Artists

Today we talk with Susana Y Su Orquesta Adelante

There are so many descendants of Latinos who have fallen head and ears for their parents’ culture, so they always seek to leave their countries of origin on high with the tools they have at hand, especially music.

One of them is multi-instrumentalist Suzanne Cortez, who currently conducts Susana Y Su Orquesta Adelante and has many interesting things to say about her career.

Suzanne is a bassist — Suzanne is a multiinstrumentalist, but her main instrument is the bass

How Suzanne got interested in music in the first place

Suzanne became interested in music at a very young age when she saw her mother listening to many records of all genres, but her favorite group was Trio Los Panchos, which was very popular at the time. However, her mother also listened to The Beatles very often, to the point that Suzanne imitated them and pretended she was a member of the group.

From so much listening to music of varying genres, Suzanne learned to play herself, and it was the variety of genres she listened to that trained her to interact with all of them.

The artist enjoyed all types of music, but emphasized that her favorite genre was salsa. She assures that she can play any rhythm such as classical music, jazz, Latin jazz, Latin rock, R&B and many others, but none of them can be compared to what salsa makes her feel.

How her musical career began

Before forming what would become her own group Susana y Su Orquesta Adelante, she had a very interesting journey that prepared her to lead her own project later on.

At school, she took a few classical music lessons and her teacher called her one day to ask her if she was trained to learn to read music, to which she said no and that she had learned everything by ear and nothing else. This pleasantly surprised the educator and encouraged her to pursue a musical career beyond the boundaries of the classroom.

After that, Suzanne had the opportunity to be part of the women’s band Orquesta Sabrosita, in which she was the youngest of all the members. At that time, an all-female band was something very fresh in the Bay Area, so they drew a lot of attention from the public at the time. There were many female artists already, but they did not play salsa yet.

About this, the artist points out that reactions to them were mostly positive, although there were always people who still preferred all-male orchestras, which was the norm at the time.

Susana Y Su Orquesta Adelante

Suzanne officially created her own musical project Susana Y Su Orquesta Adelante in 2009. However, this was not her first attempt to form her own band, but in 2000. In that year, Suzanne and the rest of the musicians who accompanied her played in churches since for her the praises of God were very important and music was her vehicle to communicate with the Almighty.

In view of the great talent the band demonstrated every time they played one of their songs, some club owners wanted to invite the group to play in a café of their property and they did not have any problem with them having a repertoire based on Christian salsa.

It took Suzanne a while to make up her mind until finally, in 2009, she started playing with her group in cafes, clubs, restaurants, festivals, among other places.

There was also a point when the orchestra stopped playing purely Christian music, as the members wanted to vary their repertoire. In addition to that, Suzanne knew that, although they were not always playing religious music, God would be happy that they were making their listeners happy.

Challenges faced by Suzanne on this path

As much as Suzanne has achieved great things with her music, she has also had to face certain challenges that caused her to move away from her goals for some time.

Unfortunately, as with many artists, Suzanne turned to alcohol and drugs, which sent her into a deep depression and to left aside music for many years. These problems and her subsequent rehabilitation kept her away from the stage for more than 28 years, until she realized that it was time to try her luck once again with her great passion.

Unfortunately, most of the musicians who accompanied her in the beginning were making their lives out the music scene or had become part of other bands, so she had to look for new members for the orchestra she wanted to form.

However, the artist has absolutely no regrets about how things have turned out in her career and is grateful for the path she has traveled, despite the circumstances.

Pedro Bermúdez released his new Salsa album “ARRASANDO”

North America /  USA / New York

The Salsa pianist from Puerto Rico, Pedro Bermúdez, released his most recent record production “Arrasando” with the collaboration of the main Salsa legends and the New Salsera blood on June 5^th. This was announced by Bermúdez through his official Facebook account.

Arrasando is a heavy and hard traditional Salsa project that brings together a dream team of musicians and salsa legends from Puerto Rico and New York City, such as: Bobby Valentin (Bass), Reynaldo Jorge (Trombone), Frankie Vazquez (vocals), Eddie Montalvo (Congas), Ralph Irizarry (Timbales) and Jose Mangual (Bongos), among many others.

