Hey, what is all the fighting in this thread about I wonder.
Let me just throw in these three essentials:
1. Evolution (and there IS and has always been evolution)
2. Versatility (which also means NOT sticking to dogmas, fixed patterns etc.)
3. Improvisation (creative work of the players who really create something new)- is what constitutes the
essence of the
many shades of jazz,
including Latin Jazz.
So BnB nailed it here in my opinion:
bongosnotbombs wrote:There's plenty of congas in modern jazz nowadays. Congas in modern jazz often have a very different role than the older styles. Much more improvisational, nothing like salsa or son. That old school stuff is cool, but it is also old.
Again, nobody would not pay any respect to the great achievements the conga legends like the ones Johnny Conga mentioned have brought about.
It is simply a long journey from there to, say, the kind of Latin-inspired modern jazz or whatever you may call it that you find here, e.g.:
Check out
Don Byron´s "Music for Six Musicians" from 1995 http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/35447083-music-for-six-musicians , a masterpiece with Jerry Gonzales on conga and also Andy Gonzales on some tracks. Now that album is what I would call "creative work" on a strong Latin Jazz basis. Listen and you will understand what I mean. There has been a quasi-follow up-album also:
"You are #6" with Milton Cardona on congas, also great, some tracks with calypso rhythm.