Clave in non-traditional music?

[jorge]

JC,
Me a name I call my self ...
tu me llama, respondo en clave.

Seriously, I am just one of the rumberos in Central Park, started playing rumba about 1971, so we probably have played together at some point in the park, and we definitely know a lot of the same people. Right now, I mainly play rumba, but many years ago I have played with different local salsa, funk, and jazz groups, mostly in NJ. De procedencia, soy parte judio y parte cubano, pero desafortunadamente, todavia no soy millonario...

Regarding the clave question, here is my very opinionated view. I think that even among cuban drummers, clave is a learned behavior, it is like a habit. I am sure some cuban children of rumberas starting learning it in the womb before they were born, but even with the best drummers, it is still an effort to stay in clave ALL the time. Disciplining yourself to always stay in clave requires playing in clave as much as possible. I think it probably degrades your sense of clave to play too much music with a loose clave. Playing music where clave is not an issue, like jazz or funk or country and western, is probably fine, but in music that is based on clave, once you get used to crossing the clave and it doesn't bother you, ya ta' jodido. Especially if you ever want to play rumba or music with a tight clave. Amado Dedeu (Clave y Guaguanco) once told me if someone crosses the clave, it should feel "como un palo, un choque al cuerpo entero", a shock to your whole system. If it was you, fix it quick before too many people hear it, antes que te botan de la rumba. My right wing "clave fundamentalist" 2 cents worth...



Edited By jorge on 1171944981