By 1934, the blind musician/bandleader Arsenio Rodriguez had already transformed Afro-Cuban music by revolultionizing the Son-rhythm. In 1935, he had become known around Cuba as the inventor of the Mambo rhythm, for which he created the official syllabus in 1937.

     Replacing the last forty seconds of the Danzón with a much faster tempo characterized by improvisation of the trumpets over a cohesive all-in instrumentation and the same pronounced bass-syncopated rhythm, Arsenio would yell out “Diablo” to his musicians to signal the musical change during performances. This quickly grew in such popularity that the Catholic priests urged him to use a different word, since ‘Diablo’ gave credit to the devil – Satan; he then changed it from “Diablo” to yelling out “Mambo!!”

     Other prominent musicians began to emulate the exciting musical changes of this new rhythm, which they observed while Arsenio performed for large parties. Among them were Antonio Arcaño and his bassist Orestes López (a founding member of the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra and then later a prominent member of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba) as well as López’s brother Israel “Cachao” López of the Havana Symphonic Orchestra (in which he stayed for over thirty years). For example, Orestes and Israel played guitar as well as cello – and often alternated while playing together in the same orchestras.

     During that short transition from “Diablo” to “Mambo,” for the lack of a proper title, Arcaño and López created their own title for the rhythm – calling it “Danzón Nuevo Ritmo.”

Machito / Legendary Afro-Cuban vocalist and bandleader / © LIC 84959

     By the time Arsenio Rodriguez finally got into the recording-studio, the Mambo rhythm (and the Son-Montuno rhythm, also invented by Rodriguez) had already begun spreading across Cuba, Latin-America, and New York.

     By 1941, Cuban greats Machito and Mario Bauzá had already relocated to New York City and had already become huge names – collaborating with Cab Calloway, Dizzie Gillespie, and Chick Webb.

     The Mambo and Son-Montuno rhythms were still evolving, but by 1944, Machito and Bauza had begun popularizing their own variations of Mambo and Son-Montuno.

Tito Puente Sr / Legendary Bandleader, Arranger, Multi-instrumentalist / Jazz Journalists Association

     By 1945, the extraordinary bandleader and arranger, songwriter, timbalero and multi-instrumentalist Tito Puente was easily one of the greatest contributors to popularizing Mambo in New York City and around the world with his arrangements, some of which are today, perhaps the most famous, including Ran Kan Kan and Mambo Gazón and Babarabatiri.

     Most, if not all, of today’s Salsa international choreographers perform to Puente’s music, including Eddie Torres, Adolfo Indacochea and Tania Cannarsa, Juan Matos, and Franklin Díaz.

Cuban Pete & Millie Donay, Palladium Ballroom / © LIC 84952

     Dancing in New York, between 1945 and 1949, went through another transformation – inspired by the arrival of Mambo. Today, dancers may be familiar with the word Mambo because it is used as titles of two distinct dance-styles.

     The Palladium Mambo (aka Classic Mambo or Classic On2), which is the original style of the Mambo danced at the Palladium, was pioneered by dancers such as Pedro “Cuban Pete” Aguilar, Andy Jerrick, Carmen Cruz, Augie and Margo, Freddy Rios and Mike Ramos, and Millie Donay, among others, as was wonderfully presented in a documentary about the Palladium. This style has the lead’s first step forward on beat 2 with the left foot – essentially it is 2-3-4, 6-7-8.

Freddy Ríos and Mike Ramos / Palladium Mambo Legends

Arsenio Rodriguez / © LIC 84968

     The Son-Montuno rhythm, the king of all Afro-Cuban rhythms, was also invented by the blind bandleader – Arsenio Rodriguez; the syllabus was written in 1939. From the days of Rodriguez in Cuba during the early 40’s all the way to 5 o’clock in the morning at any Salsa festival or recording-studio around the world today – the Son-Montuno was and remains the most-played, most danced-to, and most-arranged rhythm of all – for musicians and dancers!

     What some consider the predecessor of the Son and Son-Montuno is a rhythm called Changüí, which dates back to as far back as 1821, however its popularity was strongest from around 1876 to 1923. This rhythm features Spanish guitar and vocal melody fused with African tribal rhythms. The central instruments consisted of the tres (playing Son chord-progressions), bongos, güiro, the marímbula (which had a low tone, used in place of the contra-bass), and the human-voice (featuring a repetitive chorus rooted from the villages in the mountains, which eventually became what is known today as the Montuno rhythm). With the tres-guitar and marímbula playing chord-progressions of Son – and the vocalists singing repetitive choruses, it is for this reason that it is said that Changüí led to the Son-Montuno.

