Nationwide, club-goers seek out venues where Salsa, Bossa Nova, Merengue, Calypso, and other African, Caribbean, and Latin influenced dance styles can be enjoyed along with the music that accompanies them, but very few of these club-goers are actually aware of where this style of music originated. .
Obviously, the roots of this music can be traced to early African and Cuban, as well as Caribbean rhythms and folk songs, but it is not widely known that there were some isolated cases in the 1920's and 30's, that actually hinted at the fusion of Jazz and Afro-Cuban music before Dizzy and Chano came together. A prime example is the Jelly Roll Morton composition entitled The Crave. In spite of it's listed copyright date of 1938, there are indications that early Jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton was playing this "Spanish tinge" piece as early as 1910. The primary rhythm used in this tune is the African or Cuban habanera, a three beat syncopated rhythm that is often confused with the four beat Latin Tango, but there are other patterns throughout this tune that are indicative of the fusion of Spanish and French influences found in the New Orleans of Morton's youth. Duke Ellington also delved into the concept of incorporating Latin influences into Jazz music, when he hired Juan Tizol, a valve trombone player from Puerto Rico to play in his band. He and Juan eventually would collaborate on the classic tune Caravan, which carries a strong Latin rhythmic feel, and was one of the first Jazz compositions to incorporate the clave as a rhythm and as a instrument. Even flamboyant bandleader Cab Calloway would ask his drummers to play the Tom-Tom drums on the introduction to certain tunes because he liked setting them up with the Latin feel. He felt that it gave tunes like Chant of the Jungle, The Jungle King, and Tarzan of Harlem, more a groove and got people locked into the concept of dancing early on.