Afro-Cuban · rumba · 4/4 rumba-clave

Rumba clave (3-2)

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Rumba clave (Levine also calls it African clave). It is son clave with one change: the last stroke of the three side is delayed by an eighth, from beat 4 to the and-of-4. So bar 1 is 1, and-of-2, and-of-4; bar 2 is 2 and 3, exactly as in son clave.

That one displaced note makes the pattern feel less square and more "rolling" — it is the clave of guaguancó and the other rumba styles, of songo and timba, and of a lot of modern salsa. The and-of-4 lands very close to the next downbeat, which is why rumba clave in a fast tune can sound almost like a 6/8 feel; compare it with the 6/8 bembé bell in this set.

Listen for the last note of the first bar: on the beat means son, after the beat means rumba. Drummers slide between the two in one piece.

Practice: play the son and rumba claves back to back on the same tune and feel how the montuno anticipation on the three side lines up with either. The 2-3 form (Scivales Ex-113-4) just starts from bar 2.

Sources

  • Levine, The Jazz Piano Book, fig. 20-5
  • Levine, The Jazz Theory Book, fig. 22-3
  • Scivales, Play Latin Piano Like a Pro, ch. 22 Ex-113-3 (3-2) and Ex-113-4 (2-3)

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