The initial contact of Puerto Ricans with the first manifestations of Jazz is the result of the United States invasion of Puerto Rico in 1898. With the arrival of the US troops, their customs and music also arrived. The orchestras at the different towns in Puerto Rico kept their musical offer of Danzas, Plenas and music from Latin America, but they began to include in their music repertoire styles heard from the United States military bands, such as Ragtime, precursor of what later would be called Jazz. Eventually Jazz groups would begin to emerge in towns around the island such as the Yauco Jazz Band.
At the same time, the migration of Puerto Ricans began to cities such as New Orleans and then to New York, in the 1920s and 1930s. One of the first cases of musicians arriving in the United States occurred during the First World War in 1917, when the African-American Lieutenant of the Army’s 369th Regiment, and renowned musician in New York, James Reese Europe, arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico. and recruited more than a dozen musicians directly from the San Juan Municipal Orchestra led by Manuel Tizol. These musicians, among them, the composer Rafael Hernández, will make up one of the best orchestras in the United States Army, and were responsible for introducing Jazz to Europe, specifically to France. Upon his return to New York in 1919, Rafael Hernández participated with this orchestra in one of the first recordings in the history of Jazz.
Already in 1920, the Puerto Rican trombonist Juan Tizol (nephew of Manuel Tizol) arrived in Washington to work in the Howard Theater Orchestra, made up mostly of Puerto Ricans. In Washington, Tizol met the pianist Duke Ellington, who invited him to New York in 1930 to participate in several shows at the Cotton Club. Tizol became part of the Ellington orchestra and wrote multiple compositions for the orchestra, including some that would eventually become jazz standards; “Caravan” and “Perdido”. Some consider these and other Tizol compositions the first manifestations of Latin Jazz, years before the collaboration between trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo.
The pianist born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Rogelio “Ram” Ramírez, who worked with Jazz greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, was the composer of the music for another Jazz standard, “Lover Man”, recorded among many others, by the singer Billie Holiday.
In the 1940s with the emergence of Afro-Cuban Jazz, several Puerto Ricans made important contributions to this genre. Among the first, the pianist and orchestra director Noro Morales, creator of the classic “María Cervantes”. Other Puerto Ricans will stand out playing Afro-Cuban Jazz over the years, among them, Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri, brothers Jerry and Andy González, Papo Vázquez and Giovanni Hidalgo.
However, practically all the Puerto Rican musicians who stood out in Jazz during the first half of the 20th century did so in the United States.
A Boricua Jazz scene will not develop in Puerto Rico until the second half of the 20th century.
During the 1950s and 1960s, practically the only option to listen to live jazz in Puerto Rico were the hotels in San Juan, where great artists such as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Sammy Davis Jr. performed. Some of these artists recruited Puerto Rican musicians for their performances.
In the 1960s, musicians from the US, Charlie Rodrígues (saxophonist) and Dale Wales (trumpeter) created the San Juan Jazz Workshop, an institution that produced live Jazz events and brought together musicians in Puerto Rico who were already beginning to play jazz.
In the 1970s, El Taller de Jazz Don Pedro, founded by Ana Vélez and under the direction of her son Ramón Soto, continued the work of the San Juan Jazz Workshop. Taller de Jazz Don Pedro will produce jazz concerts during the last decades of the 20th century, bringing to Puerto Rico, Jazz legends such as Dexter Gordon, Betty Carter and Jimmy Heath. This organization was responsible for the return to Puerto Rico of pianist Hilton Ruiz and bassist Eddie Gómez, both with outstanding careers in international jazz. Gómez was the bassist for pianist Bill Evans from 1966 to 1977.
It was these two institutions, especially the Taller de Jazz Don Pedro, which in addition to live Jazz produced the first radio programs dedicated to jazz, and were responsible for the development of a Jazz scene in Puerto Rico. Soon after, the first Jazz clubs such as La Botella and The Place will begin to emerge in Old San Juan.
The first jazz festivals began to be organized in the 1980s, including the longest-lasting and internationally recognized, Puerto Rico Jazz Festival (1987 – 2017, 2024). This festival brought Jazz greats to Puerto Rico such as Michel Camilo, Mongo Santamaría, Roy Hargrove, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Tito Puente, Jerry González, Joe Lovano, Arturo Sandoval, Poncho Sánchez, Eliane Elias, Paquito D’Rivera, Chucho Valdés, Airto Moreira, Gato Barbieri, Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, Paco de Lucia, Joshua Redman, Danilo Pérez, Branford Marsalis, Roberta Gambarini, and many others.
During the 21st century, Jazz festivals were organized at different times in various towns; San Juan, Carolina, Mayagüez, Ponce, Luquillo, Cidra, Arecibo and Arroyo. The longest-running ones have been the Puerto Rico Jazz Jam, and those organized by the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and the Inter-American University.
Since the end of the 20th century, led by musicians such as William Cepeda, Papo Vázquez, Angel David Mattos, David Sánchez, and Miguel Zenón, an essentially Puerto Rican Latin Jazz sound has developed as the result of fusions of jazz with Puerto Rican music such as Bomba, Plena, Danzas and the so-called Puerto Rican jibaro music.
Currently, Puerto Rico has a very active Jazz scene, where live jazz can be heard every day of the week in multiple locations across the island, although only three Jazz clubs have been established since 2010; Il Jazz Club in El Condado (already closed), C-Note in Luquillo and Alegría Bistro Salsa Jazz in Old San Juan. Several Jazz radio shows are produced on different radio stations. And in the west of Puerto Rico, a radio station, Vid 90, broadcasts Jazz 24 hours a day.
At an international level, Puerto Rican musicians; Miguel Zenón (alto saxophone), David Sánchez (tenor saxophone), Ricky Rodríguez (bass), John Benítez (bass), Bobby Sanabria (percussion), Chembo Corniel (percussion), Edsel Gómez (piano), Henry Cole (drums), are recognized among the best in Jazz.
Edsel Gómez
The future of Puerto Rican jazz seems to be in good hands with young talent that continues to emerge from educational institutions such as the Interamerican University, the University of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, plus other young people who choose to study at United States institutions such as Berklee. College of Music in Boston.
About Wilbert Sostre
He is a Jazz Journalist, radio host and writer in Puerto Rico.
Author of the book “Boricua Jazz Puerto Jazz History”
Radio host and producer of Puerto Rico Jazz. Sundays 8am at Brave New Radio 88.7FM William Paterson University, New Jersey.
Radio host and producer of Jazzeando. Wednesdays 7pm at salseoradio.com
Member.of the Jazz Journalists Association.
Juror at 7 Virtual Jazz Club Contest since 2023.
