Latin Music USA: It's Gonna Move You - WGBH

AudioFile
In celebration of Latin Music USA, the new WGBHproduced
TV documentary premiering this month
(see page 10), WGBH Radio hosts will be featuring
Latino artists in every genre—from classical to
Celtic to that uniquely American art form, jazz.
Latin rhythms have been part of jazz since its
birth in the steamy streets of New Orleans. The
infusion of Latin melodies and rhythm became
part of mainstream jazz in the 1940s, with greats
like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie blending
Latin beats into toe-tapping big band music. From
mambo to bossa nova, salsa to tango, Latin roots
have shaped popular music in the US and continue
to add to the country’s musical conversation.
Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo
Pérez is among the most influential and dynamic
musicians of our time. In just over a decade, his
distinctive blend of pan-American jazz (covering
the music of the Americas, folkloric and world
music) has attracted critical acclaim and loyal
audiences. AudioFile’s Jen Goebel recently talked
with Pérez about his music, his foundation and
the life of a Latin jazz artist.
QHow did you first get interested in
music?
was born into a musical environment. My
A
I
father was a singer, and he gave me a pair of
bongos when I was two years old. He played records
for me all the time, and I just grew up with it.
QWhat do you hope people hear in your
music?
A
Adventure, and the power of the diversity. I
grew up in a wonderful country: Panama is a
meeting point and a transit point because of the
canal, and has an incredible array of influences.
There’s everything from tango to Panamanian
folklore to salsa to Bob Marley to indigenous music
to classical. I like to experience playing with no
boundaries—I think of it as an international
meeting point with no immigration officers.
QIs there a particular piece of music that
influenced you at a young age?
A
When I was seven, I heard Papo Lucca, a
Puerto Rican pianist with a salsa group called
La Sonora Ponceña. He was a big influence on me:
there was a piece he played that had an outstanding
piano solo. I also remember hearing Louis
Armstrong playing and singing Hello Dolly! That
was pretty amazing, too.
Want convenient WGBH Radio reminders? Sign up for our free @89.7 e-newsletter at
wgbh.org/newsletters, or call 617-300-3300.
Danilo Pérez: Latin Jazz at Home in Boston
QWhat are you working on now?
A
I’m very excited to be leading the Berklee
Global Jazz Institute as its artistic director. One
of the goals of the Institute is to explore the social
power of music as a tool for social change. On
another note, I’m also putting together a band
called The Healing Band with international
musicians, and our mission is to perform music
to promote world peace.
QHow can music bring about social
change?
A
Music teaches important values. In music,
you can’t cheat. If I give you a piece of music,
you have to practice, you can’t write the answer on
your hand. Another value music teaches is teamwork.
We are bombarded with ways to be separate,
with ways to be isolated. Music challenges that
environment, and teaches you that the success of
a performance depends on your cooperation with
the other musicians. With jazz, you are free to say
what you want to say, but it has to work in context.
The other very important lesson music teaches is
respect. You have to listen to each other for
success. Music is about listening. Those values—
honesty, harmony, teamwork and respect—are
very powerful tools for social change.
QTell me about your foundation.
A
About five years ago, I started the Fundación
Danilo Pérez here in Panama to bring music
to kids. We’re working in a complicated area with
lots of gangs. We use music to re-incorpporate
gang members and children at risk into society
and help them become productive citizens. And,
about seven years ago, we started the annual
Panama Jazz Festival with Berklee College of Music
and the New England Conservatory, where they
offer educational programs for kids, youth and
adults from all over Latin America.
QHow did you come to Boston?
I was six years old, my family came to
A
When
Boston to visit an uncle of ours, and that’s
when I told my mother that this is where I wanted
to live. After I finished high school in Panama, I
went to college in Pittsburgh to study electronics,
but I had a friend at Berklee who kept telling me
how great it was, and about all that was going on
in Boston. So I applied, without any expectations,
and I won the Quincy Jones Scholarship.
QWhat’s the most challenging part of your
work?
A
Fundraising. That’s very difficult. But I have
learned to take the things I don’t like and look
at them as challenges. I am a superb optimist, and
I love to improvise, so trying to figure out how to
achieve a goal is exciting to me.
QWhat’s your favorite thing about being
a musician?
A
You know, the answer has changed over the
years. When I started, I loved the applause and
all the goodies that come with performing. But
now, I value the power and the responsibility that
comes with being able, with a note or a chord, to
light a fire in somebody’s heart. People sometimes
tell me that listening to a piece of music I wrote or
a performance I did helped them in some way, and
I love that. I feel that when you play music, you
become a servant to the divine spirit.
Schedules, program info, playlists: wgbh.org/radio
23