Thank goodness Jane Bunnett and Larry Cramer decided to take their vacation in Cuba in 1982.
The Toronto jazz couple...she’s a superb player on flute and soprano sax and he’s a stellar trumpet player with a wide knowledge and passion for all things jazz...fell madly in love with the music of the island.
They drenched themselves in the sounds, became ambassadors for the music in North America, exposed Cuban musicians through their work in their group, the Spirits of Havana, and made a series of great CDs that really celebrate the free-wheeling spirit of the music that people call Latin or Afro-Cuban.
Of course, Ry Cooder, the engaging American musician who has explored numerous tributaries of non-mainstream music, championed the same music with the Buena Vista Social Club CD in the mid-’90s, spawning the award-winning documentary of the same name by director Wim Wenders.
That created another of the periodic waves of interest in Latin jazz that have helped the Spirits of Havana flourish.
Bunnett, who brings her fiery flute to the Royal Bank Theatre at the Living Arts Centre on Jan. 28, has been called Havana Jane, although she isn't particularly political at all.
Talking to her this week, however, you could feel a rising sense of concern that the laissez-faire atmosphere that has prevailed on her 50-odd visits to Cuba in the past, an attitude that allowed her band to mingle freely with the local musicians and even jam in the streets if they wanted to, is waning.
Her newest album, Radio Guantanamo, was another product of interaction with local bands, Grupo Changui Guantanamo and Grupo Changui de Santiago.
But, the action got a little too hot for the local constabulary, apparently.
Three times Bunnett and crew were hauled into the local police station and questioned about their activities. On one trip when they were trying to explain why they didn't have permission to play with local musicians (they had drawn an appreciative crowd which raised suspicions), Bunnett and company were saved by the video.
While they were in the midst of explaining who they were, shots of Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana who has just appeared in concert at the national theatre in the capital city, were being broadcast on the television station that was playing in the cop shop. The authorities could see that Bunnett was legit.
On one of the other occasions where they were detained, “Larry sent for the cultural people,” said Bunnett. Even that didn’t help.
“I guess it’s just a bad zone to be in,” said Bunnett in an interview from her home. The presence of the American air force base at Guantanamo Bay has everybody’s nerves on edge there most of the time.
What was more concerning to Bunnett was that her recording session in a tiny little studio was interrupted when the police showed up outside to inquire about what was going on. They didn’t want to sit in on congas.
“I was quite sad about that because I was in the middle of a take,” said Bunnett. The equipment was never broken down so fast before or since, she laughed.
The good news is that, since the recording session got interrupted, there will be a volume two of Guantanamo Bay.
The bad news is that Bunnett is now thinking that she might not be able to record in Cuba anymore. That would be a shame.
She knows that recording in a studio in Toronto will be a lot safer and easier but it doesn’t have the same atmosphere or authenticity.
“I’ve always preferred to work live off the floor,” said Bunnett.
The operative part of that sentence being “live.” She’s always taken risks in her music, but sometimes you have to recognize that there are limits.