Search Results for: Grammy nomination

Los Van Van and their 50th Anniversary

North America / USA / New York

Los Van Van returns to Lehman Center Performing Arts to celebrate their 50th Anniversary

For this special concert the Cuban legendary orchestra will join with the most popular lead Los Van Van vocalists: Mario “Mayito” Rivera and Pedro Calvo

Date: Saturday, June 1^st

Show: 8:00PM

Cost: $50 – $100

Venue: 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West Bronx, New York 10468

Low cost onsite parking available for $5!

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents the return of Grammy-winning dance orchestra, Formell y Los Van Van, who bring direct from Cuba their blend of Afro-Cuban, disco and funk back to Lehman Center to celebrate their 50^th Anniversary on Saturday, June 1^st at 8PM.

Heralded as Cuba’s greatest dance orchestra known worldwide for their iconic live performances, Formell y Los Van Van features three of the late founder Juan Formell‘s children: Samuel Formell (Leader and Drummer/Timbalero) , Juan-Carlos Formell (Bassist) and the family’s youngest daughter, Vanessa Formell (lead vocalist).

BIO: Formell y Los Van Van, nicknamed the “Cuban Music Train,” is regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of 20^th century Cuban popular music. Founded in 1969 by Juan Formell when he was 27 years old, the band pioneered Songo, a hybrid rhythm that blended Cuba’s native folkloric son music with the go-go of the 1970s and has electrified dance floors in Havana for over forty-five years.

The band’s original members were: Juan Formell (bandleader, bass player, and songwriter), Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso (piano, songwriter), and Jose Luis “Changuito” Quintana (drums and timbales). Each one were music conservatory trained from a young age and were fascinated with the soul, go-go and disco music that dominated U.S. radio.

They named their dance band “Los Van Van” (which literally means “they go-go”) after the go-go fad, and pioneered the hybrid of son and go-go music – Songo – which can now be found throughout Latin jazz, pop, and world fusion.

And if the genius of Songo wasn’t enough, they also developed the complex rhythmic style that became known as Timba that was adapted by other bands in the ‘90s. Los Van Van soon became one of the best-known Cuban groups in the world, maintaining a loyal fan base throughout Latin America, Europe and Japan propelled by hits such as: “La Sandunguera,” “Anda, Ven y Muévete,” “Te Traigo” and “Yuya Martinez.”

In 1993, Changuito left the band and was replaced by Formell’s son Samuel who also proved to be an outstanding composer as evidenced by the song: “Te Pone La Cabeza Mala”, the title track of one of their best albums. Although American politics hindered their ability to break into the U.S. market, their popularity in the U.S. grew throughout the ’90s, and the band toured the U.S. for the first time in 1997, including a memorable concert at Lehman Center.

Two years later, Los Van Van was honored with the GRAMMY® Award for Best Salsa Performance for their fifteenth album, Llegó…Van Van — Van Van is Here and in 2013, the Latin Recording Academy awarded Juan Formell with a special Grammy for a Lifetime Achievement of Artistic Excellence.

With over 40 albums to their credit, Formell y Los Van Van’s 2015 album Homenaje A Juan Formell: La Fantasia, was 80% completed at the time of Juan Formell’s death in 2014 and was finished under the direction of his son Samuel with another son, Juan-Carlos Formell.

The album’s release on Reyes Records in December, 2014 was on the 45^th anniversary of the band’s founding and it features several of the band’s hit dance tracks refreshed with contemporary arrangements as well as many new songs including the widely popular: “Somos Diferentes”, “Todo se Acabó” and “La Moda”. Sony Music released it worldwide in 2016 and it earned a 2017 Grammy nomination for the Best Tropical Latin Album.

The group’s most recent album “Los Van Van son La Patria” is scheduled to be released on Cuba’s Engrem label later this summer.

BIO: Mario “Mayito” Rivera is nicknamed “El Poeta de La Rumba” for his ability to vocally interpret all forms of Cuban music in both modern and traditional styles with a colorful range that can be powerfully dynamic or tender and soft.

He was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and has degrees from both the Escuela Nacional de Arte and the Instituto Superior de Arte. After college, he joined the band of Cuban singer Albita Rodríguez and played bass in Grupo Moncada.

From 1992 to 2011, Mayito was the characteristic voice and face of the extremely successful Cuban band, Los Van Van. He sang many of the band’s salsa hits, for which he was rewarded with a Latin GRAMMY® and two nominations.

Bio: Pedro “Pedrito” Calvo is a popular Cuban-born vocalist known for his charismatic and unique singing style which often includes clever word play and expressive rhythmic vocal sounds. Pedrito started his professional career singing with his father’s orchestra and years after with several Cuban orchestras including:

La Riviera, La Orquesta de Julio Valdés, and La Ritmo Oriental with hits such as: “Mi Socio Manolo” and “Aquí el que Manda es Mulé”. He was the most famous for his time (1974-2001) with Los Van Van, where he was part of the infamous lead singing trio of Los Van Van along with Mayito Rivera and Roberto Hernández.

