North America

Gabriela Anders studied classical guitar privately, and music and piano at a conservatory in Buenos Aires

Gabriela Anders was born to music amidst the grace, paradox and tradition of Argentina.

Gabriela studied classical guitar privately, and music and piano at a Conservatory in Buenos Aires.

Adding to the musical medley was her father’s influence (a noted jazz saxophonist and arranger) which became even stronger than her classical studies. After finishing high school, Gabriela decided to move to New York.

There she studied orchestration for brass and strings in a class conducted by Don Sebesky and composition at Hunter College. Gabriela started to write her own material. Her studio and club work took off leading to a record deal with major label Warner Brothers Jazz.

Gabriela Anders’ debut album on Warner Bros. Records, (1999) “Wanting” is brimming with vocal subtlety; although smooth, it is anything but simple. It features arrangements and production by Paul Brown, George Duke, Allain Mallet and Anders herself.

The album elicited much praise for Anders’ vision and impassioned vocal style.

Recording with Questlove and Christian Mc Bride

Her unique marriage of Brazilian, Latin and Jazz led to Vogue and People Magazine describing Anders and her music as “exotic and bold”, “wonderfully soulful”, and “one of the most distinctive new voices to hit the music scene in years”.

Her second record for Warner Bros Records was a European release entitled “Gabriela” which featured an array of world-class sidemen, including Christian McBride, Amir “Questlove” Thompson and Kirk Whalum. Again, she contributed ten of the album’s twelve tracks.

Her next CD “Last Tango in Rio” was released in 2005 by major label EMI. “Last Tango in Rio” is a collection of songs closely associated with Billie holiday that have been uniquely transformed by Gabriela’s interpretation and orchestration.

Hailed by critics (Los Angeles Times, Billboard magazine and People magazine)) as highly -original and creative presentation of standards, “Last Tango in Rio” represents a fresh and effervescent take on a classic song book that has previously defied reinvention.

In October of 2009, JVC Japan released her CD “Bossa Beleza“. “Bossa Beleza” blends her own immediately recognizable sound with that of her first musical love, classic Bossa Nova.

Singing with Rihanna for the NYC Bone Marrow foundation

Gabriela Anders‘ 2015 album, “Cool Again”, beautifully displays the significant gifts as singer, vocal orchestrator, songwriter and bandleader she has steadily developed through her previous releases. The mix of original and cover songs on “Cool Again” finds Gabriela at her best.

The soulful funk of the original title track is a classic example. Its message of empowerment can be considered a core theme in Gabriela’s lyrics and a source of her resonating appeal as a performer, entertainer and artist.

2020 CD ‘The Ring‘: While facing the fear and uncertainty of the virus in New York City, Gabriela recorded a piano/voices collection of songs at her home studio, creating intimate portraits of inner struggle and redemption against the bizarre backdrop of the pandemic.

The project’s three pianists – Jim Ridl, Jean-Michel Pilc and Jon Cowherd – are radically different stylists from different corners of the world, here each offering their unique sensibilities to Gabriela’s voice and music.

2021 CD release Gabriela Anders’ ‘Los Dukes’! Los Dukes is a new 9 piece band arranged and directed by Gabriela Anders, featuring songs from the Duke Ellington’s catalog done in wildly distinctive Latin American styles. A Latina’s tribute to the music of Duke Ellington.

Los Dukes, pays loving tribute to the elegant GENIUS of Duke Ellington and includes some of the best Latin Jazz players on the New York scene.

Hailed by critics (Los Angeles Times, Billboard magazine and People magazine) as ‘highly original and creative artist’, a ‘multi-talented artist who is destined to leave her mark on the jazz world’ and the ‘most promising jazz influenced artists today’.