     The explicit details of the Son-Montuno are presented through a popular academic program, but the simplest description of the rhythm is that Arsenio modified the Son rhythm by changing the musical chord-progression – interchangeable between 3/2 clave and 2/3 clave (in music-language, the Son-Montuno is a 1-4-5 chord-progression played on the and-beats).

     Plus, he added a small touch of the Montuno (influence of repitition), and the rhythm can be played at fast and at slow tempos; one dances Cha-Cha-Chá and Son-Montuno to the slower tempos – and Mambo and Son to the faster ones.

Benny Moré, Legendary bandleader and vocalist / © Cuba Absolutely

     As noted above, a handful of advanced Cuban greats left Cuba – taking with them their own interpretations of Mambo and Son-Montuno; among them – Benny Moré – a loyal friend and admirer of Rodriguez.

     In the fifties, after great success with Pérez Prado who pioneered in Mambo, Moré returned to his beloved Cuba where he became known as perhaps Cuba’s greatest sonero; his preferred rhythms were Bolero and Son-Montuno (there may not be a single salsero on the planet who hasn’t heard two of the most famous Son-Montunos of all-time – “Que Bueno Baila Usted” and “Bonito y Sabroso” – both by Moré.

     But, by 1941, Arsenio Rodriguez had already completely revolutionized the Son rhythm.

     For example, Rodriguez was the first to popularize the tumbadora (congas), to replace the bongo with the cowbell during the Mambo sections (Mambo section – different from Mambo rhythm), the first to popularize replacing one of the guitars with the piano – making the piano a central instrument in Afro-Cuban music, and the first to add more than one trumpet – eventually having four trumpets, and then expanded by adding baritone and tenor saxophones.

     And, in addition to inventing the Mambo and Son-Montuno, Rodriguez invented the Guaguancó Solar, which today is the most popular form of Guaguancó played at concerts, Salsa festivals and Salsa dance-studios on the planet!

     However, the Guaguancó Solar also seems to be the most-debated Afro-Cuban rhythm of all, due to the absence of the Rumba clave or the variance from the tradition Guaguancó.

Arsenio Rodriguez / © LIC 84971

     In 1941, Arsenio Rodriguez also revolutionized Rumba – creating a new rhythm called Guaguancó Solar.

     Originally, the Guaguancó was a percussion-only rhythm (drums) – without any melodic instruments (in other words, without guitar, piano, trumpets, or saxophone). The only melodic instrument which was the human voice – as a solo instrument or in unison with other voices, which made up a repetitive chorus.

     But, Arsenio’s Guaguancó was unlike anything anyone had ever heard or danced to before! He brilliantly added the musical structure of Son (the theme and chorus & response structure) and its melodic chord-progression, and combined these with heavy percussion of earlier versions of Guaguancó – thus creating an entirely new sound called Guaguancó Solar. The dancers went wild, according to interviews conducted for the documentary Part I La Epoca – The Palladium Era.

© LIC 84965

     Examples of the beautiful Guaguancó rhythm include his most famous “Fiesta en el Solar” which begins as a Matanzero-style of Guaguancó (heard in the tumbao of the tumbadora/conga drums).

     But then, in the last third of his arrangement, Rodriguez introduces (on the tres-guitar) a Son-Montuno called “Para La Niña y Señora” – and in another song by Rodriguez titled “Oiga Mi Guaguanco”, the bass-syncopation plays a standard Mambo tumbao. Years later, both of these arrangements by Rodriguez became the foundation for what is perhaps the most famous Guaguancó Solar of all – “Para La Niña y Señora” by Tito Puente (in which Puente has the clave-pattern tapped by a campana (which he muffled using a towel).

     Tito Puente popularized the energetic and smooth Guaguancó Solar with “Para La Niña y Señora” and with one of the other most popular of all – “Oye Mi Guaguancó.”

     Both of these songs have been the subject of intense debates among today’s dancers who ask the most common question when it comes to the Guaguancó rhythm: “This song sounds like a Mambo, so why are they singing that it’s a ‘Guaguancó’ when it’s not a Guaguancó”?

Tito Puente and Machito / © LIC 84987