Event Details:
www.LEHMANCENTER.org

Colombia’s legendary Grupo Niche and its founder Jairo Varela

Grupo Niche was founded in 1979 in Bogotá, Colombia, by Jairo Varela, born on December 9, 1949 in Quibdó, Chocó, and Alexis Lozano, who played trombone and was an arranger, later leaving Grupo Niche to form Orquesta Guayacán de Colombia.

That same year, the group released its first album under the Daro label, entitled Al Pasito, with Jairo Varela and Alexis Lozano as directors, Nicolás Cristancho “Macabí” on piano, Francisco García on bass, Luis Pacheco on congas and singers Jorge Bazán, Saulo Sánchez and Héctor Viveros.

Two years later, Niche’s second production, Querer es poder, was released. The song “Buenaventura y Caney”, included in the album, became the first composition of the group to become a hit in Colombia, said Jairo Varela.

The legendary Grupo Niche of Colombia 2023

In 1983 After a tour of the United States in which they performed before several colonies of Colombians and a short stay in Buenaventura, the group decided to settle in Cali in 1983.

In 1984 and after releasing the albums Prepárate (1982) and ¡Directo desde Nueva York! (1983), Jairo Varela composed and produced the song “Cali Pachanguero”, which brought the group to national and international stardom.

The song, included in the 1984 album No hay quinto malo, was chosen as the official song of the Cali Fair.

After the success of No hay quinto malo, the group began to tour constantly throughout Colombia and other Latin American countries, becoming the most important orchestra in Colombia.

The album Triunfo, Niche’s sixth discographic production, was released in

1985 The song “Ana Milé”, sung by Jairo Varela, became a radio hit. A year later the group incorporated the renowned Puerto Rican singer Tito Gómez, who had previously worked with La Sonora Ponceña and Ray Barretto, the godfather of Latin jazz.

The inclusion of Gómez further boosted the group’s career throughout Latin America. That same year the album Me huele a matrimonio was released, with Gómez and Varela sharing the lead vocal duties.

Colombia's legendary Grupo Niche 2020 — Colombia’s legendary Grupo Niche 2020

Later, another Puerto Rican joined the group, pianist Israel Tanenbaum, who would eventually leave the group to join a parallel group to Niche, Orquesta Guayacán.

Taking advantage of the group’s growing popularity, in 1987 an album of new versions of songs previously released by the group entitled Historia Musical was released.

That year, the director Jairo Varela fired a group of musicians due to their claims for high fees.

Varela hired some new musicians and recorded the album Tapando el hueco, a production that became an instant hit especially for the songs “Nuestro sueño” and “Cómo podré Disimular”.

After the release of the album, Grupo Niche became a sensation in Latin America, especially in countries such as Venezuela and Peru.

In 1989, the group gave a concert at the Campo de Marte in Lima, where it attracted more than one million people, a record number in that country.

To thank the Peruvian people for their incredible welcome, the band released the album Me sabe a Perú that same year. 1989 also saw the release of the album Sutil y contundente, a production that revalidated the group’s good form, especially with songs such as “Mi hijo y yo” and “Miserable”.

In 1990, after the departure of singer Tito Gómez, the group released the album Cielo de tambores, Grupo Niche’s most successful production to date. The same year of its release, Cielo de tambores ranked third on Billboard magazine’s tropical music chart in the United States.

The album’s success was based on the quality of compositions such as “Busca por dentro”, “Sin sentimiento”, “Debiera olvidarla” and “Cali ají” and the massive popularity of the song “Una aventura”. Charlie Cardona and Javier Vásquez provided the vocals for the album.

From that moment on, the group enjoyed international popularity, touring constantly in countries such as the United States, Peru, Mexico and Colombia, as well as making some presentations in Europe.

In 1992 the group released another successful album entitled Llegando al 100% with Charlie Cardona as lead vocalist. The songs “Hagamos lo que diga el corazón” and “No tuve a quién decirle amor” stand out from this production.

After the release of two compilation albums, the group released Etnia, an album recognized especially for the compositions “La Canoa ranchá” and “La magia de tus besos”. The vocalists on this production were Willy García, Álvaro Granobles and Javier Vásquez.

Jairo Varela was captured and imprisoned in 1995 after returning from a tour of the United States.

The musician was accused of front man and illicit enrichment for allegedly receiving payments from the account of a sister of drug trafficker Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, corresponding to the presentations of Grupo Niche at the Caseta Carnaval del Norte, an event where artists such as Sergio Vargas and Oscar D’León el sonero del mundo also performed.

His experience in jail was reflected in the lyrics of several songs on the next Niche album. 1997’s A prueba de fuego became another commercially successful production for the group.

