Bobby Sanabria's Clave Chronicles


Marco Rizo Ayala Marco Rizo Ayala

This installment of "Clave Chronicles" not only honors a legend of "La Tradicion" but also someone who became part of "Americana."

Marco Rizo Ayala was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1920 where not only the music known as "Son" was flourishing, but also the instrument known as the bongo was born. Maestro Rizo's first musical studies began with his father Sebastien who was a flautist with the Eastern Symphonic Orchestra, and taught the younger Rizo the art of Solfeggio (sight singing). "Being born in Santiago was something definitive. I grew up with the rhythmic potential of carnival song and dance, singing Sindo Garay's songs and going to concerts given by stars such as Rachmaninoff." After leading a jazz group that played popular tunes of the day on the CMKD radio station, Rizo in 1937 went to La Habana to continue his studies. He would soon become the pianist for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Havana concertizing with the likes of Toscanini, Stokowsky and Igor Stravinsky. 1937 was also the year Maestro Rizo would meet Cuba's greatest composer, Ernesto Lecuona, becoming his protege and to date his greatest interpreter.

In 1940 Rizo came to New York City to launch his career as a concert pianist appearing at Town Hall to rave reviews and continued his musical education at the prestigious Julliard School. He immediately landed a job as a staff pianist at C.B.S. working on the radio show "Voz De Latino America," but on October 15, 1951 Marco became part of American history when he began work as the musical director and pianist for the "I Love Lucy" show. For nine years Marco was responsible for conducting the Desi Arnaz Orchestra, wrote the incidental music and appeared many times on camera and is responsible for composing the now famous theme song. "We made history with that show. Desi was extremely creative. He developed the whole concept of using three TV cameras simultaneously, before that everyone just used one. He also thought of the idea that the actors, musicians, etc. should receive royalty payments when episodes where re-broadcast.

Marco Rizo But there were many struggles behind the scenes that the public was completely unaware of. "Although I was the Musical Director, because of studio politics and racism I was not to get screen credit; that would go to a staff musician at the network. There were some in the upper echelon that were not too happy that a Cuban had his own production company and had the highest rated show on television. I had to sell the rights to the theme song."

Through this awkward time Marco continued his musical growth at UCLA. with Mario Castelnuevo-Tedesco and Igor Stravinsky, attaining a Masters degree in 1955. Some of his classmates were André Previn and Henry Mancini. At the same time he was making a name for himself as a film composer working for Columbia, Paramount, Republic and MGM and later worked as Bob Hope's musical director. Other performers for whom Marco did orchestration work for were Carmen Miranda, Laurindo Almeida, Tito Guizar, Xavier Cougat, Yma Sumac, Danny Kaye, Katherine Dunham, Mario Bauzá and Paquito d'Rivera among others.

Maestro Rizo has composed numerous works for chamber ensemble and symphony orchestra including his latest work, "Cantata a la Virgen de la Caridad" which premiered at Lincoln Center and his "Sinfonia Cubana a José Martï which was premiered by the Cleveland Symphony. Other premieres include "The Suit Espanola" performed by the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid as well as the ballet, "Nafligo," which aired on TV in Cuba.

In the world of popular music he recorded albums for RCA, Capitol, Tico, Roulette and others as well as his own record company, Rizo records, showcasing his work in the field of Afro-Cuban jazz. His latest work was documenting the great classical piano tradition of the Caribbean. Of note is his last recording, a brilliant compendium of the piano compositions of Cuban composers; Saumell, Cervantes, Lecuona and Maestro Rizo. "I have striven to make Habaneras the definitive statement of Cuba's classical music. It is by no means a complete statement. But here is the beginning of a chronicle of Cuba's most outstanding classical music. My hope is that other musicians and audiences... begin to take it seriously as they do other classics of the world."

Concert/Pop/Afro-Cuban jazz pianist, conductor, composer of symphonic works, movie soundtracks and the theme song for the most famous show in television history would be an impressive legacy for any artist. But in my opinion Marco Rizo's greatest contribution was the one least known about him; that of educator.

In 1975 Marco realized that there was no effort at all being made to educate young people about the great musical legacy of the Caribbean and Latin America. He formed a non-profit organization, The South American Music Project (SAMPI) and began conducting workshops, seminars and concerts for young audiences across the country. His teaching style was simple, bring the essence of the music, rhythm, to children using percussion as a tool for nurturing understanding respect for the culture. He then would allow them to perform in concert with established and up and coming talents along with a great concert artist, himself. He was so good at it that the State Department asked him to go to Russia to do the same thing.

One of those "up and coming talents" was yours truly. In 1980, I first met El Maestro through a recommendation by another legend, bassist Victor Venegas who worked with Rizo from SAMPI's early days. Working with a legendary figure when you are young can be an intimidating experience, but Marco was always more concerned with others, not himself. This provided a comfortable environment so that one could do their absolute best and be treated with respect. His philosophy was, "I wouldn't have called you if I did not think you were capable." With Marco Rizo, I started my career and as fate would have it the last performance of his career would be as the featured soloist with my ensemble Ascensíon - on August 30th, 1998 at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe to a standing room only crowd of his fans.

The epitome of professionalism, artistry, elegance, class and humility, a true unheralded warrior, he left us on September 8th, 1998


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