Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo and Gil Fuller · First played at Carnegie Hall by Gillespie's big band, September 29, 1947
Manteca
Manteca is a 1947 tune by Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo and Gil Fuller. Its main theme repeats a short Afro-Cuban rhythm pattern, and a longer middle part contrasts with it. You will hear it on records by Gillespie's big band, Red Garland, Gil Evans, Cal Tjader and Phineas Newborn.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Gillespie's 1947 record with Chano Pozo on conga, then his 1954 Afro version and 1957 Newport set. It goes on to Red Garland's trio with a conga player, Gil Evans's orchestra, Phineas Newborn's piano trio, Cal Tjader's vibraphone and Ray Bryant's trio.
Gil Evans and His Orchestra featuring Cannonball Adderley1958 · Hard bop
1960sPhineas Newborn Jr. Trio1961
Cal Tjader1966 · Latin jazz
1970sRay Bryant Trio1976
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Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra · 1947
Single, with “Cool Breeze”
The first recording of the tune, made in New York on December 30, 1947 for RCA Victor, with Chano Pozo on conga and bongo. Gillespie said Pozo composed the layered Afro-Cuban patterns of the opening and the main theme, and that he wrote the himself.
Gillespie's first record, with Pozo
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Listen for
Pozo's conga and bongo play Afro-Cuban rhythm while the horns repeat short lines. In the long middle part, Gillespie's trumpet takes over.
Try it on your instrument
Play the from the chart: for six bars, then B♭7 and in bar 7, and , and in bar 8. Smaller version: play only the roots, B♭ for six bars, then B♭ A♭ and D♭ G♭ F.
Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra · 1954 · Latin jazz
“Manteca Theme”, Afro
Recorded in New York on May 24, 1954 for the album Afro, with Chico O'Farrill as arranger and conductor. Two conga players, Candido and Mongo Santamaria, join a that also has bongo and timbales.
Afro album version
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Listen for
Four percussion players work behind the band: Candido and Mongo Santamaria on congas, Jose Mangual on bongo and Ubaldo Nieto on timbales, with Charlie Persip on drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first four of the sixteen-bar from the chart, one per bar: , , , . Smaller version: play only the roots, A♭, D, G♭, B.
Played live on the evening of July 6, 1957 at the Newport Jazz Festival by the Dizzy Gillespie Band, with Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Melba Liston and Wynton Kelly. It came out on the album Dizzy Gillespie at Newport.
Live big band
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At over seven minutes this is more than twice as long as the 1947 record, so the band has room to stretch out. Wynton Kelly plays piano, Paul West bass and Charles Persip drums.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole from the chart: the twice, the sixteen-bar , then A again. Smaller version: play the A section and the first four bars of the bridge.
Recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey on April 11, 1958, with Ray Barretto added on conga to Red Garland's trio. The album takes its name from the tune.
Piano trio with a conga
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Ray Barretto's conga plays beside Arthur Taylor's drums while Red Garland leads on piano. At just over eight minutes, the group has room to stretch out.
Try it on your instrument
Play 7 and 8 of the from the chart: and in bar 7, then , and in bar 8. Smaller version: play only the roots, B♭ A♭ then D♭ G♭ F.
Gil Evans and His Orchestra featuring Cannonball Adderley · 1958 · Hard bop, Soul jazz
New Bottle Old Wine
Gil Evans arranged and conducted this studio version, recorded in New York on May 26, 1958 for the album New Bottle Old Wine. Cannonball Adderley is the featured soloist and Art Blakey plays drums.
Orchestral arrangement
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Listen for
Cannonball Adderley's alto saxophone stands out in front of the band. Evans adds a French horn and a tuba to the trumpets and trombones.
Try it on your instrument
Play the last four of the from the chart, one per bar: , , , . Smaller version: play only the roots, F, B♭, C, F.
Recorded in Los Angeles on October 16, 1961 with Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums, and released on A World of Piano! in 1962.
Piano trio
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Just piano, bass and drums play the tune. Listen for how Newborn's piano handles the repeating opening figure and then the longer middle part.
Try it on your instrument
Play the with a steady, repeated left-hand pattern on and short hits with the right hand, then follow in 7 and 8. Smaller version: play the left-hand pattern alone on B♭ and F.
Latin jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader recorded it on February 11, 1966 at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, for the album Soul Burst. Oliver Nelson arranged it.
Vibraphone version
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Listen for
Cal Tjader plays vibraphone. The album lineup also lists three flutes, a guitar, congas, timbales and bongos, so listen for those colors around the vibes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the first eight of the from the chart: , , , , , , then for two bars. Smaller version: play only the first four.
Recorded at RCA Studios in New York at sessions on January 10 and 12, 1976, for the album Here's Ray Bryant. Ray Bryant plays piano with George Duvivier on bass and Grady Tate on drums.
Later piano trio
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Listen for
A piano trio runs almost seven minutes. Compare how Ray Bryant's piano plays the repeating opening part with Phineas Newborn's version in step 6.
Try it on your instrument
Play the whole form from the chart at a slow tempo: A, A, the sixteen-bar , then A. If that is too much, play A and A first, then the bridge and last A as a second pass.
Gillespie's big band first plays the tune at Carnegie Hall in September 1947. On December 30 it records it for RCA Victor with Chano Pozo on conga and bongo, bringing Afro-Cuban rhythm into a bop big band.
1950s
Gillespie records it again in 1954 for his album Afro with two conga players, and plays it at Newport in 1957. In 1958 Red Garland adds a conga to a piano trio, and Gil Evans arranges it for a studio orchestra.
1960s
Phineas Newborn Jr. plays it with bass and drums in 1961. Latin jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader records it on Soul Burst in 1966 with Oliver Nelson as arranger.
1970s
Gillespie records it in Paris in 1973 on The Source, a Latin jazz album with Johnny Griffin on tenor sax. Ray Bryant's piano trio records it in 1976.
1980s
Gillespie plays it live at Montreux in 1980, Paquito D'Rivera records it on Why Not! in 1984, and Poncho Sanchez records it on Papa Gato in 1987.
More great versions
3 more, from 1980 to 1987. Tap a cover to play it here.
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
B♭ majorusual key
40 barsA · A · B · A form
B♭ → G♭ and A♭ → B♭key centers
A8 bars
A8 bars
B16 bars · bridge
A8 bars
B♭
G♭ and A♭
B♭
Forty in four sections, , in B♭. Each eight-bar sits on for six bars, plays B♭7 and in bar 7, and , and in bar 8. The runs sixteen bars, twice the usual length. It starts , , , , then B♭7, and for two bars, then A♭m7, D♭7, G♭maj7, and , and ends , , , before the last A. The iReal Pro chart adds a four-bar intro on B♭7. According to Gillespie, as Wikipedia quotes him, the bridge was meant to be eight bars but he had not come back to B♭ after eight, so it ran sixteen.