Latino Music Cafe

Benny Moré: Cuba’s King of Rhythm and Improvisation

Posted on 25. Aug, 2009 by Hector Aviles in Latino Music

Benny Moré revolutionized the Latin music scene with his singing and suberb sense of music. His improvisations while singing, prolific song writting, and his “Giant Band”, made him one of the greats of Latin music. Bartolome Maximiliano Moré Gutierrez, was born a day like today, August 24th, 90 years ago in the neighborhood of “Pueblo Nuevo” in the town of Santa Isabel de las Lajas in Cuba.

Benny’s Career Highlights:

Benny Moré was not a very educated musician, as he was self-thought, something not unusual in those days in Cuba, as another contemporary and great Cuban master of the Son, Arsenio Rodriguez, learned to play the Cuban “tres” guitar mostly by himself. Benny Moré was a superb singer. He started at a very early age, by singing in bars and cafes when he was a teenager. He developed a unique style, and besides having a great ear for the various Cuban rhythms, he became a prolific song writer as well.

His professional career began after having lost in a Cuban radio show singing competition (I guess these would be the very 1st versions of “American Idol”), and decided to compete again, obtaining the win. From there, he started singing and recording with some groups. His big break came when Miguel Matamorros, founder of the famous “Trio Matamorros” could not sing one night and had Benny substitute for him. From there, Benny Moré became the group’s main singer, and Miguel Matamorros stayed as the group’s leader.
In 1945, Benny traveled to Mexico with the “Trio Matamorros” and became very popular there. He left the Matamorros to sing and record with other groups in Mexico, and also participated in approximately 15 movies. Some of the footage of those movies is what we have left of Benny, besides his numerous recordings.  His fame spread to other countries in Latin America, like Colombia, Venezuela, and Panama, but not to Cuba. So he returned to Cuba in 1950, and sang there with Bebo Valdes (father of Irakere’s founder Chucho Valdes) and later with the Orquesta Aragón. He was offered to record with La Sonora Matancera, as it was that group’s custom t record with the most famous artist of the time, whether they were from Cuba or elsewhere, but Benny refused, supposedly because he didn’t like the sound of the Sonora.

In the mid-1950’s Benny Moré put together his “Giant Band” composed of 40 musicians. His “Giant Band” became a hit, and he again traveled throughout Latin America. Benny Moré died in 1963, at the young age of 43 of complication of cirrhosis. The below video shows Benny Moré with his “Giant Band” performing “Vertiente Camaguey”, and includes some short interviews with some of his ex-band members, and also with Celia Cruz to provide context. Watch the video below:

Great singer and song writer:

Benny was a great singer, and a prolific song writer. He could sing Son, Guaguanco, Rumba, and many other latin music rhythms, including Boleros. But one of the most important qualities that distinguished him as a singer was his ability for improvisation. Benny Moré could improvise on almost any occasion. Besides his most famous nickname “El Bárbaro del Ritmo” (The Barbarous of Rhythm) he was also known as “Sonero Mayor”, a fact which I just learned today from an article I read in MSN Latino (”Cuba Celebra a Benny Moré en su Natalicio Noventa“). The artist most people associate with “El Sonero Mayor” is Puerto Rico’s Ismael Rivera, another great improviser of his time. As Benny, Ismael Rivera could improvise in Bomba, Plena, Son, Guaracha, or almost any latin music rhythm.

Improvisation: the lost art:

Unfortunately, the art of improvisation is a lost art. Most salsa singers don’t improvise much. And I have to say, this is not a new decease of the younger generation. This is has been occuring in Salsa for some time now.  There are many singers that can sing with a great voice, and some with good “clave” and great “soneos” in the recordings. But when they come to perform live, many just sing the very same “soneos” they sang on the record, and that’s it. Some orchestras would almost force their singers to improvise by extending the songs, particularly the “chorous-soneo” interchanges. But many singers who lead their own bands, prefer to play the songs almost exactly as they were recorded, with not a single additional note. I see this as a disrespect for the listening public. If I’m going to hear exactly the same thing that was recorded, I might just as well buy the recording and save my event money for something or someone else.

Next time you go to a concert, pay attention to see if the band deviates from the recording, either by extending the song, adding a 2nd or 3rd mambo which was not in the recording, adding a new chorous , or simply using new soneos. See how many artists actually do this. You’ll find there are only a few.  One band that distinguished itself in this aspect was the Conjunto Clásico. If you heard them live, you will hear something that was not in the recording, in almost every song. Because of Ramón Rodriguez, they frequently added a new chorus, and may add a new mambo to go with the new chorous. The irony is that the band’s singer Tito Nieves, although a great singer, did not improvise all that much.

