The Cuban Orquesta Típica and Charanga Francesa: The Afro-Caribbean Foundations of Ragtime and Early Jazz

Abstract Jazz scholars and ethnomusicologists in the areas of Cuban music and Latin American music scholarship have long researched the historical roots of jazz in terms of creole culture but the influence of the orquesta típica and the Cuban charanga orquesta (or charanga francesa) has often been underplayed in jazz and popular music scholarship. This article uses music analysis of two contemporaneous early twentieth-century recordings of danzón and ragtime respectively to question the mainstream narratives of the ‘Latin’ in jazz to reveal a more complex and deep-rooted interplay of the contradanza-danzón performance traditions with those of the early ragtime orchestras of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Both idioms have their roots in military and municipal wind bands and dance ‘society’ orchestras, and a closer analysis of early twentieth-century recordings of Cuban danzón and ragtime are analysed here to reveal their many similarities. Ragtime and danzón performance share improvisational approaches, two-bar organizational timelines, structural forms, and specific performance aesthetics - all features uncovered through analysis and used here to advocate for a reconsideration of ragtime/early jazz and Afro-Caribbean music history. Key Words: Cuban danzón; orquesta típica; charanga francesa, ragtime; early jazz; improvisation;