Gabriela Anders – Último Tango En Rio (2004)

Temas:

Te Subes A Mi Cabeza
Abracadabra
El Amor Llegó Para Quedarse
Dios Bendiga Al Niño
Abrázame
Buenos Aires Mix, El
Cuerpo y Soul
All Your Love
Meant To Be
‘Til The End of Time

Músicos:

Gabriela Anders (Voz, teclados)

Romero Lubambo (Guitarra)

John Benitez (Bajo)

Wayne Krantz (Guitarra)

Portinho (Batería, percusión)

Gabriel Rivano (Bandoneón)

H. Martignon (Teclados)

Tito Castro (Bandoneón)

Donald Edwards (Batería)

Jorge Anders (Saxo)

Jorge Alfano (Flauta, flauta andina, charango)

Información realizada (22 de abril de 2009)

Also Read: Samuel Quinto Feitosa is a Brazilian virtuoso jazz and classical pianist

Mulatu Astatke, the first African to earn a PhD from Berklee College of Music

Mulatu Astatke (or Astatqé) (Jimma, Ethiopia, December 19, 1943) is an Ethiopian musician, composer and arranger. He is considered the father of Ethio-Jazz.

His musical training took place at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, where he studied clarinet, piano and harmony, New York and Boston, where he was the first African student and also the first African to earn a PhD from Berklee College of Music; there he was trained in vibraphone and percussion.

Mulatu Astatke, the first African to earn a PhD from Berklee College of Music

Later he combined the influence of jazz and Latin music with traditional Ethiopian music.

My desire to start making Ethio-jazz began in London while I was studying there in the 1950s; then I knew I wanted to be different with my music. I looked for musicians from different African backgrounds and saw that they were successful and promoted the culture of their country.

However, there was very little from East Africa and Ethiopia, so I decided at that point that I would create something unique based on the rich heritage of our music and show how much we have contributed to the world of music in general.

That journey began to take shape at Berklee College in Bastan. I was the first African musician to study there and that period was very important for me.

I learned the technical aspects of many different musical forms and my teachers gave me the confidence to move in my own direction, teaching me that it was okay to be different in my music and try something completely new.

Ethiopian cultural music is based on four modes tezeta, bati, anchihoy and Ambassel and within my music, I knew that those modes could not be played.

They had to remain at the center of my music or the whole character of the sound would change and become distorted. I began to add beautiful colors with chords, voicings, bass lines and rhythm sections, writing progressions that fit together well. It’s very difficult to write 12-note music around the Ethiopian modes without destroying them.

In the mid-’60s I returned to Addis, but I kept going back and forth to the United States.

At that time, no one was fusing Ethiopian music with jazz.

In my country there was the First National Theater Orchestra, and both the police and the army had their own orchestras.

There were also bands like the Echoes and the Ras Band.

Musicians at that time based their melodies strictly on the four Ethiopian modes, using techniques like the “canon,” with melodic lines echoing each other.

With Ethiopian jazz, I consciously wanted to expand and explore the modes in different ways.

Mulatu Astatke (or Astatqé) (Jimma, Ethiopia, December 19, 1943) is an Ethiopian musician, composer and arranger. He is considered the father of Ethio-Jazz.

I formed a group called The Ethiopian Quintet in New York, made up of a mix of Ethiopian, Latino, and African-American musicians (there weren’t many Ethiopian musicians in the United States at that time).

The band included trumpeter and pianist Rudy Houston, who later played with Yambu, and Felix Torres, who played with Sonora Ponceña.

I have always felt a deep connection between Latin and African music; I traveled to Cuba to find out where the first American landed, I heard their musicians play and dance and although they sang in Spanish, the tempo, rhythm and feeling were very similar to aspects of African music.

So, with the Ethiopian Quintet, I wanted to show the African contribution to Latin music and it was my first opportunity to experiment and start developing my vision of Ethio-Jazz with this band.

With the American and Puerto Rican musicians in the group we created a different atmosphere and arrangements.

It was a great opportunity for me and they loved what I was writing and the direction I was trying to take.

We did quite a few concerts, some Spanish weddings, events upstate New York and in Manhattan.

We played at the Village Gate with Dave Pike, a great friend of mine at the time, one of the world’s greatest vibraphone players. He played a lot with Herbie Mann and I remember sitting in to watch one of his recording sessions.

I saw a lot of other great musicians in concert, from Coltrane to Bud Powell and Bill Evans. On the New York live circuit I met a producer called Gil Snapper.

His musical training was at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London,

Gil was a very nice and interesting guy and worked with musicians of many different styles.

