Trombones Wind – Music
The trombone is an important brass voice in timba. Where early son relied mainly on trumpets, trombones came into modern Cuban dance music through the charanga bands: Juan Formell added trombones to Los Van Van in 1980, and Orquesta Revé did so around the same time.
Trombones and trumpets
- Septeto and conjunto (from the late 1920s): the brass was the trumpet, first one, two in Arsenio Rodríguez's conjunto.
- Charanga: flute and violins, no brass.
- Songo and timba: according to Wikipedia, in 1980 Juan Formell took the unusual step of adding trombones to Los Van Van's charanga format (Los Van Van v. 6). According to Wikipedia, Elio Revé's charanga also had trombones, alongside batá drums.
The horns in timba
- According to Wikipedia, NG La Banda's entire horn section came from Irakere and became known as "los metales del terror", for its flawless, aggressive execution of El Tosco's horn lines.
- According to Wikipedia, timba horn parts are usually fast, at times bebop-influenced, and stretch to the extreme ranges of all instruments. The complex horn arrangements are called champolas.
- According to Wikipedia, many timba bands kept the charanga ensemble, with an expanded horn section of trumpets, trombones and sometimes saxophones.
📝 Sources