Havana, Cuba

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Lore & Background

The Havana Jam festival grew out of a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations. In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Cuban President Fidel Castro started to loosen political tension and opened Interest Sections in Havana and Washington, D.C. In April 1978, CBS Records director Bruce Lundvall made a four-day trip to Havana, taking great interest in Cuban music, especially Afro-Cuban jazz band Irakere. After months of discussion, Lundvall signed Irakere, and in July the group traveled to New York to perform an unannounced guest set at the Newport Jazz Festival-New York. Rave reviews led to an invitation from the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. A few months later, Irakere won their first Grammy with the album Irakere, recorded at their Montreux and Newport performances. In the fall of 1978, Lundvall joined forces with Fania Records director Jerry Masucci and convinced Cuban cultural authorities to organize a three-day festival in Havana with Cuban and American musicians. The event, spontaneously titled Havana Jam, was set for March 2 through 4, 1979. Lundvall brought aboard Jock McLean and Phil Sandhaus of Columbia's artists development department, who enlisted Showco and Studio Instrument Rentals. By early February, the roster was set. Rehearsals were scheduled, travel accommodations made, equipment rented, media invited, and recording and videotaping plans confirmed. Record producers Bert DeCoteaux and Mike Berniker flew down with a crew from CBS Recording Studios and a mobile 24-track Recording Studio from Record Plant NY. The musicians landed at José Martí airport on March 1. Havana Jam was an invitation-only event, with mostly cultural personalities and members of the Communist Party and their children in attendance, though some students from art and music schools were also invited. The festival was hardly mentioned in the Cuban press, and thirty years later, not many Cubans knew it ever existed.

In Their Own Story

On Friday, March 2, 1979, Weather Report opened the show at the Karl Marx Theatre, offering an assortment of sound effects before launching into their set. The audience repeatedly rose to its feet, setting the festival's prevailing mood of 'music over politics.' Backstage, Weather Report's members (Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius and Peter Erskine) were congratulated by Cuban musicians and fans, most of whom knew the group's repertoire through Florida radio stations such as WQAM, WGBS, WKWF and WLCY. Weather Report was followed by Conjunto Yaguarimú, featuring vocalists Zaida Arrate and Pacho Alonso, and then Orquesta Aragón, which played dynamic music using its Charanga sound of violins, cello, flute, and rhythm section. Because the concert ran late and people began leaving due to the midnight public transportation curfew, the Fania All-Stars performed to a half-empty house. Their ensemble included Rubén Blades, Johnny Pacheco, Pete Rodríguez, Héctor Lavoe, Larry Harlow, Santos Colón, Luigi Texidor, Pupi Legarreta, Papo Lucca, Roberto Roena, Adalberto Santiago, Sal Cuevas, Wilfrido Vargas, and more. Saturday, March 3, began with the CBS Jazz All-Stars, composed of Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Jimmy Heath, Arthur Blythe, Woody Shaw, Hubert Laws, Bobby Hutcherson, Willie Bobo, Cedar Walton, Percy Heath and Tony Williams. The Trio of Doom—John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius, and Tony Williams—followed. A third ensemble of Blythe, Jimmy Heath, Laws, Bobo, Richard Tee, Rodney Franklin, Eric Gale, John Lee and Gerry Brown played two selections. The highlight was the 25-member Cuban Percussion Ensemble, featuring Tata Güines, Los Papines, Guillermo Barreto and Changuito, backed by pianist Frank Emilio and his quartet. Stephen Stills then performed a high-energy rock 'n' roll set with Bonnie Bramlett and Mike Finnigan, jumping into the audience to sing a salute titled 'Cuba Al Fin.' Irakere closed the show, joined by Rodney Franklin, Richard Tee, John McLaughlin, Willie Bobo, Stan Getz, Jaco Pastorius and others, ending at 3 A.M. Sunday, March 4, featured trombone player Juan Pablo Torres, Cuban singer Elena Burke, then Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge backed by Billy Swan and others. Sara González sang accompanied by Pablo Milanés y Grupo Manguaré. Billy Joel performed the finale, but unlike most acts, his performance was not recorded or videotaped.

Reader's Guide

Havana Jam was a three-day music festival held at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana, Cuba, from March 2 to March 4, 1979. It was sponsored by Bruce Lundvall (president of Columbia Records), Jerry Masucci (president of Fania Records), and the Cuban Ministry of Culture. The festival featured American acts such as Weather Report, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Stephen Stills, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnigan, Kris Kristofferson, Tony Williams, Jaco Pastorius, John McLaughlin, Rita Coolidge, and Billy Joel. Cuban acts included Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Zaida Arrate, Elena Burke, Orquesta de Santiago de Cuba, Conjunto Yaguarimú, Frank Emilio Flynn, Juan Pablo Torres, Los Papines, Tata Güines, Cuban Percussion Ensemble, Sara González, Pablo Milanés, Manguaré, and Orquesta Aragón. The event was invitation-only, attended mostly by cultural personalities, Communist Party members and their children, and some art and music school students. It was hardly mentioned in the Cuban press, and thirty years later, not many Cubans knew it existed. After the festival, Columbia released two double albums: Havana Jam and Havana Jam 2. The Fania All-Stars set was released as Havana Jam on Fania. The Trio of Doom performance was released in 2007 as Trio of Doom. The event is recollected in Ernesto Juan Castellanos's 2009 documentary Havana Jam '79.

Did You Know?

• The Havana Jam festival was spontaneously titled 'Havana Jam' and took place at the Karl Marx Theatre from March 2 to March 4, 1979.
• The festival was sponsored by Bruce Lundvall (president of Columbia Records), Jerry Masucci (president of Fania Records), and the Cuban Ministry of Culture.
• Irakere won their first Grammy with the album Irakere, recorded at their Montreux Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival performances before the Havana Jam.
• Billy Joel's performance at the festival was not recorded or videotaped, unlike most other acts.
• The festival was hardly mentioned in the Cuban press, and thirty years later, not many Cubans knew it ever existed.