North America

Joshua Levine, artistically known as Josh Levine, is one of so many examples of Americans who, without having any type of Latin roots, fall under the charm of our beautiful music and do not hesitate to make it their way of life. That is why we wanted to talk to Josh, born in New York City, a little more about his career and what brought him to where he is today.

Josh’s beginnings in music

The first instrument that drew Josh’s attention as a child was the piano, as his babysitter was a piano teacher and offered him some lessons to satisfy his curiosity. The interesting thing is that his teaching was more focused on the ear than on reading music as such, showing that there are musicians perfectly capable of playing without needing a musical score.

However, like any child, he began to have other interests such as skating, to which he devoted much of his time back then. About 10 or 11 years later, his father, who was a great jazz fan, used to listen to this genre at home frequently, to the point that the young man once again felt that passion for what he had practiced so many years ago and began to listen a little more intently to the artists his father enjoyed. 

Seeing his son’s growing taste for jazz, Josh’s father decided to take him to a concert featuring Cedar Walton’s piano trio with Ron Carter on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. He was so impressed by their performance that he decided to study bass that same day, as at the time it seemed to him the most understandable and easiest instrument to learn because of its few notes at once.

He got so good that he even became part of his high school band, a group from where great artists emerged including Carlos Henriquez, a great musical luminary who has worked with Celiz Cruz, Eddie Palmieri and Ruben Blades and is the current bass player for the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Interest in Latin music

For those same years, Josh also learned Spanish and clarified that he does not have any Latin ancestry, so this was not the motive behind his interest in this music. However, he grew up in a neighborhood in Manhattan where many Latino families lived, especially Caribbeans from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Meanwhile, he was also studying biology in college and a little jazz and classical music. Upon graduation, by pure chance, he met a young Venezuelan musician named Roberto Fuentes, who was the director of Alpargata Cantorum (a very famous Venezuelan musical comedy and theater group in the 70s), who wanted to form a band with him and a few other musicians. Fuentes showed Josh a lot of Venezuelan folkloric music, taught him to play cuatro and made him listen to several songs typical of Venezuelan music such as ”Barlovento”, ”El Alma Llanera”, ”La Vaca Mariposa”, ”Pajarillo Verde” and many more.

As for classic salsa, he made him listen to Ismael Rivera, Rubén Blades, Willie Colón and many others.

Other groups Josh was in

Having been in the group with Fuentes gave him what he needed to make contact with many other groups, including that of José Luis Martínez, who was very close to Juan Carlos Formell Sr. Thanks to Martinez he learned a great deal about Cuban music, the way Cuban son is played on the bass, the pronunciation of words in the Cuban dialect, among other things. 

His big break came when he met Jainardo Batista, whom he was a big fan of when he was in his band Nu Guajiro (or Nu D’lux, as it would end up being called). It turns out that Josh went every Sunday to hear them play at the club where they were at the time and, after 10 years of following their music, they finally invited him to play with them.

After a while, the group disbanded, but Josh and Jainardo did not lose touch. And not only that, but they continued playing together and had the idea of forming something new. 

Cuarteto Guataca 

Cuarteto Guataca was born when Josh and Jainardo decided to form a new group after the breakup of Nu D’lux and counted with the participation of Dominican arranger, composer and tres player Román Lajara and Puerto Rican producer, composer and flutist Jeremy Bosch. He describes them both as musical prodigies, to the point of telling us that Lajara was the representative of the Cuban tres as an instrument at the 2024 National Jazz Day in Morocco.

Josh, Jainardo, Román and Jeremy were the members of the original quartet, but they did not play for a living because it was not enough, but as a sort of part-time job. For the same reason, the four of them also worked on other projects at the same time, as is usually the way with New York today. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, they started playing in city parks to earn some tips during the quarantine, leading their audiences to grow tremendously and many venues began to hire them to play in their open spaces. At a time when musicians were out of work, they had events at least six out of seven days to a week.

This led to them to be ready to get in a studio for the first time and record their first album, which was released in 2022 and is available on all digital platforms for all to enjoy. It should be noted that Román was not playing as often with Cuarteto Guataca, so he was replaced by Venezuelan producer, composer and pianist Gabriel Chakarji until he got back some time later.

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For several decades now, the exclusivity of the musicians in orchestras was forgotten, so now it is very common to see artists playing with many groups at the same time without being seen as traitors, as well as in the past. To know a little more about this interesting and important subject, we wanted to count with the views of our friends, Uruguayan bandleader, percussionist and singer Edgardo Cambón and Venezuelan bandleader and singer Omar Ledezma Jr., who have offered us their vision of things in the following lines of this article. 

