Mongo Santamaria first recorded his composition "Afro Blue" in 1959, when playing with Cal

Tjader's band, Cal Tjader Sextet. The first recorded performance of the piece, recorded live on
April 20, 1959, at the Sunset Auditorium in Carmel, California, with composer Mongo Santamaría
on percussion.

In 1960, lyrics were added by prolific songwriter Oscar Brown.

"Afro Blue" was the first jazz standard built upon a typical African 3:2 cross-rhythm, or hemiola.
[1] The song begins with the bass repeatedly playing 6 cross-beats per each measure of 12

8, or 6 cross-beats per 4 main beats—6:4 (two cells of 3:2). The following example shows the
original ostinato "Afro Blue" bass line. The cross noteheads indicate the main beats (not bass
notes).

While the bass sounds the six secondary beats, Paul Horn's flute solo and Emil Richards'
marimba solo emphasize the four primary beats. Francisco Aguabella takes the conga drum solo
on the first recording, quoting phrases from the vocabulary of the abakuá bonkó drum.

Using brushes, Willie Bobo plays an abakuá bell pattern on a snare drum. This cross-rhythmic
figure divides the twelve-pulse cycle into three sets of four pulses. Since the main beats are
grouped as four sets of three pulses (dotted quarter-notes in the top example), the bell pattern
significantly contradicts the meter. Bobo played this same pattern and instrumentation on the
Herbie Hancock jazz-descarga "Succotash."[2]

The harmonic structure of Santamaria's version is a simple B♭ pentatonic blues.

Coltrane version[edit]

In 1963, John Coltrane recorded "Afro Blue" with Elvin Jones on drums.[3] Jones took the
opposite approach of Santamaría, superimposing two cross-beats over every measure of a 3

4 jazz waltz (2:3). This particular swung 3

4 is perhaps the most common example of overt cross-rhythm in jazz.[4][5] Coltrane and Jones
reversed the metric hierarchy of Santamaria's composition, by performing in 3

4 swing (2:3), instead of 6

8 or 12

8 (3:2).
Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things", also uses a 3

4 jazz waltz rhythm.

Coltrane also added several chords, making his version more harmonically sophisticated than
Santamaria's original version.