He picked up on my music very quickly; we got on well and he invited me to record with The Ethiopian Quintet, so our first albums with him were ‘Afro Latin Soul’ Volumes 1 and 2, both recorded during 1966.

On the first volume, I performed an adaptation of an old Ethiopian warrior song, ‘I Faram Gami I Faram’.

I would have liked to have an Ethiopian singer for the song, but it was sung in Latin and the lyrics were translated to the singer so he could sing it in Spanish.

Nevertheless, it turned out to be a nice combination. The album included other compositions that were important steps for me: ‘Mascaram Setaba’ (Summer is Coming), ‘Shagu’ and ‘Almaz’. On the second volume, Rudy Houston suggested a piece of music that we called ‘The Panther’, in reference to the animal, but also in recognition of the Black Panthers, who were very active in the civil rights struggle in the United States at that time.

On this album, one of my favorites is my composition ‘Girl From Addis Ababa’, which worked very well as a fusion of Ethiopian modes and R&R rhythms, an indicator of the more refined Ethiopian jazz sound of my later album for Worthy, ‘Mulatu Of Ethiopia’ (1972). It also included my new arrangement of the 1950s tune ‘Lover’s Mambo’.

Both albums include nice arrangements also by Oscar Garcia, Rudy Houston and Gil Snapper as well.

I feel proud of the recording when I listen to it again. It was an important moment in my career and it was a very interesting and progressive time to be in New York in the mid-60s.

I was there at the same time as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and Fela Kuti and, each in their own way, we tried to do our part to put Africa on the map of contemporary jazz.

Mulatu Astatke, April 2018

Mulatu Astatke & His Ethiopian Quintet – Afro-Latin Soul (1966, R-2018)

Tracks: Afro Latin Soul: 01. I Faram Gami I Faram (Mulatu Astatke)

02. Mascaram Setaba (Mulatu Astatke)

03. Shagu (Mulatu Astatke)

04. One For Buzayhew (Mulatu Astatke) ke)

05. Alone In The Crowd (Gil Snapper)

06. Almaz (Mulatu Astatke)

07. Mulatu’s Hideaway (Mulatu Astatke)

08. Askum (Rudy Houston)

09. A Kiss Before Dawn (Gil Snapper & Weiss)

10. Playboy Cha Cha (Oscar Garcia) Afro Latin Soul Vol. 2:

11. The Panther (Boogaloo) (Rudy Houston)

Konjit (Pretty) (Oscar Garcia)

Soul Power (Rudy Houston)

Lover’s Mambo (Traditional, Arr. Mulatu Astatke)

Love Mood For Two (Rudy Houston)

Jijiger (Rudy Houston)

Girl From Addis Ababa (Mulatu Astatke)

Karayu (Oscar Garcia)

Raina (Rudy Houston)

Musicians:

Mulatu Astatke (Vibraphone, Piano, Drums)

Rudy Houston (Piano, Trumpet)

Robert Cuadrado (Bass)

Felix Torres / John Perez (Congas / Bongos on Vol. 1)

Pete Iglesias (Congas on Vol. 2)

Tony Pearson (Timbales)

Information provided (October 5, 2024)

Also Read: Flora Purim has earned her two Grammy nominations for Best Female Jazz Performance

Celesté Polanco. The Salsera Fair

North America/ USA / Pennsylvania

Celesté Polanco “The Salsera Fair” is a young singer in constant ascent in the National Salsa music movement nowadays. This star from Philadelphia with Dominican and Puerto Rican roots has managed to delve into the acceptation of the tropical music market with her two hits: “Traicionada” and “Mi Salsa te llama” in collaboration with great producers and composers of Latin Music.

This Salsera and humble person began her professional career thanks to the support of Héctor Rosado who believed in her talent and gave her the opportunity to be the lead vocalist of his Hache orchestra and at the same time to start working in the musical field, sharing stage with renowned Salsa figures, such as: Frankie Vázquez, Kevin Ceballo, Frankie Negrón, VITI Ruiz, Herman Olivera, Ricky Luis, and Chino Núñez y su Orchestra.

