Mario Bauzá

A talented section participant who rarely soloed, Mario Bauzá’s primary importance to music was behind the moments among the primary instigators of Afro-Cuban jazz, the potent combination of Latin rhythms with jazz improvisation. A multi-instrumentalist, Bauzá performed clarinet and oboe using the Havana Philharmonic before shifting to NY in 1930. Throughout a stint with Noble Sissle in 1932, he turned to trumpet. As musical movie director with Chick Webb (1933-1938), Bauzá helped convince the drummer from the potential greatness of Ella Fitzgerald. He was with Don Redman during 1938-1939, and Cab Calloway (1939-1941). Bauzá was mainly in charge of Calloway employing Dizzy Gillespie, and in 1947 he’d introduce Gillespie to Chano Pozo. Bauzá became the longtime musical movie director of his brother-in-law Machito’s orchestra (1941-1976), motivating Machito to include jazz solos to his music. In the 1980s and early ’90s as the top of his personal Afro-Cuban orchestra, Mario Bauzá (who got long since abandoned playing trumpet) documented three superb albums of his preparations and lastly received some reputation for his essential efforts to music.