just its fourth season, it is somewhat larger than its older brother; for most of the evening, the ALJO sported a full retinue of 20 musicians: five trumpets, four trombones (including bass trombone), five reeds, and the standard three-piece big band rhythm section, plus an additional three Latin percussionists and some additional guest stars.
Mr.
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