Search Results for: Cuban

“Music has made me a more complete person, it’s part of who I am, I think I would be a miserable person without music, it’s a tremendous art, a language I feel very comfortable with”.

A well known percussionist, he is considered one of the most Swinging timbaleros in the world, possessing a particular style that has allowed him to leave a distinctive touch in the groups where he has participated, as far as the interpretation of the timbal is concerned.

Born to Puerto Rican parents in New York’s Harlem Latino, Ralph is a self-taught musician who learned the trade by listening to his brother’s records and the music of his idols in nightclubs, where he used to sneak in when he was 16.

His first experiences with professional Latin music took place in Puerto Rico, where he had the opportunity to share the stage with renowned bands such as La Terrífica, El Gran Combo, and La Sonora Ponceña, among others, for three years.

He then returns to New York where he begins to play with local groups. In 1978 he met the maestro Ray Barretto, with whom he began a fruitful and productive working relationship that would result in five extraordinary record productions.

This particular percussionist considers that music is an important part of his life, so much so that he has stated that “Music has made me a more complete person, it is part of who I am, I think I would be a miserable person without music, it is a tremendous art, a language with which I feel very comfortable”.

Ralph has recorded with important figures of the show, such as: David Byrne, Paul Simon, Harry Belafonte, Earl Klugh, Juan Luis Guerra, Cachao, Celia Cruz and Yomo Toro, although he is mostly recognized for his musical relationship with Ruben Blades and Seis del Solar, a group of which he was part for 13 years, recording and performing internationally.

His musical contributions have also been fundamental. Although he does not consider himself a composer, he has composed for some salsa singers.

He also wrote a rap that he sang on a record by Seis del Solar; the song is entitled “Entrégate”. In addition, in Timbalaye’s first recording, he wrote the lyrics for “Raza Cósmica”. He has also contributed to the group’s arrangements. He even participated in the recording of two Latin jazz albums made by Seis del Solar.

He is currently one of the most sought-after musicians and has continued to work on commercials and soundtracks for film and television.

His charisma allowed him to develop an unexpected career as an actor: he performed in The Mambo Kings playing the role of Pito Fernández.

He has also participated in films and documentaries, Cachao, Como Mi Ritmo No Hay Dos, with Andy García, The Roots of Rhythm with Harry Belafonte and The Life and Times of Rubén Blades.

In 1996 he participated with Tito Puente in the show Master Timbaleros, presented in New York. This historic concert was the culmination of 26 years of dedication, practice and love for music. Puente noted on that occasion:

“Ralph is a star of the future who has never forgotten his Latin roots. His group is a marvel.

This valuable percussionist began to feel the need to record something in his own style, taking care of what is his premise in his musical work: “I have always said that one should play with the same quality in front of 10 or 5,000 people.

When the sound is perfect, there is a lot of rapport and you kind of rise six inches off the floor when that happens. I think that’s called swinging with intensity.

Hence his next step was the founding of the group “Timbalaye”, a septet with a strong big band sound.

The group combines contemporary Latin jazz with various tropical rhythms: timba, songo and traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms, bomba, cha cha chá and son montuno.

Their innovative sound has allowed the group to perform weekly in New York. In October 1997, Ralph and company performed with >Batacumbele> in a historic concert at Hostos College.

Among their most recent projects is a recording at the Birdland for a compilation to be released by RCA Records.

Among its members are Oriente López from the Afro-Cuba group, Arturo Ortiz from Rubén Blades and Juan Carlos Salas from the famous Venezuelan group Guaco. Timbalaye is considered the most select band in Latin Jazz.

This talented percussionist considers that his priority is to know that the public will be satisfied with what they have heard: That is my mission, to bring joy to the people.

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 Mark Alexander Dimond, baptised like Markolino by his colleagues at the time, was born in 1950 (1950-1986).

He was American and lived with his mother and older sister in the Lower East Side to the southest of the Big Apple.

His mother was a social worker from the New York City Welfare Department and his sister was a college student. Markolino always talked about his father. He said he was a black Cuban named Dimond, but none of his classmates and friends at the time knew him.

Mark studied some music as a child, but he was mainly self-taught. He could read music and write scores. He just had to listen to a song or touch the paper once to learn it forever. However, from his adolescent era, he was into drugs, particularly heroin.

While dealing with drugs, Markolino was unable to control himself. Andy Harlow told all of this, one of his friends since they began working together in his Sextet in 1966, thanks to the management of Ismael Miranda, neibor and Markolino’s friend.

Album: The Alexander Review.

Year: 1975

Label: VAYA Records

Catalog: # VS46

By the year 1975, Mark Alexander Dimond (Markolino) embarked on a musical project entitled “The Alexander Review”, accompanied by musicians such as Ray Maldonado, Eddie “Guagua” Rivera, Andy Harlow, and Barry Rogers.

In this album, Markolino writes and sings the songs in a production categorized under a musical genre called Funk/Soul & Funk-Disco.

The album apparently was not well accepted by music critics, but it shows us another musical facet of who is considered by many to be one of the best pianists from the phenomenon called salsa.

It should be recalled that Markolino does not come from a Latino home, so he was likely to be by non-Latin music such as Jazz, Funk/Soul, Disco, or perhaps Country Music in his childhood and early youth.

Someday, someplace it happened that Mark Alexander decided to venture into salsa music and how well he did so, becoming one of, if not the best salsa brava pianists with NYC’s sound.

