Hector “Bomberito” Zarzuela, Instrumentalist, excellent sound, tuning and world-class reader.
Héctor Zarzuela, known in the entertainment world as ‘Bomberito’, passed away last Thursday, January 7 at the age of 84 in New Jersey, USA.
Born June 3 in the city of Moca, Dominican Republic, where he began his musical studies, played with several local groups and then moved to the capital city in which he played with
different orchestras. Then in the early 60’s, he decided to emigrate to New York City.
Shortly after arriving in New York, he entered the world of salsa and began working with local orchestras, and later with those that made up the famous Fania All-Star in which he remained for many years.
The former member of the band Estrellas de la Fania, was one of the most important personalities of salsa thanks to his great talent and participation with renowned groups and artists of the salsa world, among them the Fania All-Stars (1971-1976 / 1979-1988 / 1994), Cheo Feliciano (1973 / 1977 / 1993), Ismael Rivera y sus Cachimbos (1975-1978), Héctor Lavoe (1975 / 1981) and Ray Barretto (1979 / 1987-1990).
He worked with fellow trumpeter Luis “Perico” Ortiz for many years, being an extraordinary quality and tuning session and responsible for innumerable hits of different singers.
The name Hector Zarzuela earned a lot of respect for his beautiful songs as an instrumentalist, excellent sound, tuning and world-class reader.
His list of artists with whom he recorded is enormous, here are some of them: Pete Conde, Johnny Pacheco, Héctor Lavoe, El Canario, Ismael Miranda, Ismael Rivera, Tony Vega, Celia Cruz, Grupo Niche, Victor Manuel, among others.
In 1980, he recorded a production entitled “Merengues con Caché” with an orchestra which he has created. Around this time, he was also in the group “Africando“.
He traveled from Latin America to Africa, Japan, and Australia with all these artists, collected legions of fans, and set a great example to follow.
He also dabbled with some merengue groups, especially The New York Band, La Gran Manzana, etc. His career in merengue groups is not extensive, after all he has lived in New York City for many years, making him a living example of Constancy and Determination.
Lovingly called Bomberito, we know nothing about the reasons for this nickname, but he is highly known this way.
Zarzuela was a well-mannered, quiet temperament, respecful person when relating with others, and very responsible person in carrying out his work.
Man with a noteworthy trajectory in growing quality and respect by becoming one of the great figures abroad of our musicians.
Héctor Zarzuela deserves a predominant role in the pages of our history.
He was one of the greatest trumpeters of all time, always being the first trumpet in the ensembles.
He belongs to the highest elite group of musicians of the same instrument. The maestros Luis “Perico” Ortiz, Elias Lopes, Kito Velez, Orlando Pabellon, Rafael Labasta, Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, Puchi Bulong and other great figures that make up the trumpet legends of the trumpet in salsa.
Trumpet
The trumpet is a wind instrument, which belongs to the family of brass instruments and is made of metal alloy.
The sound is produced by the vibration of lips on the part called mouthpiece from the air column (air flow).
Commonly, it is usually tuned in 9′ B ♭, that is to say, one tone below the tuning written on the staff, although there are also trumpets tuned in F, C, A and E, – flat-.
The musician who plays the trumpet is known as trumpet player or trumpeter.
Mechanism
The trumpet is made of brass tube doubled in a spiral of about 180 cm long, has several valves or pistons, and ends with a bellmouth weir, which receives the name of bell or pavilion.
The first two thirds of the tube are practically cylindrical, which gives it a loud and bright sound, whereas the cornet and the flugelhorn, which have a conical tube and produce a softer tone.
The remaining third is a conical tube, except in the last 30 cm, where the tube is widened to form the bellmouth weir.
The caliber is a complex series of turns that besome smaller in the mouthpiece receiver and larger just before the start of the bell. Careful design of these turns is critical to the intonation of the trumpet.
