Afro-Cuban jazz

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Afro-Cuban jazz is a variety of Latin jazz, which was started by Dr. Obdulio Morales in the 1930's,(Cuba). Other well-known variant of Latin jazz is Brazilian jazz. Afro-Cuban jazz was played in the U.S. directly after the bebop period, while Brazilian jazz became more popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz includes salsa, merengue, songo, son, mambo, and cha cha cha.

Afro-Cuban started as a movement after the death of Charlie Parker. The one starting the Afro/Jazz fire was Mongo Santamaria (Afro/Blue) putting together Yorubas (patterns and instruments). Bebop musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Billy Taylor started Afro-Cuban bands in later years, also Miles Davis and John Coltrane jumped in the trend by doing some recording in the genre. Gillespie's work was mostly with big bands of this genre. While the music was influenced by Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians like Tito Puente, there were many Americans who were drawing upon Cuban rhythms for their work.

A very good example of this type of music is The Conga Kings.