Afro-Cuban Jazz - Clave License

Clave License

More than a half century ago, Mario Bauzá developed arranging in-clave to a high art. Another name for clave is guide-pattern, and that is certainly how Bauzá related to it. Bauzá taught Tito Puente, and Puente's arrangers in turn, learned from him. The techniques were passed down from one generation to the next. It's worth noting that many of the highly educated, new generation of Cuban musicians reject the idea of 3-2/2-3 clave. Both the clave genius Dafnis Prieto, and Alain Pérez, an important innovator in timba and Cuban jazz, reject the concept. Many of the younger musicians even reject the fundamental concept of "clave rules." Pérez states: "I just don't treat the clave as a study or a profound analysis conceived around where it overlaps and where it comes in. I didn't learn it in that way" (2002: web). New York-based Bobby Sanabria laments the pervasiveness of this attitude in Cuba: "The lack of clave consciousness in Cuba is starting to be felt more and more where the rhythmic equilibrium established by the clave direction is being sacrificed due to lack of knowledge in how to work with it from an arranging standpoint by young arrangers especially in the timba movement" (2010: 251). Perhaps Juan Formell, founder of Los Van Van, summed up this contemporary Cuban clave attitude best when he said: "We Cubans like to think we have clave license . . . and we don't feel obsessed about the clave as many others do" (1999: 16). There is currently a "clave schism" between these two schools of thought.