In 2015 Polanco decided to become a soloist with the 2x Grammy Award and 7x Billboard Award winner, Pablo Chino Núñez, recording her first two singles: “Traicionada”, released in 2015 under the production and arrangement of Pablo Chino Núñez, and composition of her authorship together to Linen Church and a year later her second promotional single “Mi Salsa te llama” whose composition, arrangement and production was in charge of Pablo Chino Núñez and Celesté Polanco.

“La Fiera”, nicknamed by her producer Chino Núñez to see her deliver her emotions during the recording of Traicionada, connects her art with her experiences. “The best way to sing is from my experiences. It’s my art, you know, someone will connect with it because they have encountered it too. I love happy music as well that’s where “Mi Salsa Te Llama” comes in”, said Celesté.

“… I love Salsa I feel that in the Salsa music industry there are not enough females emerging in the Salsa Industry.”

Celesté Polanco currently resides in Philadelphia and is recording her first album in which it will include her third promotional single: “El Tiempo Lo Dirá” which will be presented with an official video and will be available on all digital platforms soon.

This representative of the Salsa has performed at major festivals, such as: NAHREP (National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals), LA LIVE (National Convention, 2016), MUSIKFEST in Bethlehem & LEVITT STAGE in PA and for this 2018 “La Fiera” will continue presenting his shows in Miami, Chicago, LA and also in the tri-state area.

Traicionada Cover - Celesté Polanco — Traicionada Cover – Celesté Polanco

“…The market of salsa, in general, it’s worldwide re-known. It doesn’t pertain to one ethnicity it has become multicultural… It’s a worldwide movement”.

“… My main focus is to reach as many people as I can through my voice and become a positive influence to the younger generation and all those who aspire to do great things but are scared to try”. Celesté Polanco

The Latin Music’s influences of Celeste “La Fiera” Polanco:

-Celia Cruz -Oscar D’ León -Yolanda Rivera -Cano Estremera -Orquesta Mulenze, etc…

For more information about Celesté Polanco, please like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celeste.polanco.7

El Tiempo Lo Dira Cover - Celesté Polanco — El Tiempo Lo Dira Cover – Celesté Polanco

Louie Ramírez. The Hidden Talent of Salsa Ahead of its time

North America / USA / New York

Louie Ramírez.

Music often requires characters who are always behind the scenes and support the work of singers and performers with their talent, who are ultimately the ones who “put on their face” and become popular. Sometimes, however, these anonymous characters rise to fame in order to perform their own work and even become more popular than any popular singer.

In the case of Pop, this character is called Quincy Jones, of whom it is enough to say that he has been an arranger for Frank Sinatra and a producer for Michael Jackson. A nobody”. In the case of Salsa, these characters have been symbolized by Jones’ emulator, a guy named Louie Ramírez who has done everything with everyone.

One afternoon in 1994, Ramírez was driving his car down the highway that would take him to Variety Studios in New York. It was going to be a quick session since he only needed one song to complete his 20th album as conductor. Perhaps that was why he was nervous and that filled him with anxiety. Minutes later he couldn’t resist the feeling and had to pull over to the side of the car. He had not finished doing it when a cardiac arrest ended his life.

Louie Ramirez was a genius. The classic man to whom everyone turns for advice and solutions to their problems. It didn’t matter if they were young or old musicians. The fact was, Louie had the answer, and visiting him was like rubbing Aladdin’s lamp. That was a characteristic that always accompanied him, from that first recording “Conozca a Louie Ramírez” in 1963.

He was 20 years old at the time and had already stood out for composing some pachangas and arranging for Pete and Tito Rodríguez’s orchestras. The commentator Dick Sugar then presented it like this: Ramírez breaks the image of the director of a group that uses the talent of other composers and becomes a follower of a rhythm. No, Louie Ramírez is a creator in his genre.

That talent did not go unnoticed by the new Czar of Latin music in New York, Jerry Masucci, who hired him as a star for Fania Records and at the same time, as an arranger for the orchestras and ensembles that belonged to the record company. Ramírez was soon involved in work and was only able to record two albums during the sixties, “Good news” and “Alí Babá”.

