Salsa is a popular Latin American musical genre that combines dance and vocal music with a unique rhythmic style that draws influences from jazz and African rhythms. Salsa shares characteristics with Latin jazz. Traditional salsa, or típica style, features traditional tonal harmonies with few alterations, whereas Latin jazz typically employs complex harmonies including tritone substitutions, chord extensions, and chords with extensions and alterations. The primary argument of this research is that Latin jazz pianists maintain the functions of the traditional salsa while infusing it with jazz harmonic, rhythmic, and textural elements. This thesis compares accompanying (“comping”) traits, including form, harmony, clave, comping rhythm, and texture, from traditional salsa and Latin jazz pianists, típica-style pianists Rafael Ithier (1926-2025) and Mariano Morales (b. 1960), and Latin jazz pianists Eddie Palmieri (1936-2025) and Papo Lucca (b. 1946). The pianists’ accompaniment styles illustrate the difference between these two genres.
","abstract_html":"<p>Salsa is a popular Latin American musical genre that combines dance and vocal music with a unique rhythmic style that draws influences from jazz and African rhythms. Salsa shares characteristics with Latin jazz. Traditional salsa, or típica style, features traditional tonal harmonies with few alterations, whereas Latin jazz typically employs complex harmonies including tritone substitutions, chord extensions, and chords with extensions and alterations. The primary argument of this research is that Latin jazz pianists maintain the functions of the traditional salsa while infusing it with jazz harmonic, rhythmic, and textural elements. This thesis compares accompanying (“comping”) traits, including form, harmony, clave, comping rhythm, and texture, from traditional salsa and Latin jazz pianists, típica-style pianists Rafael Ithier (1926-2025) and Mariano Morales (b. 1960), and Latin jazz pianists Eddie Palmieri (1936-2025) and Papo Lucca (b. 1946). The pianists’ accompaniment styles illustrate the difference between these two genres. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Perez, Victorino C"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Music","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"School of Music","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Benjamin Morris","Samantha Inman","Hannah Snavely"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2025-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:49Z","subjects":["Salsa","Latin Jazz","Montuno","Guajeo","Piano","Accompaniment","Clave","Music","Music Theory","Other Music"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/642","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Benjamin Morris","Samantha Inman","Hannah Snavely"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Perez, Victorino C"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-12-11T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Music"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Music"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Salsa","Latin Jazz","Montuno","Guajeo","Piano","Accompaniment","Clave","Music","Music Theory","Other Music"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/642"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Salsa is a popular Latin American musical genre that combines dance and vocal music with a unique rhythmic style that draws influences from jazz and African rhythms. Salsa shares characteristics with Latin jazz. Traditional salsa, or típica style, features traditional tonal harmonies with few alterations, whereas Latin jazz typically employs complex harmonies including tritone substitutions, chord extensions, and chords with extensions and alterations. The primary argument of this research is that Latin jazz pianists maintain the functions of the traditional salsa while infusing it with jazz harmonic, rhythmic, and textural elements. This thesis compares accompanying (“comping”) traits, including form, harmony, clave, comping rhythm, and texture, from traditional salsa and Latin jazz pianists, típica-style pianists Rafael Ithier (1926-2025) and Mariano Morales (b. 1960), and Latin jazz pianists Eddie Palmieri (1936-2025) and Papo Lucca (b. 1946). The pianists’ accompaniment styles illustrate the difference between these two genres.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Típica Style vs. Latin Jazz: A Comparison of Traditional Salsa Piano Accompaniment and Latin Jazz Comping"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Benjamin Morris","Samantha Inman","Hannah Snavely"],"dc:creator":["Perez, Victorino C"],"dc:date.available":["2025-12-11T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Salsa is a popular Latin American musical genre that combines dance and vocal music with a unique rhythmic style that draws influences from jazz and African rhythms. Salsa shares characteristics with Latin jazz. Traditional salsa, or típica style, features traditional tonal harmonies with few alterations, whereas Latin jazz typically employs complex harmonies including tritone substitutions, chord extensions, and chords with extensions and alterations. The primary argument of this research is that Latin jazz pianists maintain the functions of the traditional salsa while infusing it with jazz harmonic, rhythmic, and textural elements. This thesis compares accompanying (“comping”) traits, including form, harmony, clave, comping rhythm, and texture, from traditional salsa and Latin jazz pianists, típica-style pianists Rafael Ithier (1926-2025) and Mariano Morales (b. 1960), and Latin jazz pianists Eddie Palmieri (1936-2025) and Papo Lucca (b. 1946). The pianists’ accompaniment styles illustrate the difference between these two genres.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/642"],"dc:subject":["Salsa","Latin Jazz","Montuno","Guajeo","Piano","Accompaniment","Clave","Music","Music Theory","Other Music"],"dc:title":["Típica Style vs. Latin Jazz: A Comparison of Traditional Salsa Piano Accompaniment and Latin Jazz Comping"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Music"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Music"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:49Z"}