Frank Emilio Flynn

Did You Know?

• Flynn served as president of Cuba's National Association for the Blind between 1978 and 1981.
• He developed novel writing techniques for blind musicians.
• He influenced artists such as David Virelles, Emiliano Salvador, the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, and Irakere.

Biography

Frank Emilio Flynn was born in Havana on April 13, 1921. His father was American, his mother Cuban. Because a doctor’s forceps injured his eyes at birth, he could only make out vague shapes as a child, and by his late teens he had lost his sight entirely. His father’s influence led people to call him Frank Emilio instead of Francisco Emilio from an early age. When he was five, his mother died and his father went back to the United States, so his aunt and uncle raised him. At thirteen, in 1934, he won an amateur music contest and soon after started playing danzones by Antonio María Romeu. In 1938 he put his music career on hold to finish his education at a school run by Cuba’s National Association for the Blind.

During the 1940s, Flynn joined the filin movement, a scene of jazz-influenced bolero composers, and performed with singer Miguel de Gonzalo. In 1946 he and guitarist-composer José Antonio Méndez formed the group Loquibambia, which began working at Radio Mil Diez. Three years later they backed Conjunto Casino on their recording of “Átomo.” In 1951 Flynn started Los Modernistas, a band that included Méndez on guitar, Justi Barreto on percussion, and Francisco Fellove on vocals, among others. They played at Radio Cadena Habana, toured Cuba, and then broke up. After that, Flynn joined the son ensemble Alejandro y sus Muchachos, and in 1955 he cut four songs with Arcaño y sus Maravillas.

In 1958, Flynn and fellow Havana musicians founded the Club Cubano de Jazz, where they broke new ground with small-ensemble Cuban jazz. One of these groups was the Grupo Cubano de Música Moderna, later renamed the Quinteto Instrumental de Música Moderna. Flynn played piano and directed; the lineup included Tata Güines on congas, Gustavo Tamayo on güiro, Walfredo de los Reyes on drums (replaced by Guillermo Barreto in 1959), and Orlando “Papito” Hernández on bass (replaced by Orlando “Cachaíto” López in 1965). The quintet regularly joined improvised jam sessions called descargas. In 1959 they released a self-titled LP on Panart as the Grupo Cubano de Música Moderna, which featured Flynn’s well-known piece “Gandinga, Mondongo y Sandunga.” Flynn also kept up his classical solo work, recording albums like Paisajes de España for Duarte and Danzas y danzones cubanos for Sonotone.