On that last album appeared the hit that allowed him to be a famous artist, El Títere, a true Salsa classic. The theme was sung by Rudy Calzado, the third of the soneros that Louie had used without finding the ideal. That was a burden that accompanied him as a director during the seventies, when he used singers of the stature of Pete Bonet, Tito Allen, Jimmy Sabater, “Azuquita” Rodríguez, Adalberto Santiago, and even Rubén Blades.

It was with Blades, precisely, that he made an anthological album, “Louie Ramírez and his friends”, in which the song Paula C was included, with an arrangement of those that deserve -hats off-. By then, Ramírez was considered in New York as the most progressive arranger that Salsa had, thanks to the brilliant work done for the Fania All Stars. An excellent job had been the instrumental arrangement of Juan Pachanga, to be sung by Blades, of Canta Canta for a performance by Cheo Feliciano, and of the entire album “Algo nuevo” that Tito Rodríguez sang with Louie’s orchestra.

But the high point of Ramírez’s career came in 1980 when Joni Figueras, representative of the K-Tel International label, hired him to arrange the ballads Todo se derrumbó and Estar Enamorado de Manuel Alejandro. The album, which included these and other tracks, was released two years later under the title “Hot Night” and was recorded by Louie’s own orchestra.

Louie Ramírez - Salsa Progresiva — Louie Ramírez – Salsa Progresiva

This is how the Salsa-ballad or Salsa-romántica was born in a job that Ramírez continued until his death, making attempts at Latin Jazz from time to time, which he loved. That is why he recorded an album in tribute to Cal Tjader, where Louie was director, producer, composer and arranger, in addition to playing the timpani and his favorite instrument: the vibraphone.

Louie Ramírez was a genius in arranging, in a career where those of Guantanamera and Isadora stand out for Celia Cruz, El Guiro de Macorina for Johnny Pacheco and El Caminante for Roberto Torres. Apart from this, there are his works for the Alegre and the Cesta All Stars. Regarding this profile of Ramírez, the critic Eleazar López defined it very well:

Louie Ramírez - salsero — Louie Ramírez – salsero

It is not easy to arrange for a dance band, especially when it comes to a group that cultivates the hot tropical genre. Many musicians feel influenced by Jazz and the result of their orchestrations leaves a void in the dancer. Others arrange simple, but so simple that they repeat and copy themselves, and the result is tiresome music, without any degree of creativity: music that says nothing, that leaves nothing. Louie Ramírez has found the perfect balance… that’s why he always stays current.

Andrea Brachfeld

North America / USA / New York

Andrea Brachfeld (Flutist), Graduated from the High School of Music and Art and Manhattan School of Music. During the last 20 years he has recorded more than a dozen CDs with many artists, including Africando, Noel Pointer, and Timbalaye. Her big break as the flutist for the popular Latin band Charanga 76 catapulted her into Salsa history and fame as the first female flutist to play this music in the United States.

While in high school he received the “Louis Armstrong Award for Outstanding Alumnus” for Jazz Interactions. Study with Hubert Laws, Jimmy Heath, and Mike Longo helped him develop his own style. Downbeat magazine referring to Andrea as “one of the best jazz flautists around”.

She has twice been the winner of the Latino Award in New York, as a flutist. He has performed with Dave Valentín, Néstor Torres, and Ray Barretto, among others. While in Venezuela, he had the honor of opening for Chick Corea and Paco de Lucía. She recently received the Chico O’Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award from Latin Jazz USA. Her first Latin jazz CD, “Remembered Dreams” combines Latin originals with contemporary jazz cuts. His second CD, “Back With Sweet Passion,” is a dynamic salsa recording featuring Grammy winner Oscar Hernández on piano, and Alfredo De La Fey on violin.

Her third CD “Beyond Standards” is a collaborative effort with Chembo Corniel, featuring jazz greats Hilton Ruiz on piano and Steve Turre on trombone.

She has appeared with the Winnepeg Jazz Orchestra as a soloist performing her own compositions as well as those of Mike Longo, Dizzy Gillespie’s longtime musical director. He is currently performing with his own group, including Phoenix Rising, with a new CD out, “Into The World: A Musical Offering” with guest artists Mike Longo, West Paul and Brian Lynch.

Red Profile Andrea Brachfeld