"Afro Blue" is a

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List ...

composed by Mongo Santamaría.

Santamaria version

Mongo Santamaria recorded his composition "Afro Blue" in 1959 when playing with the

Cal Tjader Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, often described as the most successful non-Latino Latin music (genre), Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, especially small group mod ...

Sextet. The first recorded performance was on April 20, 1959, at the Sunset Auditorium in Carmel, California, with Santamaría on percussion. "Afro Blue" was the first jazz standard built on a typical African 3:2

cross-rhythm In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term ''cross rhythm '' was introduced in 1934 by the Musicology, musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to a situation where the rhythmic conflict fou ...

, or hemiola. The song begins with the bass repeatedly playing six cross-beats per measure of or six cross-beats per four main beats—6:4 (two cells of 3:2). The following example shows the

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...

"Afro Blue" bass line. The cross noteheads indicate the main beats (not bass notes). : \new Staff << \new voice \relative c \new voice \relative c >> While the bass sounds the six secondary beats, Paul Horn's flute solo and Emil Richards' marimba solo emphasize the four primary beats. Francisco Aguabella takes the

conga drum The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are stave (wood), staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (drum), quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), an ...

solo on the first recording, quoting phrases from the vocabulary of the

abakuá Abakuá, also sometimes known as Ñañiguismo, is a Cuban initiatory religious fraternity founded in 1836. The society is open only to men and those initiated take oaths to not reveal the secret teachings and practices of the order. Members are ...

bonkó drum. Using brushes,

Willie Bobo William Correa (February 28, 1934 – September 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Willie Bobo, was an American Latin jazz percussionist and jazz drummer of Puerto Rican descent. Bobo rejected the stereotypical expectations of Latino m ...

plays an abakuá bell pattern on a snare drum. This cross-rhythmic figure divides the twelve-pulse cycle into three sets of four pulses. Since the main beats are grouped as four sets of three pulses (dotted quarter-notes in the top example), the bell pattern significantly contradicts the meter. Bobo played this same pattern and instrumentation on the

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

jazz-descarga "Succotash." The harmonic structure of Santamaria's version is a simple B pentatonic blues.

Vocal version

In 1959 lyrics were added by songwriter

Oscar Brown Oscar Brown Jr. (October 10, 1926May 29, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, playwright, poet, actor, and civil rights activist (Brown was African-American). Brown discovered The Jackson 5. Aside from his career, Brown ran unsuccessfully ...

. Abbey Lincoln recorded it for her 1959 album '' Abbey Is Blue''. Oscar Brown included it on his 1960 album ''Sin & Soul''. Singers to record the standard include

Dee Dee Bridgewater Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American jazz singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National ...

, Dianne Reeves, and Lizz Wright.

Coltrane version

In 1963,

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

recorded "Afro Blue" with

Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such albums as ''My Fa ...

on drums."Afro Blue," ''Live at Birdland'' (John Coltrane) Impulse! (1964). Jones took the opposite approach of Santamaría, superimposing two cross-beats over every measure of a waltz (2:3). This particular swung is perhaps the most common example of overt cross-rhythm in jazz. Coltrane and Jones reversed the metric hierarchy of Santamaria's composition, by performing in swing (2:3), instead of or (3:2). Coltrane's version of " My Favorite Things", also uses a waltz rhythm.

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, Folk music, folk, and pop and contributed to the birth of the quiet storm ...

's vocal recording of "Afro Blue" (on the 2020 reissue of 1969's First Take) uses Coltrane's arrangement.

Other notable versions

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

- interpolated into the song "Universal Mind" on '' Absolutely Live'' (1970) *

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA J ...

- '' Song of the New World'' (1973) *

- '' Afro Blue'' (1974) and '' Red Earth'' (2007) * Dianne Reeves - '' I Remember'' (1991) * Lizz Wright - ''

Salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

'' (2003) * The Derek Trucks Band - '' Soul Serenade'' (2003) and '' Roadsongs'' (2010, extended live version) *

Robert Glasper Robert Andre Glasper (born April 5, 1978) is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and Arrangement, musical arranger. His music embodies numerous musical genres, primarily centered around jazz. Glasper has won five Grammy Awards from ...

(with

Erykah Badu Erica Abi Wright (born February 26, 1971), known professionally as Erykah Badu, is an American singer and songwriter. Influenced by rhythm and blues, R&B, Soul music, soul, and hip hop, Badu rose to prominence in the late 1990s when her debut al ...

) - ''

Black Radio ''Black Radio'' is an album by Robert Glasper, recorded with his electric quartet, the Robert Glasper Experiment. Released on February 28, 2012, on the Blue Note label, the album won Best R&B Album at the 55th Grammy Awards and also received a n ...

'' (2012) * Melanie De Biasio - '' Lilies'' (2017)

References

{{authority control 1959 songs Jazz standards Real Book Song