Concert Preview – Pedrito Martinez at Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival – Both Days
Pedrito Martinez laughed when I suggested he leave his congas onstage throughout Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30. “I’ll be busy,” he replied, playing with Joey Alexander and Cimafunk Saturday, and both with his own group and guesting with Cory Henry on Sunday.
If the star conga player seems to be surrounding audiences at the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, it’s largely because he grew up surrounded by music.
Pedrito Martinez at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Michael Hochanadel photo
“The neighborhood where I grew up, Cayo Hueso right in the middle of Habana… a lot of the greatest congeros and top players and musicians are from that neighborhood,” he said by phone last week from his home near the George Washington Bridge. “I used to see all the greatest orchestras rehearsing right in front of my house, across the street. I was surrounded with a lot of music.”
His music school was informal, immersive and effective. “I learned in the street, by myself; I never went to a school of music,” he explained. “It was a completely different way to learn and an unusual way to learn,” he said. “It was beautiful, very spiritual and real.”
Mentors abounded there, and have nurtured his career in Cuba and everywhere he has played since.
“In Cuba I had the great privilege to play with one of the greatest conga players in the whole entire world,” said Martinez humbly, name-checking Frederico Aristides Soto, known as Tata Guines.
Martinez was rehearsing in Havana with another congero great – Francisco Hernandes Mora, known as Pancho Quinto – when Canadian saxophonist and Cuban music enthusiast Jane Bunnett discovered him. “She brought me to Canada for a tour,” expanding both his audience and ambition. After finishing the tour, Martinez decided to stay in New York where he’d played the Knitting Factory with Bunnett’s Afro-Cuban-inspired band.
After he played with Orlando Puntilla Rios in a documentary film “Calle 54,” doors began to open, first with Cuban superstar saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, then when he co-founded the band Yerba Buena that recorded two albums.
His next band, that bears his name, formed as a surprise while he was still playing with others.
“I never planned to have a band,” he said. “It was accidental, you know.” When the club Guantanamera opened (8th Avenue between 55th and 56th streets), the owner wanted a band to play all week. “I put the band together, just for fun,” said Martinez. Two blocks from Lincoln Center, “That place became the hang for all the musicians from all over the world,” Martinez marveled, noting many musicians would come in during his band’s late, third set after their own gigs. The night he spotted Quincy Jones, Stevie Winwood, Wynton Marsalis and other stars in the audience, “that’s when I realized something crazy was happening.”
A Beat Happening story in the New Yorker amplified the buzz: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/05/14/beat-happening.
“It was so beautiful, it was so great,” said Martinez. “That particular place opened so many doors for me. I started playing with Paul Simon because of that place.” It also led to his first album: “The Pedrito Martinez Group” (2013). Four more albums have followed; another is nearing completion, set for January release – and he’s guested on dozens more.
Martinez plans to perform songs from “Acertijos,” released earlier this year, and even newer songs slated for the next album.
As the New Yorker story stressed, Martinez thrives on live performing more than recordings, as his long track record here underlines. His Guantanamera residency opened doors leading to SPAC in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022, also A Place for Jazz (2012); and I caught him at Jazz Fest in New Orleans in 2012.
He collaborated with other artists on most of these, a process powered by respect, in which he seeks long-term collaborations rather than one-shots.
‘The most important thing is to be completely transparent and open-minded, to absorb any kind of opinion or idea from other people,” said Martinez. “I’m always open to hear ideas from different sources” – including Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Garrett, Eddie Palmieri and Jon Batiste.
He shines in these partnerships, both for engaging charismatic energy and his propulsive mastery of many rhythms. Asked if he had drums nearby, he grabbed the practice pad in his New Jersey living room and demonstrated, first a basic clave rumba, then increasingly complex polyrhythms until his sticks conjured a herd of galloping horses. My comparison made him laugh in agreement.
He then excitedly spoke of playing with Cimafunk.
Cimafunk. Photo provided
“I fit perfect with him…the James Brown of Cuba,” said Martinez, “because it’s all about rhythm and dancing and high energy.”
Martinez added, “He always makes sure that the audience gets loud; it’s very dynamic and spectacular with his group” – also with his own.
“I’m going to be performing the music of my latest album (“Acertijos”), definitely,” he promised, also noting he’s deep into recording a follow-up, as yet untitled.
At times, Martinez must marvel at his own rapid rise.
“I came from a very ghetto little neighborhood in the middle of Habana and came to New York, one of the most cosmopolitan cities on the whole entire planet,” Martinez said, his humility sounding genuine, sincere. “I never thought I would have the opportunity to know so many genius artists.”
Takes one to know one.
Pedrito Martinez plays Saturday at Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival with the Joey Alexander Trio and fellow guest, trumpeter Theo Croker (1:45 p.m.); then with Cimafunk (7 p.m.), and Sunday with Cory Henry (2 p.m.) and his own group (5:35 p.m.)
MORE JAZZ
SPAC’s new “McCormack Jazz Series” brings top acts to the SPA Little Theater this fall and next spring: (bassist/composer) Christian McBride and Ursa Major Oct. 24, 30s-style hot swing stars Dorado Schmitt and Sons with special guests the Hot Club of Saratoga Nov. 22; Latin-jazz giant Alfredo Rodriguez and his Trio Apr. 5; and singer Veronica Swift May 1.
“Presenting diverse jazz perspectives is an integral part of our mission and vision for year-round programming in the Spa Little Theater,” says Elizabeth Sobol, President and CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center in announcing the new series and hailing its originator.
“Jazz has enriched my life and nourished my soul,” says McCormack. You’ve seen him, the cat who looks like John Updike, walking in the aisle at Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival with family and friends.
A tip of the porkpie hat to this super jazz fan. Details and ticket info at http://www.spac.org.
Hoke's Jukebox 