Havana Jam

In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Cuban President Fidel Castro started to loosen the political tension between the two countries and opened Interest Sections both in Havana and Washington, D.C. It was the first time in almost two decades after Castro's rise to power that there was a real interest in establishing a normalization of diplomatic relations and the lifting of the United States embargo against Cuba.

In April 1978, CBS Records director Bruce Lundvall, together with a group of the company's music enthusiasts, made a four-day trip to Havana, where they took great interest to Cuban music, and especially to Afro-Cuban jazz band Irakere.

After months of discussion, Lundvall signed Irakere and in July the group traveled to New York to perform an unannounced guest set at the famed Newport Jazz Festival-New York. Rave reviews led to an invitation from the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

A few months later, Irakere won their first Grammy with the album Irakere, recorded at their Montreux Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival performances. Then, in the Fall of 1978, he joined forces with Fania Records director Jerry Masucci and convinced the Cuban cultural authorities to organize a three-day festival in Havana with the participation of Cuban and American musicians. The event would be recorded and televised for the enjoyment of both the Cuban and American people.

This event, spontaneously titled Havana Jam, was set for March 2 through 4, 1979. For assistance in the planning of the event, Lundvall brought aboard Jock McLean and Phil Sandhaus of Columbia's artists development department, who then enlisted Showco (a Dallas-based concert production company) and Studio Instrument Rentals to help organize the event.

By early February, Lundvall and his team had organized the roster for the event. Representing the U.S. would be Billy Joel, Stephen Stills, Weather Report, Kris Kristofferson with Rita Coolidge, the Fania All-Stars and the CBS Jazz All-Stars, a group conceptualized by Lundvall which was scheduled to feature more than 20 top jazz artists on the label.

As the event came closer, other CBS Records personnel began working to organize it. Rehearsals were scheduled for the CBS Jazz All-Stars, travel accommodations were made, equipment was rented, a wide cross-section of media was invited, and both recording and videotaping plans were confirmed.

Record producers Bert DeCoteaux and Mike Berniker flew down with a crew from the CBS Recording Studios along with a support team and mobile 24-track Recording Studio from Record Plant NY.

The musicians landed at the José Martí airport on March 1.

Havana Jam was an invitation-only event, with mostly cultural personalities and members of the Communist Party and their children in attendance, though some students from different art and music schools were also invited.

The festival was hardly mentioned in the Cuban press, and thirty years later, not many Cubans knew it ever existed.

En 1979, Columbia lanzó dos álbumes dobles con las actuaciones del festival: Havana Jam y Havana Jam 2. La actuación de Fania All-Stars se publicó más tarde ese mismo año como Havana Jam en Fania . La actuación de Trio of Doom se publicó en 2007 como Trio of Doom .

El evento se rememora y revive en el documental de Ernesto Juan Castellanos de 2009 , Havana Jam '79 .