The 11 tracks of this album are original arrangements and lyrics. Arrasando also includes two Latin jazz composition in big band style with a lot of solos and “descargas” in each single.

Other Musicians presents on this recording are:

Trumpets: David “Piro” Rodríguez, Julito Alvarado, Angie Machado, Carlos Coamito Martínez, Jesús Alonzo, Nelson Jaime Gazu and Angel Segarra.

Trombones: Eliut Cintron, Danny Fuentes and Gamalier González.

Saxophones: Ivan Renta.

Bass: Rubén Rodríguez and Pedro Pérez.

Percussion: Carlos Maldonado Kachiro Thompson, Charlie Sierra, Miguel Aponte, Roberto Quintero, Tony Rosa and José Che Vega.

Coros: Luisito Carrión, Henry Santiago, Héctor Pichie Pérez, Rafu Warner and Joe González.

Singers: Rico Walker, Pedro Brull, Osvaldo Noel Muñoz, Kayvan Vega, Joe González.

ARRASANDO is available NOW in all digital platforms!!!

Pedro Bermúdez released his new Salsa album “ARRASANDO”

Release: June 5th, 2018

Tracks:
Hablador	6. Reunión (Feat. Reynaldo Jorge & Eddie Montalvo)
2. Las Rabietas de Marcela (Feat. Frankie Vázquez, José Mangual Jr. & Eddie Montalvo)	7. Mentiras No Quiero (Feat. José Mangual Jr)
3. Acere Guaribombó (Feat. José Mangual Jr. & Ralph Irrizary)	8. Ya No Soy Gente
4. Repartiendo Fuete (Feat. Bobby Valentin, Ralph Irrizary & Frankie Vázquez)	9. Vete de Aquí (Feat. Eddie Montalvo)
5. Te Lo Dije Casera (Feat. Reynaldo Jorge)	10. Mambo to My Friends (Feat. Reynaldo Jorge) 11. Groovin’

For more information, please like him on Facebook www.facebook.com/pedrobermudezpiano Or Download “Arrasando” HERE → https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/pedrobermudez1

Link de Video: https://www.facebook.com/pedrobermudezpiano/videos/1867607530205899/

Hernan Olivera the sonero of the 21st century

Latin America / Puerto Rico / Puerto Rico

Hernan Olivera, this excellent Salsa singer named Hermenegildo Olivera was born on January 30, 1959 in Newark, New Jersey.

Hernan Olivera is the son of Puerto Rican parents and from an early age he felt a great affinity for Latin music since his father listened to the groups of the moment such as Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Machito, Ismael Rivera with Cortijo y su Combo, Alegre All Stars, Tito Rodríguez, Santitos Colon, etc.

Then, in the 70s, in the midst of the Salsa Boom, Herman began his love of singing listening to the performances of Chamaco Ramírez, Héctor Lavo’e, Cheo Feliciano and Marvin Santiago, among others. These vocalists were mainly his source of inspiration; That school of soneros served as an apprenticeship for him and that is when he made the decision to sing professionally.

Hernan Olivera - photo — Hernan Olivera – photo

When he was just 15 years old, Herman began his career as a Salsa performer with an orchestra called “La Justicia”, after this he was part of the band “La Sónica” where he met his friend and trombonist Jimmy Bosch, after this He spent time with the “Caramelo” orchestra and later made the most important leap in his career by joining the “Con Conjunto Libre” in 1978, where he left his voice for the first time on the LP “Increíble” from 1981 under the direction by percussionist Manolo Oquendo and Bassist Andy González where he stands out with the song “Decide”.

Then in 1983 he would record with the Conjunto Libre in the production “Rhythm, sound and style” the song “Que Humanity” that would become a success. In 1988 Herman left the group “Libre” and became part of a project by Mr. Fernando Pastrana and under the musical direction of trumpeter Miguel Santiago whose album was called “La Exclusiva” which shared the vocal part with Roberto Mier, in this album stands out interpreting the songs “Xiomara” and “Te vi pasa”.