Dimond was a gift given to the Latin music world, taken from the African American atmosphere and put to play with the greatest salsa luminaries.

Too bad he was a victim of personal decisions taken in his life, which caused him to leave this world at a very young age.

 I only use one word to describe Mark Alexander. A “Genius” and a great gratitude for what he left us musically speaking, which is a treasure that we deeply appreciate to this day.

(Although this musical work was not very well accepted and created by Markolino for the Anglo public, I review him as a historical piece for this great pianist’s contribution to music), Markolino definitely never ceases to surprise us.

 Credits

 Backing Vocals – Alex Reyes, Fay Feller, Mark Alexander Dimond

 Bass – Clyde Bullard, Eddie Rivera

 Congas – Azzedin Weston

 Drums – Buddy Williams

 Engineer – Jon Fausty

Guitar – Jimmy Lopez

Piano, Clavinet, Synthesizer [Moog], Lead Vocals – Mark Alexander Dimond

Producer, Arranged By – Mark Alexander

Saxophone – Andy Harlow, Robin Kenyatta

Saxophone [Baritone] – Bill Marmando

Trombone – Barry Rogers, Bill Ohashi, Tom Malone

 Trumpet – Danny Reyes, Ray Maldonado, Tom Malone

 Written-By – M. Alexander

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Ayumi was born in Japan She graduated from the Faculty of Percussion, Tokyo College of Music.

Ayumi was born in Japan. She plays Latin percussion, Classic percussion, Marimba & Vibraphone.

At the college; she began to study percussion in earnest mainly with classic music and gained experience of ensemble in orchestras, brass bands, musicals, operas, etc.

Ayumi “Azucar” Suzuki She plays Latin percussion.

At the same time, she started to organize concerts and participate as percussionist, keyboard percussionist or drummer.

She has been also teaching  eurythmics at a nursery school.

In 2015, she started her own band, “Ayumania” that features mostly her original compositions and arrangements, where she fuses Japanese atmosphere into Latin rhythm.

Inviting both Japanese and foreign guests, she has been organizing live concerts in various places in Tokyo.

In July 2017, she released her first album “Oukagekka” in Japan. It has been promoted in overseas radio programs in Colombia, Puerto Rico and New York.

The Japanese vibraphonist, timbalera, composer and arranger Ayumi Suzuki launches her Ayumania debut, a musical production recorded between Tokyo and Los Angeles that includes 7 original numbers – composed and arranged by Suzuki herself – and two covers: Maria Cervantes de Noro Morales and Mi Amore by Naoya Matzuoka. In this album, Ayumi’s speech establishes a bridge between classical and contemporary Cuban music, with different rhythmic touches and influences that have marked his background as an instrumentalist.

Sakura, a beautiful instrumental melody composed by Suzuki herself, highlights Chiho “Isabel” Saito on the violin, as well as Hiromishi “Yan” Tsugaki on the keyboards, and of course, Suzuki on the marimba and the vibraphone.

Ring Loop is a cadenciosa are montuno with outstanding participation of Takashi Nakazato in the congas; La Lluvia, vocalized by the Cuban Julian “El Pillo” Tapia, presents the solos of Mitsuru Tanaka and Ayumi on the trumpet and vibraphone, respectively.

Knock Knock Knock is a festive cut that builds bridges with Caribbean music, particularly calypso, and salsa and in which Ayumi herself punches the timpani and a mind-blowing one in the marimba.

Saredo Danzon, as the name implies, is a danzon that opens with a solo by Hiromichi Tsugaki on the piano while Umihotaru, with vocals by Julian “El Pillo” Tapia, is an afro rhythm in 6/8 with the intervention of Hiromichi Tsugaki (fender rhodes) and Ludwig Esteban Nuñez (drums).

Suzuki offers a tribute to Noro Morales in his legendary composition of Maria Cervantes. In this piece we hear the participation of Jimmy Branly in the drums and an overwhelming solo of Ayumi in his vibraphone, with that way of playing that only she has.

Branly himself performs the drums in the last two pieces;Suzuki achieves a premium opera that honors her at the rumberos school.

With sophisticaded arrangements. with the elegance and the street necessary to position it is as one of the most

outstanding salseras of the international level. It wil surely be one of the best productions of this 2017.

Ayumania

A modern and contemporary material, original and unusual, is the one that establishes this Japanese multi-instrumentalist Ayumi Suzuki, establishing different arrangements and touches to each theme, this Japanese vibraphonist, timbalera player, composer and arranger establishes a thin line between Cuban music and modern, going through bold and effective rhythmic domains.

A material that consists of 7 original songs, two covers and all under the baton of Ayumi.

Sakura emerges with a flow of wind sounds with minor percussions that make the environment conducive to an eclectic and harmonious journey, one of the fundamental pieces to understand the musical transculturation of this talented woman, the violin solo by Chiho “Isabel” Saito and the keyboards by Hiromishi “Yan” Tsugaki and the marimba and vibraphone by the emblematic Ayumi stand out.

A son montuno can not be missing in this material, Anillo De Lazo where a congas solo by Takashi Nakazato stands out, La Lluvia, a song that already rolls through the wide world of the networks in which the voice of Julián Tapia can be appreciated, the trumpet of Mitsuru Tanaka and the vibraphone of the great Ayumi, undoubtedly a 5 star material, a musical base and instrumentalist of first line that give the incomparable recognition to the musical talent of this great artist and in conjunction with the band.