FRANK EMILIO FLYNN

A celebration of Cuban Jazz Piano

Cuban pianist Frank Emilio Flynn turned 80 years-old this past April 13 in Los Angeles. Staying with his cousin Kathy Flynn, he's a long way from his Havana home where in the 1950s he established himself as a premier pianist in jazz and classical music.Teacher to a prolific lineage that includes Emiliano Salvador, Chucho Valdes, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and many others, he was born sightless but has given his homeland a musical vision that fused jazz into its popular music.

Born of an Irish North American father and a Cuban mother, he was orphaned early on. As a child he began playing the piano by ear and showed musical promise. His
father returned to the states after the death of his mother and Frank was raised by an aunt and uncle who encouraged his musical studies. His father wrote for many years but communication stopped when his aunt and uncle who corresponded with him died during Frank's teen years.

"I started looking for him two years ago," says his cousin Kathy Flynn who remembered hearing her father talk about their blind-piano-playing cousin in Cuba. "I didn't even know his name so I went to see the last living relative of my father's who was pretty old and living in a convalescent hospital in Massachusetts. She said his name was the same as my fathers, Frank Flynn. I had gone to Cuba twice following this hunch but with a name the first piano player I asked knew."

Flynn was a child prodigy who is considered the godfather of Cuban jazz piano. Classically-trained, it was his ability to improvise at a young age that had
him performing on radio with Antonio Maria Romeu, Sonora Matancera and Septeto Nacional. In his teens his family was stricken with tuberculoses and it took the life of his aunt and uncle as well as infecting him. He was put in a sanitarium where he immersed himself listening to jazz on the radio. There he found sightless heroes who inspired him like Art Tatum and George Shearing.

"In the 1940s I listened to alot of jazz and it left an influence on me. We began to cultivate jazz in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s with the *filin* (feeling) movement. used to play on radio station Mil Diez and in the rehearsal studio *muchachos y muchachas* who were into *filin* would gather. They wrote songs that drew from jazz in its compositional ideas and stirred up a popular current."

In 1951 he began his jazz combo Los Modernistas and worked in the top hotels, cabarets and nightclubs with legendary drummer Guillermo Barretto. The formation of the Quinteto Instrumental de Musica Cubana Moderna with conga drummer Tata Guines in the late 1950s showed his maturity as a jazz pianist. His command of the stride styles of Earl "Fatha" Hines and Tatum-esque piano acrobatics in an Afro-Cuban context are a marvel.

"I was a founding member of El Club Cubano De Jazz in 1958. We would invite jazz
musicians touring on the island to come and sit in with us. We had a jam session on Sunday afternoons and sometimes we would offer passage and a place to stay to
musicians in Miami. Most never got paid but people Philly Joe Jones, Zoot Sims and many others enjoyed doing it."

Most of his career Flynn has played classical with consistent recitals of Bach, Mozart, Ravel, Lecuona and other composers. In the early 1990s he was brought to the forefront by Chucho Valdes who co-produced recordings for Blue Note Records of this unsung giant. A younger generation like flautist Orlando "Maraca" Valle, Miguel "Anga" Diaz and Gonzalo Rubalcaba embraced him and tell of his influence. He's a torch for jazz in Cuba.

" We now have two jazz piano competitions a year in Cuba and we've seen some talented young people coming up with alot of potential. I believe there is a commonality between the early jazz of New Orleans and Cuban popular music. For my performances in the Bay Area I'm going to play straight-ahead jazz and jazz-influenced Cuban music to show that relationship. As far as the future I have no plans for now. I'm retired from performing but I still play my few compositions now and then."

A tip of the hat to Linda Wasskow who presented this legendary figure in late May in the Bay Area at a variety of venues including the Main Post Chapel, La Peña Cultural Center - Berkeley and the Icon Supper Club in Palo Alto. He performed with Orestes Vilato and Walfredo de los Reyes Sr. and did several radio interviews. At 80 years of age, there's still a spark and his danzon rendition of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is a beautiful homage to his visit here.

View a short video clip of Frank Emilio Flynn.

Chuy Varela is a freelance journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area and music director at KCSM Jazz 91 FM in San Mateo, CA

Copyright © 2000 by Chuy Varela.
Video ©2001 by salsasf.com
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.