After this, in 1990 he was invited to record on the album “Salsa Sudada”, for the Valdesa Records label of Víctor Raúl Sánchez “Patillas” and with the musical direction of Isidro Infante, sharing vocals with Mario Muñoz “Papaíto”, Adalberto Santiago, Eladio Peguero “Yayo El Indio” and Pablo Villanueva Branda “Melcochita”; in this work he interprets the themes “La needle” and a tribute to the city of Cali called “Valle plata de salsa”.

He continued with his career as a performer and in 1993 he was once again invited to record the production “Now” with the Free Ensemble, where his great conditions and resources as a singer are undoubtedly reflected, there the song “You belong to me” became a hit in addition to other songs such as “Obsesión” and “El Son” stand out on this album.

Subsequently, he launched an independent project called Herman Olivera and La Exclusiva “Chequea La Mercancía” produced by Fernando Pestana, where the song “Me Extra Spider” is one of the most outstanding. In 1996 he reunited with the Conjunto Libre and made the live album entitled “On The Movie”.

Caratula Alta resolucin sin letras of Hernan Olivera

In 1997 he participated in the CD of the band Rikoson All Stars called “Evoluciones Del Son” where he stands out very well in the romantic theme “Aquella Noche”.

Photo - Hernan Olivera in concert — Photo – Hernan Olivera in concert

In 1998 he was requested by the piano teacher Eddie Palmieri and together with the vocalist Wichy Camacho they recorded the album “El Rumbero Del Piano” in which he stood out as a singer in the songs “Malagueña salerosa” and “Oiga mi guaguancó” that same year. he is invited to the recording studios by the trombonist Jimmy Bosch and they release the album titled “Soneando Trombón” which contains the hit “Otra opportunity” that he performs as a duet with Frankie Vázquez, on this CD the song “Descargarana” is also inserted. ”.

That same duo Olivera and Bosch meet the following year (1999) and make the production “Salsa Dura” where Herman shines interpreting the full “Impact we will have” this album also has the participation of the singers Frankie “Nene” Morales and Frankie Vázquez parallel to this album, the RMM label launches a live CD and DVD entitled “Eddie Palmieri & Friend’s” where Herman looks excellent in the number “Palo Pa’ Rumba”.

Tribute to Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez Jr. His first recording was professionally with Tito Puente in 1964 and was titled “Exciting Rhythm of Tito Puente”

Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez, (September 11, 1945, United States August 17, 2024) son of Johnny Rodriguez Sr. who was nicknamed “La Vaca”, remembered percussionist who was part of the orchestras of Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez, among others; as we can deduce, music for Johnny Rodriguez is something clearly hereditary given that as a child he attended his father’s rehearsals and his mother was a dancer.

Johnny Dandy Rodriguez Foto By Miguel Martillo

To get an idea of the musical family, let’s say that Johnny Rodriguez Sr. also took part in performances and recordings with musicians and singers of the stature of: Alfredito Levy, Joe Quijano, Jose Curbelo, Lou Perez Louie Ramirez, Machito, Miguelito Valdes, Noro Morales, Orlando Marin, Pete Terrace, Pupi Campo and Xavier Cugat.

The father’s enormous musical background was emulated in a great way with ample merits by the son.

Dandy Rodriguez grew up in Spanish Harlem in Manhattan, his home was very musical and when he was in high school he learned the details of percussion represented by the bongos, congas, timbales and drums. Influenced by his father he became interested in music and so in 1962 he joined the band of maestro Tito Puente.

His first professional recording was with Tito Puente and was titled Excitante Ritmo De Tito Puente; after this first album with Puente, “Dandy” Rodriguez began to deepen his musical studies listening and learning from leading musicians such as: José Mangual Senior bongosero from Machito, Rogelio “Yeyito” Iglesias bongosero from Cachao and Vitin Palacio bongosero from Johnny Segui.

He worked with the King of Timbales for more than three decades, initially in the sixties, more specifically from 1962 to 1972, then he rejoined Tito Puente’s band at the end of the seventies and was part of it practically until the death of the famous King of Timbales.

In the extensive career of our Johnny Rodriguez in music we must mention his internship with Joe Cuba’s orchestra, with whom “Dandy” Rodriguez himself says he participated in seven or eight albums since the mid-sixties; the first of them titled Joe Cuba Sextette – Comin’ At Yous; without forgetting to mention that in those albums the name of Johnny Rodriguez Jr. does not appear in the credits due to issues related to contracts with record companies.

