04/16/2025
We found ourselves in the home of Bobby Carcassés. Bobby is a living legend, and he poured us stories the way others might pour rum. He told us what it was like when Fidel and Raul Castro rolled into Havana after the Revolution. They summoned every musician into a grand theater, not for a show, but for a directive: you can stay, you can play... but ONLY if your music serves the revolution. No more of that decadent, capitalist jazz. As he said, “artists, real artists, don’t go down like that.” Instead, they got clever. They buried the jazz inside the drums, hid the forbidden progressions inside Afro-centric rhythms. Jazz didn’t die. It adapted. It survived in disguise. And from that defiance, that creative sleight of hand, Afro-Cuban music was born. Bobby didn’t just witness it. He made it. One of the genre’s founding fathers, still standing in a country that lets its legends rot, while their music keeps the soul of the island alive.
I’m currently working on the final touches before republishing Four Days In Havana, along with a few other fine art books. I’ll have more info as we get closer to launch. If you’re a fan of these non-commissioned pieces, l’d love to know.
