BOOK REVIEW: NEW YORK AND THE INTERNATIONAL SOUND OF LATIN MUSIC – 1940-1990

In his second and most ambitious book to date, the award-winning musician, professor, educator, and author BENJAMIN LAPIDUS makes a compelling case for New York-based musicians whose contributions shaped the sound of Latin music. 

“New York and the International Sound of Latin Music began as an idea in 2010,” says Lapidus. “It is easy to feel alone and even futile when tackling such a large subject, but the encouragement and interest from musicians and collectors who shared their time with me made it worthwhile.” 

As the glowing reviews indicate, a worthwhile endeavor indeed! “Very few books document the origin and development of Latin music in the US,” says Panamanian icon Ruben Blades. “This work is of tremendous importance because it illustrates many unknown facts about Latin musicians’ identities and contributions to the Latin and Jazz genres that would have been ignored if not rescued by Ben Lapidus and his reporting. The book is obligatory reading, and I fully recommend it.”

New York and the International Sound of Latin Music is a comprehensive assessment of New York as the capital of Latin music from 1940 to 1990, as told by an active participant, astute observer, and deep thinker. Based on extended interviews and insightful musical analysis, Lapidus explores many interesting and enlightening topics, including Latin Music Education in New York; Latin Music Instrument Makers; Sonny Bravo, Típica 73 and the New York Sound, Jews and Latin Music and the “invasion” of the Cuban Marielito’s in the 80s.

CHAPTER 4 – This Guy Does Not Look Latin: The Panamanian Connection focuses on “the unique Panamanian community in New York, particularly Brooklyn-based musicians, and their contributions to the development of Latin music in New York.” Also, how Panamanian musicians felt solidarity with the musicians whose cultures were similar to, yet distinct from their own, such as Cuban, Puerto Rican, West Indian, and African American brethren. Lapidus also enlightens us about a little known fact: Panamanian musicians performed with Louis Armstrong, Machito, and his Afro-Cubans, Tito Rodríguez and Tito Puente, among others.

CHAPTER 5 – Puerto Rican Engagement with Jazz and its Effects on Latin Music, explains how “Puerto Rican and Nuyorican artists used jazz harmony, arranging, improvisation, and musical aesthetics to broaden the sound of Latin popular music from the postwar period into the 1990s and beyond.” Also, it debunks the false narrative that Puerto Rican artists were “adopters, copiers, or appropriators of Cuban music.” Lapidus states, “many historians, authors, and researchers have neglected the specific musical advances and innovations in Latin music made by Puerto Ricans and others (ethnic groups) in New York City.”

Benjamin Lapidus deserves accolades for following the facts and countering the false narratives that perpetrate the history of Latin music. As an educator and artist in the trenches, Lapidus conveys the richness and complexity of Latin music as only an insider can. 

PUBLISHER: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 440 Pages, December 2020.

FURTHER READING

FLORES, JUAN – New York Latin Music of the Sixties Generation (Oxford University Press, 2016)

GLASSER, RUTH – My Music is My Flag – Puerto Rican Musicians and Their New York Communities 1917-1940 (The University of California Press, 1995)

SALAZAR, MAX – Mambo Kingdom, Latin Music in New York (Schirmer Trade Books, 2)

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