His stay with Puente was not a limitation for him to be part of other musical groups, so he also worked for several years with another great of Latin music, the remembered Tito Rodríguez. He was also part of the band of the famous conguero Ray Barreto, replacing Tony Fuentes, and was one of the founders of the famous Típica 73 in 1972 and even took part in a couple of albums with Machito.

In the seventies, during the Salsa Boom, “Dandy” Rodriguez left his mark on recordings with: Jose “Cheo” Feliciano, Charlie Palmieri, Roberto Torres, Willie Rosario, Ismael Quintana, Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco, Louie Ramirez, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz, Fania All Stars, Alfredo De La Fe, Conjunto Clásico, Henry Fiol and Tito Allen.

As we mentioned before, John Rodriguez returned to the band of maestro Tito Puente in 1978 and was part of the band until Ernesto Antonio Puente’s death in 2000 at the age of 77; he participated in this cycle in at least twenty musical works apart from a large number of concerts and performances on tours in different countries around the world.

During those two decades with Tito Puente he also worked with other musicians, singers and groups such as: Miguel Quintana, Roberto Torres, Charlie Rodriguez, Tito Allen, Alfredo De La Fe, Azuquita Y Su Melao, Charlie Palmieri, Celia Cruz & Johnny Pacheco, Paquito D’ Rivera, Raulin, The Bronx Horns and Angelo Vaillant.

Luisito Quintero, Johnny Rodriguez y George Delgado

During the first two decades of the new century, the musical work of maestro Johnny Rodriguez continued and his musical mark has remained in other publications with The Latin-Jazz Coalition, Frankie Morales, Eddie Palmieri, Gilberto Santa Rosa, George Delgado, Victor Manuelle, Rick Arroyo, Orestes Vilato, Mitch Frohman, Cita Rodriguez, Doug Beaver, Adalberto Santiago and Jeremy Bosch.

Also, special mention must be made of the participation of maestro Johnny Rodriguez with a group called The Latin Giants Of Jazz, in the best style of the classic Big Bands made up of great teachers, including some of the former members of maestro Tito Puente’s band; with this group they have published four albums; this project gave rise to another band called The Mambo Legends, who recorded the album entitled: Watch Out! Be careful!

John Rodriguez is without a doubt one of the most prolific percussionists in the world of Latin music called Salsa. The nickname “Dandy” dates back to his childhood when the car he was driven in was bought at a store or shop called “Dandy” and people said look how cute “Dandy” is and from there he stuck with that nickname. In music he is better known as Johnny instead of John.

In (the year 2022) the experienced Johnny Rodriguez had three or four groups with which he is playing, including Dandy Rodriguez and his Dream Team, while teaching percussion classes online.

He is one of the true legends of Latin music, not to mention that his talent has also been reflected in recordings for other musical genres such as: Electronic, Folk Rock, Folk, World & Country, Funk / Soul, Heavy Metal, Jazz, Stage & Screen, Jazz-Funk, Merengue and Pop.

In his very extensive artistic career, maestro Johnny Rodríguez was part of historic and iconic recordings of our musical culture, some of these albums have been worthy of awards such as the Grammy Award, among which are:

Tribute to Beny Moré – Year 1978

On Broadway – Year 1983

El Rey: Tito Puente & His Latin Ensemble – Year 1984

Mambo Diablo – Year 1985

Goza Mi Timbal – Year 1990

Mambo Birdland – Year 1999

Masterpiece / Obra Maestra Tito Puente & Eddie Palmieri – Year 2000.

“In 2008, Johny entrusted LP’s Research and Development Department with the design of the John “Dandy” Rodriguez Jr. Legends Series bongos. John is proud that these drums, which bear his name, feature such outstanding sound and visual characteristics.”

Also Read: Jerry Ferrao says in salsa key: “My life is a drum”

Collaboration: Marino de Jesus (1588) from Salsa History from the Dominican Republic

Guatemalan group Malacates Trébol Shop enchants with its Latin rock and ska

We have had the opportunity to talk with artists and groups from many Latin American countries and the United States, but so far, we had not had the honor of interviewing anyone from Guatemala. Therefore, it was a pleasure for us to talk to Leonel Fernández and Rodolfo ”Chofo” Fernández, two of the members of the band Malacates Trébol Shop, to whom we dedicate the following lines.

