New York and the International Sound of Latin Music, 1940-1990
New York and the International Sound of Latin Music, 1940-1990
New York City has long been a generative nexus for the transnational Latin music scene. Currently, there is no other place in the Americas where such large numbers of people from throughout the Caribbean come together to make music. In this book, Benjamin Lapidus seeks to recognize all of those musicians under one mighty musical sound, especially those who have historically gone unnoticed.
Based on archival research, oral histories, interviews, and musicological analysis, Lapidus examines how interethnic collaboration among musicians, composers, dancers, instrument builders, and music teachers in New York City set a standard for the study, creation, performance, and innovation of Latin music. Musicians specializing in Spanish Caribbean music in New York cultivated a sound that was grounded in tradition, including classical, jazz, and Spanish Caribbean folkloric music. For the first time, Lapidus studies this sound in detail and in its context. He offers a fresh understanding of how musicians made and formally transmitted Spanish Caribbean popular music in New York City from 1940 to 1990.
Without diminishing the historical facts of segregation and racism the musicians experienced, Lapidus treats music as a unifying force. By giving recognition to those musicians who helped bridge the gap between cultural and musical backgrounds, he recognizes the impact of entire ethnic groups who helped change music in New York. The study of these individual musicians through interviews and musical transcriptions helps to characterize the specific and identifiable New York City Latin music aesthetic that has come to be emulated internationally.
The result is a comprehensive assessment of New York as the capital of Latin music from 1940 to 1990, as told by an active participant and an eyewitness.
New York and the International Sound of Latin Music, 1940-1990 is an important foundation for such endeavors and should inspire historians to think about how Gotham’s diverse population helped shape 20th-century musical traditions that were simultaneously American and Latinx.
Highly recommended.
Readers familiar with New York’s Latin scene will recognize fondly many of the individuals who grace these pages [and] make important contributions to the projects of documenting the Afro-diasporic origins and connections of Latin music and conducting serious archival and analytical research—featuring close readings of individual works and the examination of musical vocabularies and stylistic evolution over time—with Latin popular music as subject.
There are very few books that document the origin and development of Latin music in the US. 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 continued to be ignored, if not rescued by Ben Lapidus and his reporting. The book is obligatory reading, and I fully recommend it.
I had been waiting a long time for a comprehensive historical assessment of New York as the capital of Latin music in the mid-twentieth century. Benjamin Lapidus far exceeds expectations. His multilayered portrait is ambitious, meticulous, surprising, and a delight to read. Bravissimo!
In the enormous casserole that Lapidus uses to present this history, he does not forget an ingredient that many other authors leave out: women. And this musical chef, Lapidus, presents it in exquisite form. Enjoy it, bon appétit!
Based on extended interviews and incorporating insightful musical analysis, the author explores an array of fascinating topics: the history of Latin music pedagogy, the history of instrument makers and innovators, the contributions of Panamanian and Jewish musicians, the influence of female musicians and entrepreneurs, and the impact of the Mariel exodus on performance, to name only a few.
Lapidus’s book is a much-needed detailed history of Latin dance music’s storied place in New York City, giving the reader unique insights into the complexities and richness of the history of this music.
A major achievement, this book exuberantly shares with its readers the richness of music making during an extraordinarily fecund period of New York City’s history.
Benjamin Lapidus is a Grammy-nominated musician and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, and The Graduate Center. As a scholar he has published widely on Latin music, and he has performed and recorded throughout the world as a bandleader and supporting musician.
