These forms became tremendously popular and were heard outside of Cuba in Europe and the Americas from about 1850 on, first when New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk assisted the Cuban nationalist composer Nicholas Ruiz Escardero in publishing his work in Europe, and later when visiting European composer Sebastian Yradier incorporated the habanera in his compositions "El Arreglito" and "La Paloma." "La Paloma," in particular, quickly entered the repertoire of many popular orchestras. "Its influence transcended the years. It was heard in the 1850s in Havana, the 1860s in Mexico, and still heard by the turn of the century in New Orleans" (Smith, p. 55).

The presence of these rhythmic cells in early jazz has been investigated by Christopher Washburne, Thomas Fierher, John Chilton, Donald Marquis, Raymond Martinez and others. Their view is that jazz is a variegated music that reflects the complex mix of Spanish, French, English, Native American, Caribbean and African cultures present in New Orleans at the beginning of the twentieth century. Washburne in particular has documented examples of these rhythms in all of the instruments used in jazz, and in all of its subsequent styles up to the period of "free" jazz beginning in the early 1960s. He contends that the less frequent appearance of clove rhythms in more recent jazz styles represents a shift away from a social dance function toward abstract improvisation in a concert format, a process of "more recent influences in this constantly evolving music tradition that have taken the music further from its roots" (Christopher Washburne, "The Clave of Jazz: A Caribbean Contribution to the Rhythmic Foundation of an African-American Music," Black Music Research Journal, vol. 17, no. I [Spring 1997], p. 77).

Lawrence Gushee has argued compellingly for a time frame of 18901910 as the period for the emergence of jazz in New Orleans. He notes the difficulties inherent in finding notated musical examples of what is often an oral tradition, but does find some distinctively West Indian polyrhythms in Allen, Ware and Garrison's pioneering collection of slave songs. But then he states, "we cannot rule out the possibility that African or West Indian rhythms were largely absent from the New

Orleans dance music of the 1880s" (Lawrence Gushee, "The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Jazz," Black Music Research Journal, vol. 14, no. I [Spring 1994], p. 10). Gushee writes of Lafcadio Hearn's interest in music with noticeable African influences, and of his failure to find this music in 1880s New Orleans: -all the orchestras and bands are coloured. But the civilized instrument has killed the native manufacture of aboriginalities. Tbe only hope would be in the small islands, or where slavery still exists, as in Cuba" (Hearn, quoted in Gushee, p. 10, italics mine). Hearn confirms the presence of African influences in Cuban music in an 1897 letter to a friend: "My friend Matas has returned. He tells me delightful things about Spanish music, and plays for me. He also tells me much concerning Cuban and Mexican music. He says these have been very strongly affected by African influence -- full of contretemps" (Hearn, quoted in Gushee, pp. 10-1 I ).

The presence of Afro-Cuban rhythms in New Orleans dance music of the early 1900s, though, is a documented fact. The ingress of these rhythms would seem to be both a matter of the popularization of songs that employed them (like "La Paloma") and musicians with obvious cultural affinities toward these styles. Through painstaking sifting of city directories, census returns, license registries and other primary source materials, Gushee documents a dramatic increase in the number of musicians of color between 1890 and 1910. This is further confirmed by a passage from the music trade magazine Metronome at the end of 1888: "We have here some twenty to twenty-five bands averaging twelve men apiece. The colored race monopolize the procession music to a great extent as they are not regular workers at any trade, as are most of the white players..." (Metronome, December 1888, quoted in Gushee, p. 7). As well, the importance of social dancing as a driving force in changing musical styles cannot be overemphasized. Through an examination of the surviving dance cards of various social clubs, Gushee notes a shift away from the group oriented dances of the 19th century to the closed couple styles of dancing that would dominate the 2e. The perfect music for closed couple dancing was the syncopated "rocking" style produced by the synthesis of these primarily Caribbean-derived rhythms.

When examining the syncretic process that produced jazz in the early 20th century it is important to understand two key elements: the role played by social dancing as an agent of change in popular music: and the cross fertilization which occurred between ceremonial (or "processional") drumming styles, such as were employed at parades and funerals, and the more entertainment oriented devices used when playing for dancers.