FRANK EMILIO FLYNN

A celebration of Cuban Jazz Piano

Cuban pianist Frank Emilio Flynn turned 80 years-old this past April 13 in Los Angeles. Staying with his cousin Kathy Flynn, he's a long way from his Havana home where in the 1950s he established himself as a premier pianist in jazz and classical music.Teacher to a prolific lineage that includes Emiliano Salvador, Chucho Valdes, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and many others, he was born sightless but has given his homeland a musical vision that fused jazz into its popular music.

Born of an Irish North American father and a Cuban mother, he was orphaned early on. As a child he began playing the piano by ear and showed musical promise. His
father returned to the states after the death of his mother and Frank was raised by an aunt and uncle who encouraged his musical studies. His father wrote for many years but communication stopped when his aunt and uncle who corresponded with him died during Frank's teen years.

"I started looking for him two years ago," says his cousin Kathy Flynn who remembered hearing her father talk about their blind-piano-playing cousin in Cuba. "I didn't even know his name so I went to see the last living relative of my father's who was pretty old and living in a convalescent hospital in Massachusetts. She said his name was the same as my fathers, Frank Flynn. I had gone to Cuba twice following this hunch but with a name the first piano player I asked knew."

Flynn was a child prodigy who is considered the godfather of Cuban jazz piano. Classically-trained, it was his ability to improvise at a young age that had
him performing on radio with Antonio Maria Romeu, Sonora Matancera and Septeto Nacional. In his teens his family was stricken with tuberculoses and it took the life of his aunt and uncle as well as infecting him. He was put in a sanitarium where he immersed himself listening to jazz on the radio. There he found sightless heroes who inspired him like Art Tatum and George Shearing.

"In the 1940s I listened to alot of jazz and it left an influence on me. We began to cultivate jazz in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s with the *filin* (feeling) movement. used to play on radio station Mil Diez and in the rehearsal studio *muchachos y muchachas* who were into *filin* would gather. They wrote songs that drew from jazz in its compositional ideas and stirred up a popular current."

In 1951 he began his jazz combo Los Modernistas and worked in the top hotels, cabarets and nightclubs with legendary drummer Guillermo Barretto. The formation of the Quinteto Instrumental de Musica Cubana Moderna with conga drummer Tata Guines in the late 1950s showed his maturity as a jazz pianist. His command of the stride styles of Earl "Fatha" Hines and Tatum-esque piano acrobatics in an Afro-Cuban context are a marvel.

"I was a founding member of El Club Cubano De Jazz in 1958. We would invite jazz
musicians touring on the island to come and sit in with us. We had a jam session on Sunday afternoons and sometimes we would offer passage and a place to stay to
musicians in Miami. Most never got paid but people Philly Joe Jones, Zoot Sims and many others enjoyed doing it."

Most of his career Flynn has played classical with consistent recitals of Bach, Mozart, Ravel, Lecuona and other composers. In the early 1990s he was brought to the forefront by Chucho Valdes who co-produced recordings for Blue Note Records of this unsung giant. A younger generation like flautist Orlando "Maraca" Valle, Miguel "Anga" Diaz and Gonzalo Rubalcaba embraced him and tell of his influence. He's a torch for jazz in Cuba.

" We now have two jazz piano competitions a year in Cuba and we've seen some talented young people coming up with alot of potential. I believe there is a commonality between the early jazz of New Orleans and Cuban popular music. For my performances in the Bay Area I'm going to play straight-ahead jazz and jazz-influenced Cuban music to show that relationship. As far as the future I have no plans for now. I'm retired from performing but I still play my few compositions now and then."

A tip of the hat to Linda Wasskow who presented this legendary figure in late May in the Bay Area at a variety of venues including the Main Post Chapel, La Peña Cultural Center - Berkeley and the Icon Supper Club in Palo Alto. He performed with Orestes Vilato and Walfredo de los Reyes Sr. and did several radio interviews. At 80 years of age, there's still a spark and his danzon rendition of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is a beautiful homage to his visit here.

View a short video clip of Frank Emilio Flynn.

Chuy Varela is a freelance journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area and music director at KCSM Jazz 91 FM in San Mateo, CA

Copyright © 2000 by Chuy Varela.
Video ©2001 by salsasf.com
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.