Freelance musicians according to Cambon and Ledezma

Before continuing, we believe it appropriate to define what a freelance musician is. In the words of Omar Ledezma, a freelancer in music is a concept of work in which the artist divides himself equally among many projects in which he participates and how well he organizes his time to strike the needed balance in all his professional activities.

Nowadays, there are many musicians who offer their work under this modality, so that they are not completely tied to any specific orchestra and can play with anyone who proposes them.

This is also the case for those who work this way, but at the same time, have their own project. This is the situation of Edgardo Cambón, who, having his own orchestra, has a very limited time for hiring and rehearsals, so he makes it very clear to those who invite him to play that his priority is his own group. 

The musician has even played with four or five orchestras at the same time, but always putting his project on top of everything else and notifying in advance if he will be able to play with any of them. 

Problems with dates and schedules

Many of these musicians constantly face conflicts with dates and schedules, so it is up to them to choose carefully which event takes precedence over another.

Edgardo has said that he is accustomed to notifying in advance, either two weeks or a month, so that the orchestra can replace him on time. There are certain events for which it is usually more complicated to find replacements, such as large festivals, so the Uruguayan also takes into account the size and importance of the performance, so that his absence does not cause a setback or damage to the group in question. 

In his role as a bandleader, he offers his musicians a list of possible replacements who can cover them the day of conflict. 

Meanwhile, Omar Ledezma, as well as a bandleader, says he always tries to provide his musicians with the greatest flexibility and possible replacements on hand to prevent those absences from causing problems.

What has caused the termination of exclusivity for musicians?

In the 70s, it was not seemly for a musician play for several orchestras, especially if he was the lead singer in a specific group, as public opinion took it as an abandonment of one orchestra for another. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge and this situation has cardinally changed for several reasons. 

One of them is that a big orchestra like Ray Barretto’s had the economic capacity to demand exclusivity, since it was a time when there was much more work. As there are fewer spaces for live music, it is the musician who must decide for himself to which project he gives precedence over another.

In addition, there are also many musicians who have a regular 9-5pm job, so they just have time for one orchestra and nothing else, so they do not have the possibility to accept more offers.

According to Edgardo, what changed was the economy of music and full-time artists’ need to work in six or more orchestras in order to make ends meet. Not to mention that there is less work and many bands have reduced their size, to the point that most groups do not have more than five members.

Original music 

When questioned about a possible decline in quality and lack of originality in the Latin music scene, Edgardo commented that this was not necessarily linked to freelance musicians, but to many orchestras’ fear of playing their own repertoire and their insistence on playing the hits that everyone knows. Otherwise, their owners and musicians think that nobody would want to go to their events.

In addition to that, many promoters, radio stations and media in general tend to be wary of supporting emerging bands’ original music, but the same old hits, except for some reggaeton artists or more trendier genres today.

What does a musician take into account when choosing one orchestra or another?

In addition to the economic factor, which as we said is very important, musicians also take into account how much they like the music played an orchestra and how much they have fun and enjoy being with a certain group.

On the side of bandleaders, there are two key factors to consider when keeping or firing a musician in their project and are responsibility and discipline. If a rehearsal or activity is already scheduled, it is necessary to always arrive on time and fulfill the commitment optimally. When these details are missing, things between musical directors and artists start to get tense, which can lead to an unpleasant work environment.

In the case of Omar Ledezma, as a musician, he always hopes to receive the music in advance so he can properly prepare for the performance, rehearsal or recording he attends, since one of the things he most dislikes in his project is when one of his musicians is not ready for the event. Therefore, he always does everything he can to prevent this from happening to him and to make a good impression with his performance.

The Venezuelan artist also emphasized that musicians have to be very aware of what they are capable of and be clear about what genres they are comfortable with, which will also help them make a better decision when it comes to staying or not in an orchestra.

Conclusions

One of the things that Eduardo highlighted at the end of his participation is that, although the circumstances are not always ideal, the good musician always strives to give his best to the audience at every opportunity and with any orchestra. He stressed that music is what makes him most happy and that everything he has gained was thanks to it, which he dreamed since he was a teenager and he fully fulfilled it.

He also expressed that he can spend many hours in front of a computer working as a musician, but in front of an audience, his energy changes completely and he becomes a person who only enjoys what he does and wants the same for others.

For his part, Omar Ledezma Jr. said that each project has its time and opportunity. In his case, he is very clear about what he does and will do with each of his short and medium-term projects, whether it is a concert, a recording, a promotion, a music video, among other things. Being clear about what he wants in each project and organizing himself well are key for everything to go as well as it should be.

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