O’Farrill’s Masterful Big Band Brings Back Splendor of Past

A word of advice for aspiring Latin pop composers and arrangers: Think big band.

Although some Latin superstars, including Ricky Martin and Marc Anthony, have already attempted to surround themselves with an instrumental lineup that suggests the large ensembles of the past, none of them has been as bold as Cuban bandleader Chico O’Farrill about giving popular Afro-Caribbean dances the lush orchestral texture they deserve.

The results were spellbinding Tuesday at the Conga Room, when the 78-year-old O’Farrill presented material from his recent album, the kaleidoscopic “Heart of a Legend.”

A seminal and underrated composer-arranger who collaborated with Machito, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, among many others, O’Farrill was one of the key creators of the explosive fusion between traditional Latin songs and big-band American music that eventually resulted in the mambo craze of the ‘50s and the New York salsa explosion of the ‘70s.

At the Conga Room, the diminutive musician conducted a majestic-sounding band that included a 13-piece brass section, the fiery piano of his son Arturo O’Farrill and a percolating percussion ensemble made up of congas, bongos and trap drums. The ensemble allowed such tunes as the velvety bolero “En la Obscuridad” to exude a tenderness that was ever-present 50 years ago, during the genre’s artistic peak. It’s sorely missed in today’s Latin pop.

Zigzagging between dances such as the guaguanco, the mambo and the bembe, the two-hour program was a reminder of the splendor that was. “Amazing,” whispered a middle-aged gentleman in the audience shortly after the show began. “I never thought I would get to hear this kind of music again.”