The Brotherhood of Alfredo Rodríguez and Pedrito Martinez

News, From the Magazine, Alfredo Rodríguez & Pedrito Martinez, Alfredo Rodríguez, Pedrito Martinez, Quincy Jones

By Phillip Lutz I Mar. 28, 2019

Alfredo Rodríguez and Pedrito Martinez perform at New York’s SubCulture during Winter Jazzfest in January.
(Photo: Jonathan Chimene)

The album salutes the bond between Cuba and Brazil in “Estamos Llegando” (“We Are Coming”) by way of a samba-like interlude. And in its synthesis of timba with rock, funk and even gospel, “Thriller” nails the connection with America.

Rodríguez said he first approached that tune at Jones’ behest. “Quincy said, ‘Since you’re doing all these timba versions of songs that are very famous, why don’t you do one of Michael Jackson’s?’” The result was a bracing bit of pianism, taped at his Los Angeles home with little augmentation but a rhythm machine and some household spoons. Loaded on YouTube, the video went viral.

Since then, the tune has become part of his solo and trio sets. He even performed an orchestral arrangement, by Jules Buckley of the Netherlands’ Metropole Orkest, in Budapest with John Clayton conducting. Closer to home, the video’s admirers included Martinez: “I said right away, ‘That song has to be on the record.’”

Jones, in the email, offered high praise for both the interpreter and the interpretation: “It’s absolutely beautiful to see it played by my brother Alfredo, one of the greatest piano players of all time! Alfredo always knows how to add his own personal flavor to every piece of music he touches, and this is no exception!”

Beyond such hyper-stimulating fare, the collection ranges from the sweet and simple (“Cosas Del Amor,” or “Things Of Love,” dedicated to Martinez’s wife) to the unabashedly folkloric (“El Punto Cubano,” or “The Cuban Point,” a nostalgic nod to the farm workers who made up the economic and emotional backbone of “dear Cuba”). That tune, written by Reutilio Domínguez and Celina González, is one of three covers on the album and the only one whose arrangement hews closely to the original. (In addition to “Thriller,” the other cover is “Super Mario Bros 3,” the video-game theme by Kouji Kondou.)

For the originals, the writing process was a highly collaborative one that involved much bicoastal communication. Three or four months before they headed into the studio, Los Angeles-based Rodríguez began sending rough demos to New Jersey-based Martinez—the lead singer and lyric-writer on all but two of the originals, Rodríguez’s delicate “Flor” (“Flower”) and “Mariposa” (“Butterfly”).

“When he sent me the melodies, they were very structured already,” Martinez recalled. “I said, ‘The way you write melodies is so fresh and beautiful. At the same time, you feel the pain. It’s, like, sad in a good way. It brings back so many memories.’”

Before laying down the tracks—recording took place between May 29 and June 1, 2018, at the Lair Studio in Los Angeles—the two musicians met for a week of rehearsals. And that’s when arrangements were hammered out. They share credit on writing and arranging throughout.

Jones, who was privy to the demos as they were rolled out and shares a production credit with Rodríguez and Martinez, was not a constant presence in the studio. Still, he offered guidance, from choice of keys to length of songs and less tangible aspects of the process crucial to artists who come from an economic and political system different from that of the U.S.

“Those tips made the difference,” Martinez said, citing Rodríguez’s savvy as well. “This record changed so many things in my perception. Alfredito is playing music and thinking about many things at the same time: the video, how we’re going to dress, how it’s going to look. He’s always producing things in his mind.”

The pianist, for his part, was quick to acknowledge Jones. “My inspiration for that came from Quincy,” he said. “I’ve been working in the States 10 years. Quincy’s always someone who’s looking for more. Even though he’s 85 years old, he’s always getting involved in what’s happening right now. I wasn’t always like that when it comes to business. I was always passionate about the music and thinking just about the music.”

Jones, in his email, noted Rodríguez’s capacity for developing both the artistic and business sides of his career: “This kid has got his left and right brain together, and you can tell the difference between those who do and those who don’t. He has expanded the breadth of his musical tastes, and the contrast is absolutely apparent in his earlier and later works. It’s simply beautiful. He has broken out of his shell and whether it’s incorporating some Cuban timba sauce on a piano lick, or adding a bit of spice to a jazz fusion record, he has got the chops!”

Rodríguez’s relationship with Jones has yielded many highs, including a 2015 Grammy nomination for his arrangement of “Guantanamera,” off The Invasion Parade, which Jones coproduced. But even as Rodríguez makes his mark in the States, he seeks greater recognition in his native land. Though he regularly returns to Cuba as a visitor, he has not played there since defecting—declining an invitation to appear at International Jazz Day.

“Cuba will never tell you that you cannot play,” he said. “They make you understand you’re not welcome. I’m defending my roots all over. But for the government, it’s like I’m a traitor. That’s crazy.”

Unlike Rodríguez, Martinez has returned to play in Cuba, albeit as a sideman, as recently as January. “Every time I go back, things are getting better and better,” he said. With Cuba having survived recent political transitions without bloodshed—for the first time in 60 years, it is led by someone other than a Castro—the future seems an open question.

But at the moment, Rodríguez said, “It’s complicated. It’s difficult for us to understand the situation in our own country.” So, he stays focused on matters at hand. The duo has engagements booked through May in the States and Canada, including stops at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, California, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Stratus Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. In preparation for those dates and others, Rodríguez said he was planning to expand the duo’s sonic palette, adding digital bass lines to the mix—and to do what it takes to integrate this change to the satisfaction of his long-distance music partner.

“When we go onstage,” he said, “we’re playing our lives—the way we grew up, the way we think. All the positive and negative things that happen in our life, we translate into musical sounds. So, it’s very important for me and Pedro to find a brotherhood, musically and non-musically, so that we can keep building that relationship, so the music will be stronger.” DB