I don’t think that the lack of improvisations is due to a lack of the ability to do so, but rather, it may be because singers and leaders don’t give improvisation any importance. Perhaps bands value more singing well known “soneos” and “playing it safe”, even if they need to repeat them time and again within the song, than coming up with new ones. I mean, how difficult coming with new “soneos” could be? Even on the way to a gig, the singer can surely spare 10 minutes of this time to think of some soneos for  his songs. We are not talking here about true improvisation like its done in a Puerto Rican folk music “pie forzado” (literally translated “forced foot”) where the singer (improviser) is giving how he must end his “décimas” (ten line rhyme verses) with the ending phrase that was just handed to him in a piece of paper as the song starts. Now we are talking of a much higher level of improvisation, when the singer must mentally compose 10-line verses with particular partterns of rhyme, and ending them with what they just learned is the “pie forzado”. THAT IS IMPROVISING! In Salsa, singer know what their songs and chorous are, and can surely come up with some pre-fabricated new “soneos”. I’d be happy even with that.

Good Improvisers in SalsaToday:

There are still a few good improvisers in Salsa today. I’ll start with one of my favorites from the “old guard”, Venezuelan Oscar D’Leon. I have a video of Oscar improvising a line right on the spot as he saw someone in a live concert throwing an object. Immediately he delivered a line condemning the act, and ended it magnificently saying that there is no one to nurse the injured, rhyming perfectly with the chorous.

Gilberto Santa Rosa

Another great improviser is Gilberto Santa Rosa. He can mix up his soneos, and has the uncanny ability to use old song phrases in new song “soneos”. Another singer that can do this very well is Cano Estremera. Cano Estremera calls himself el “Dueño del Soneo” (owner of the “soneo”), and although he is good, his half of his improvisations don’t make any sense. The other half may range from good to brilliant.

Other notables in improvisation today are Victor Manuelle, Jose Alberto “El Canario”, Domingo Quiñones (although rarely in shows, unless it’s a competition), Hermán Olivera, and Cuban Isaac Delgado. I have not heard Cuban Adalberto Alvarez or Pupy Santiago sign live, to be albe to judge them.  Choco Orta used to hold her ground well improvising during her early Salsa Fever days, but it has rained a lot since then and I have not heard her live since.

On Benny Moré’s 90th birthday, I wish Benny would wish from heaven that Salsa singers bring back the art of improvisation. It makes Salsa so much better to listen to, just like you enjoy a nice Jazz piece when played live because although the song follows a certain arrangement, you will rarely hear that song played exactly the same way twice.

My Recommendations:

I’m not a collectionist of Benny Moré recordings, so I can’t recommend you anything first hand. Although I’m in the process of expanding my collection and like Arsenio Rodriguez, almost anything from Benny Moré will be good.

Tito Puente Homenaje a Benny Moré

However, I will recommend you get Tito Puente’s album “Homenaje a Benny Moré” (the 1st one, not Vol. 2). This is a Grammy Award winning 1979 recording, with Tito Puente bringing together an All Star cast of musicians and singers, which include Cheo Feliciano, Celia Cruz, Adalberto Santiago, Santos Colon, Héctor Casanova, Nestor Sanchez, Junior Gonzalez, and Luigi Texidor among others.  I like the selection of songs and the execution of both, Tito Puente’s big band, which is at its best, and the guest singers. It’s truly a joy to listen to this classic, and is no surprise it got Tito Puente his 1st of 5 Grammy’s. Almost all tracks in this recording are excellent, but my favorite in this recording full of son montunos and guaguancos, is the bolero “Encantado de la Vida”, masterfully song by a duet of Celia Cruz and Cheo Feliciano, with Tito Puente doing his usually superb art in the vibraphone. This is one recording that should not be missing in your Salsa collection.

Enjoy below the audio clip of the song “Encantado de la Vida”, with Celia Cruz and Cheo Feliciano.

I would love to hear what are your Benny Moré favorites! Feel free to add your comments below!

Happy Birthday Benny!

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Tags: aragon, Arsenio Rodriguez, Bebo Valdes, cuban music, matamorros, salsa, Tito Puente