Mongo Santamaría, music · Oscar Brown Jr., lyrics · First recorded in 1959 by Cal Tjader's sextet with Santamaría on percussion
Afro Blue
Afro Blue is a 1959 tune by the Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaría, built on a rhythm of African origin. The bass plays six pulses against the four main beats, which gives the music a rocking pull. You will hear it on records by Cal Tjader, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Robert Glasper.
Listen in this order
The path starts with the 1959 Cal Tjader sextet and Mongo Santamaría's own record, then hears Coltrane's quartet play it as a waltz. A Tjader session with horns, a big band led by Coltrane's pianist, two vocals and a conga-led band follow.
Recorded live on April 20, 1959 at the Sunset Auditorium in Carmel, California, by Cal Tjader's sextet with Mongo Santamaría on percussion. According to Wikipedia, it is the first recorded performance of the tune.
The first recording
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Listen for
Listen for the bass pattern that opens the tune, a rocking figure that repeats while the flute, vibraphone and percussion play over it. This is the Afro-Cuban side of the tune at its start.
Try it on your instrument
Tap four slow beats with your foot, and with one hand tap six even taps across the same stretch of time. Smaller version: tap three even taps against two slow beats.
The opening track of Mongo Santamaría's 1959 album Mongo, which the Afro Roots reissue lists as recorded in May 1959. Santamaría learned the congas playing rumba in Havana and joined Cal Tjader's band in 1957.
12/8 · Santamaría's own record
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Listen for
Listen for the bass pattern that opens the tune and for the congas and timbales around it. This is the Afro-Cuban side of the tune, with the composer leading on percussion.
Try it on your instrument
Play on the first beat of each for eight bars, then E♭ for two bars, as in the chart notes. Smaller version: play only the roots F and E♭.
Recorded at Birdland in New York on October 8, 1963 and issued on Impulse! in 1964. According to Wikipedia, Coltrane and drummer Elvin Jones played it as a swinging waltz, the reverse of Santamaría's cross-rhythm.
3/4 · swing · Coltrane's waltz
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Listen for
Listen to Elvin Jones on drums. He plays the tune as a swinging waltz, with two cross-beats pulling against each group of three.
Try it on your instrument
Count the music in threes like a waltz and play for two , then the two of bar 3, over A♭ and over G, then Fm7 again. Smaller version: play only the roots F, D♭ and C.
Cal Tjader with the Gary McFarland Orchestra · 1964 · Latin jazz
“Afro-Blue”, Soul Sauce
Recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, on November 20, 1964 for Cal Tjader's album Soul Sauce. Gary McFarland arranged it for a band with Donald Byrd on trumpet and Jimmy Heath on tenor saxophone.
Horn arrangement
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Listen for
Listen for Donald Byrd's trumpet, Jimmy Heath's tenor saxophone and Kenny Burrell's guitar around Cal Tjader's vibraphone, with Latin percussion in the band.
Try it on your instrument
Play 9 to 12 of the chart: E♭ for two bars, D♭ then E♭ in bar 11, then . Smaller version: play only the roots E♭, D♭, E♭ and F.
Recorded in New York on April 9, 1973 by McCoy Tyner's big band for the album Song of the New World. Tyner played piano in Coltrane's quartet on the 1963 Birdland recording, and Sonny Morgan adds a conga on this track.
Big band
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Listen for
Listen for a band of trumpets, trombones, French horns, tuba and flutes around Tyner's piano, with a conga in the .
Try it on your instrument
Play low on the piano and hold it for two at a time, as in bars 1 and 2 of the chart, while you count the waltz beats. Smaller version: play only the root F and keep a steady three.
Recorded at AOI Studios in Tokyo in March 1974 and issued in Japan on Trio Records as Dee Dee Bridgewater's album Afro Blue. Roland Hanna plays piano, and Cecil Bridgewater arranged and plays trumpet.
Vocal version
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Listen for
Listen for Bridgewater's voice, then for the trumpet, tenor saxophone and piano that share this 8:27 track with her.
Try it on your instrument
Hum the note F, the home note, along with the recording and notice when the underneath move away from . Smaller version: tap three beats to the while you listen.
Dianne Reeves recorded it on September 10, 1990 at Madhatter Studios in Los Angeles, with Bill Summers and Luis Conte on percussion. It opens her 1991 Blue Note album I Remember.
Vocal version
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Listen for
Listen for the two percussionists, Bill Summers and Luis Conte, and Justo Almario's saxophone around Reeves's voice.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole chart once, slowly: for 1 to 8 with the two-chord bars 3 and 7, then E♭ and D♭ for bars 9 to 16. Smaller version: play only the root F for the first eight bars.
Poncho Sanchez with Eddie Harris · 1993 · Latin jazz
Para Todos
Poncho Sanchez's band recorded it at Capitol Studios in Hollywood on October 25 and 26, 1993, with Eddie Harris as a guest on tenor saxophone. It closes the 1994 Concord Picante album Para Todos.
Conga-led band
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Listen for
Listen for Poncho Sanchez on congas leading a full Latin band, with Eddie Harris as the guest on tenor saxophone.
Try it on your instrument
Clap three even claps with one hand against two slow claps with the other. Smaller version: keep the two slow claps going and add the three once that feels steady.
Santamaría writes it in 1959. Cal Tjader's sextet records it live in Carmel with the composer on percussion, and Abbey Lincoln sings Oscar Brown Jr.'s words on Abbey Is Blue.
1960s
John Coltrane's quartet plays it at Birdland in 1963 as a swinging waltz. Cal Tjader records it with horns and guitar in 1964, and Oscar Brown Jr. sings it on Sin & Soul.
1970s
McCoy Tyner, who played piano in Coltrane's quartet, records it with a big band in 1973. The next year Dee Dee Bridgewater sings it in Tokyo for her album Afro Blue.
1990s
Dianne Reeves sings it in 1990 with two percussionists, and Poncho Sanchez's conga-led band records it in 1993 with a guest tenor saxophonist. John McLaughlin plays it as a guitar, organ and drums trio in 1994.
2000s
Lizz Wright sings it on Salt, a Verve album recorded in New York in 2002 and released in 2003.
2010s
Robert Glasper's group backs Erykah Badu on Black Radio, released in 2012. Melanie De Biasio sings it on her 2017 album Lilies.
More great versions
6 more, from 1959 to 2017. Tap a cover to play it here.
1950sAbbey Lincoln1959 · Hard bop
1960sOscar Brown Jr.1960 · Vocal
1970s
1980s
1990sJohn McLaughlin with Elvin Jones and Joey DeFrancesco1994 · Post-bop
2000sLizz Wright2002 · Soul jazz
2010sRobert Glasper Experiment feat. Erykah Badu2012 · Contemporary jazz
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
F minorusual key
16 barsA form
F mkey centers
A16 bars
F m
Sixteen in , counted in three beats to the bar in iReal Pro's chart. Bars 1 to 8 rest on , and bars 3 and 7 each hold two , over A♭ and over G, before Fm7 returns. Bars 9 and 10 sit on E♭, bar 11 plays D♭ and then E♭, and bar 12 lands on Fm7. Bars 13 to 16 repeat that. Wikipedia describes the harmony of Santamaría's own version as a simple B♭ pentatonic blues, with the bass pattern in measures of 12/8, and says Coltrane and Elvin Jones played it in 3/4 swing.