Malacates drummer Leonel ”Cachu” Hernández, with whom we could talk about the Guatemalan band

How did the members of Malacates Trébol Shop get interested in music?

The band Malacates Trébol Shop already has more than 27 years of creation in the country of origin of its members, which is Guatemala. They started playing ska, which basically, in the words of Leonel Hernández, has been the backbone of everything they have done during this time, but this has not prevented them from flirting with other Latin genres that they also like very much, such as cumbia, reggae, Latin rock, among others.

bout this, Rodolfo pointed out that each of the members of the band has very diverse musical tastes including rock, pop, jazz, ska, blues, reggae, funk, salsa, bolero, mariachis, among others. So, all the musicians bring to the table their own musical ideas resulting in the sound that the group has today. However, just like Leonel, he emphasized that ska is always the basis on which they build most of their project.

Previous experience to Malacates Trébol Shop

Leonel again took the floor to emphasize that all the musicians in the group had already been in other bands before being part of this project with the illusion that at some point they were going to be music professionals fair and square.

It was in this same musical environment that Leonel, Rodolfo, Jacobo Nitsch, Francisco Paez and other artists met and began to get together. Over time, they all discovered that their views on music were very similar, so it would not be long before each of them would leave the groups they were in to create something on their own.

They would all get together regularly on weekends to play music, have fun and drink some beers. With the passage of time, they noticed that they were taking things more and more seriously to the point that they decided they had to lay the groundwork for something more formal in the near future.

This represented for the youngsters the opportunity to do something serious in music for the first time and they were not going to waste it under any circumstances.

Malacates guitarist Rodolfo — Malacates guitarist and sound engineer Rodolfo ”Chofo” Hernández, with who we also talked about the band

How did the name Malacates Trébol Shop come about?

The name Malacates Trébol Shop came about just before the first rehearsal of the group because they wanted to baptize the project from the beginning, but the guys wanted something original and, if possible, humorous for people to remember it upon hearing it.

So, they all began inventing funny names to identify themselves with, such as ”Conchinflín Godinez” or ”Los Champurradas” (a typical Guatemalan bread). This is how one of the boys suggested the name ”malacates”, which was a word used by grannies to refer to children who misbehaved. In addition to that, there was a club in Guatemala called ”Trébol Shop”. This resulted in the current name of the group which is ”Malacates Trébol Shop”.

When they started to call themselves this way, people generally took it with humor and it caused curiosity, which was exactly what the musicians were looking for. At that time, musical bands used to have elaborate names with many deep meanings, so ”malacates” broke that mold and stood out from others.

In its first performances, without a doubt, the name was one of the elements that made its early audiences that enjoyed the band live have it in their memory for a long time.

First professional experiences

In order for Malacates Trébol Shop to play live for the first time in a formal presentation, the musicians rehearsed for a whole year to make sure all worked out as best as it could.

In the process, they managed to be played on the radio and generated a lot of expectation around what they could offer with their talent, so many commercial brands wanted to work and sponsor them. One of them was Pepsi, which published a campaign with a Malacates song in the background, which was a great honor for the boys and resulted in a much larger number of concerts and bookings in general.

Malacates members — Drummer Leonel ”Cachu” Hernández, trumpeter Jacobo Nitsch, singer Francisco Páez, and guitarist Rodolfo ”Chofo” Hernández

Groups and artists who inspired Malacates

As for the groups and artists who inspired the members of Malacates, we can mention Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, The Skatalites, Grupo SKA-P, Bob Marley, Cultura Profética, among others.

In addition to this, one of the founding members of Malacates and the band Bohemia Suburbana, Juan Luis Lopera, is one of the first Guatemalan artists to do some Ska in the country, which made him one of the precursors of the genre in the Central American nation.

They also used to listen very often to the group Madness, Los Auténticos Decadentes and Versuit Vergarabat.

It is on these groups that Malacates Trébol Shop has based its sound and repertoire since it was conceived as a serious project by its founders and members.