Tropical Riffs: Latin America & The Politics of Jazz by Jason Borge (review)

Inspired by omissions in major North American jazz retrospectives, such as Ken Burns's comprehensive 2001 Jazz series that aired on public television, Jason Borge explores the Latin American presence within this multifaceted transnational genre.

Borge argues that jazz outside the United States should not be considered solely as local adaptations of a US musical genre that mixes with unique perspectives within each of the countries and contexts where it has been incorporated. By focusing on jazz as a symbol of cosmopolitan modernity, Latin Americans incorporated these multilayered expressions into the fabric of their own musical and cultural experiences, while confronting issues of US cultural dominance in relation to nationalism, culture, race, and gender.

The book begins with an exploration of jazz's arrival in Latin American cultures in the 1920s. Latin American audiences experienced limited opportunities to hear live jazz performances; therefore, the genre was primarily promoted through written accounts and Hollywood movies, which helped to frame notions of African-American musical aesthetics. Jazz quickly became incorporated into the writings of various intellectuals as a promising icon of avant-garde movements, but its celebrated reception later turned to caution, with fears of US cultural dominance.

An important element discussed in this opening chapter is the process of negotiating the extent of connections between jazz and other African-descended forms of Latin American musical genres, while maintaining notions of "Argentinian," "Brazilian," and "Cuban" national identity. Borge pursues these issues in more detail in subsequent chapters, specifically focusing on Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba. He continually argues that issues of "urban modernization, hemispheric geopolitics, and transnational cultural production" (9) help to define and negotiate these boundaries in each specific case. The concluding chapters analyze the dynamic results of these exchanges in recent decades, and how they relate to capitalism, technology, and transnationalism. As a result, Borge intends to highlight this collage of musical creativity as a collective, dynamic pan-American musical expression.

Even though this book is presented with thoughtful and extensive research, some additional perspectives could have been incorporated. For example, in addition to Burns's video project, there are similar Latin jazz retrospectives that could have been included in this discussion, such as Roots of Rhythm, a mid 1980s multi-part series exclusively devoted to celebrating Latin American contributions to the genre of jazz, hosted by Harry Belafonte and aired on public television.

Focusing on the emergence of jazz beginning in the early twentieth century, Borge frames music and dance genres such as tango and samba as popular genres. If a longer historical time frame had been incorporated into this discussion, however, the broader conversation would demonstrate that the development of these popular music and dance forms began as lower-class innovations, were then exported to Europe, and then transformed and re-imported to the countries of origin as higher-status elite art forms. This conversation may help to portray a more nuanced understanding of the movement, collision, and ultimate acceptance or rejection of jazz within these various multifaceted transnational art forms.

Although Borge clearly identifies and discusses jazz as a cultural and historical phenomenon, with occasional demonstrations of lyrics about the meaning of jazz in specific contexts, there does not appear to be discussion of the actual music itself. Comparative assessments would illuminate how chord changes, melodies, improvisation, and rhythms inherent in US jazz could be perceived as similar or different from those found in Latin American jazz. Borge points out oversights of musicians who have been minimized or excluded from the canons of US jazz history, such as Afro-Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo; however, there is no mention of successful 1980s collaborations by Latin American and US artists such as Egberto Gismonti and Nana Vasconcelos, or Wayne Shorter and Milton Nascimento.

In summary, this strong survey comprehensively investigates notions of jazz and its perceived potential to corrupt or diminish central genres of national expression throughout Latin America.