Beyond Salsa Piano, Volume 8

[davidpenalosa]

Beyond Salsa Piano, Volume 8; Iván “Melón” Lewis Part 3 by Kevin Moore
Reviewed by David Peñalosa

There are just a few books that are mandatory reading for students of Cuban popular music, salsa and Latin jazz. Kevin Moore’s Beyond Salsa Piano series should be included in any short list. Moore’s broad musical knowledge ranges from the intricacies of the Cuban batá drum repertoire to advanced jazz harmony, to the works of Beethoven. These diverse disciplines have served him well as a leading global authority on timba music.

With Volume 8; Iván “Melón” Lewis Part 3, Kevin Moore takes us deeper inside the piano tumbaos (guajeos) of Melón, one of the most important pianists of the genre. First we are shown the basic parts and then, variations follow in a logical development. The rhythmic and harmonic aspects of each variation are described in detail. As always, Moore provides comprehensive audio and video companion products to aid us in our endeavor to learn this infectious music.

Certain rhythmic elements like independent contrapuntal voices, contraclave figures and figure displacement, are staples of timba piano and can be confusing to musicians new to the music. There has been considerable discussion over the years concerning the unconventional rhythmic inventions of timba. Moore is the first to codify these inventions. He demonstrates that timba does not merely “break” clave conventions; these are a new class of contrapuntal conventions, created specifically for this music.

“Many salsa pianists are alarmed when they first study timba and encounter measures that either contradict the clave or fail to mark it decisively. It is an understandable concern, because when dealing with tumbaos whose rhythm patterns last only one clave, that rhythm either marks the clave or it doesn’t. However, when the rhythmic pattern lasts two or four claves, it gives the creative pianist the leeway to choose where, and how strongly, to mark the clave. If you mark the clave decisively every other measure, the listeners and dancers will learn to anticipate it.

As such, you can use clave polarity for artistic effect, creating tension with passages that leave the clave ambiguous or even contradict it, making the resolution to strong clave-alignment all the more satisfying when it comes” (p. 41).

While Moore presents the music within a “timba-as-incremental-progress” framework, Melón takes the music to a “brave new world.” The goal is to achieve a state of controlled improvisation, as Moore calls it. This is a very high level of clave-based accompaniment; timba piano tumbaos function in the traditional role of melodic vamp, but they also expand, contract and play tricks with time in unprecedented ways. Beat “one” may suddenly become elusive, cross-rhythm and offbeats may strongly contradict the meter, or the harmony may be momentarily displaced. That these techniques are easily adaptable for solos is a given. Fulfilling the role of accompaniment with this degree of groove and creativity is an elusive and enticing goal worth learning. Beyond Salsa Piano, Volume 8; Iván “Melón” Lewis Part 3 will take you there.

[JohnnyConga]

What are volumes 1 thru 7?...what are the series of Books called and where are they available at?...Johnny Conga

[vasikgreif]

You can get the whole serie here: http://www.latinpulsemusic.com/search/r ... no&x=0&y=0 , that's where I bought Vol. 5 - 9... This is really great resource for any cuban-music interested pianist, lots of advanced montunos and info in there, and Kevin is a really knowleadgeable and nice guy to talk with... I already learned some of the montunos, another lots of them still waiting for me...

[davidpenalosa]

You can check out ("Look Inside" feature) the entire series at Amazon.com.
-David