Colombia's legendary Grupo Niche 2015 — Colombia’s legendary Grupo Niche 2015

The song “Eres”, sung by Willy García, achieved strong radio airplay and its video clip was equally popular.

A year later the album Señales de humo was released, which could not match the success of the previous production.

The group closed the 1990s with the release of the album A golpe de folklore, an album in which the group returned to its musical roots, exploring the folklore of the Pacific coast and emphasizing the “salsa brava dura”.

In 2001, Jairo Varela decided to move Grupo Niche’s headquarters to Miami in order to better focus on the group’s international touring demands.

That year the group published Propuesta, an album that was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the “Best Salsa Album” category, along with productions by prominent artists such as Isaac Delgado, Oscar D’León, Tito Puente, Gilberto Santa Rosa and Tito Rojas, great salsa artists.

In 2005 the group performs for the first time in Japan. That same year the album Alive was released.

In 2007 Varela suffers a heart attack that forces him to quit smoking. Two years later he released a new album entitled Robando sueños, promoted by the single “Un día después” with Elvis Magno on lead vocals. Jairo Varela stated that it was the best song he had ever written in his life.

The death of Jairo Varela.

On August 8, 2012 Jairo Varela suffered another heart attack in his apartment in southern Cali, dying at the age of 62, while he was writing a novel titled “Luces negras”, a story based on the Colombian Pacific that he was unable to finish.

Jairo Varela Founder of Grupo Niche in Colombia

After his death, a large number of songs were recorded on demos and written down on sheets of paper.

Some of these compositions were recorded and included in the posthumous 2013 album Tocando el cielo con las manos.

Yanila Varela, Jairo’s daughter, succeeded him as the group’s director.

At the end of 2014, the group shared the stage with the Gran Combo de Puerto Rico at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

In August 2015 José Aguirre took over the musical direction of Grupo Niche replacing Richie Valdés. That same year the idea of releasing an album with songs composed by Varela that failed to become hits arose.

The idea was finally embodied in a new record production released on October 2, 2015 titled 35 Aniversario, promoted with the single “Niche como yo”, a song composed by Jairo Varela in 1978.

The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album, a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Salsa Album and a Lo Nuestro Award nomination for Album of the Year in the Tropical category.

New stage 2020

Grupo Niche is currently formed by singers Alex Torres, Luis Araque and Alejandro Iñigo, percussionists Juanito Murillo, Fabio Celorio and Diego Camacho, pianist Víctor González, bassist Sergio Munera and musicians Edgardo Manuel, Edward Montoya, Carlos Zapata, Oswaldo Salazar and Paul Gordillo on wind instruments, under the direction of José Aguirre. At the end of the year, Grupo Niche won a Latin Grammy award for the best salsa album of 2020 with “40” and in March 2021 they will win the Anglo Grammy.

Also Read: Leo Pacheco Sonero del barrio and beloved example of father and friend was lead vocalist of the Orquesta Renovación under the direction of the tumbador Nico Monterola.

Founder and owner of Guapacha Productions Gil Tower

Talk with Gil Tower

From this platform, we have had to interview many famous Latinos who have left their countries and Latin culture in general on high, but today is the turn of a very special one. We are talking about the talented Venezuelan musical director and multi-instrumentalist Gilberto Torres, better known as Gil Tower in the artistic environment.

Thanks to a mutual friend, we have managed to make contact with Gil Tower, who from the beginning has been very accessible and willing to share everything related to his work in the music industry and his contribution to the Latin cultural scene, so we are very grateful to him for giving us the opportunity to hear his great story.

Below, we share the topics covered in a conversation that was as enjoyable as it was enlightening.

Gil talked with us — Talented musical director and multi-instrumentalist Gil Tower kindly talked with us

Musical beginnings in his home country

Gil Tower always knew that he wanted to devote himself to the world of music. When he was about five years old, he began watching television programs related to classical music and zarzuela. Several of his aunts were zarzuela teachers and took him to see zarzuela orchestras, which was great for him. In fact, several of those musicians he got to see play on these occasions ended up teaching him when he began preparing to become an artist.

One of the most important institutions in the training of Gil is the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela (El Sistema), where he was trained directly by maestro José Antonio Abreu, a fundamental part in the path which this young musician would take later in his career.

He joined the children’s orchestra, advanced all the way to the youth orchestra and finally reached a more professional level in the national orchestra. At about this time, Gil recalls that ”maestro Abreu always said that we were rich because we had an instrument in hand and could change the world through music. As a child, I didn’t understand what he was getting at. Now I do understand and I think he was absolutely right.

”Abreu was a unique influence on me because he transformed me as a person and musician. He also made me become a leader, as he had always wanted me to be,” he continued.

Learning from the groups he was in

As to the learning acquired in the many groups he worked with, Gil singled out Carlos Rojas, who was a musician and jazz lover. Carlos took the initiative to give a workshop in La Pastora (a very important area of the city of Caracas, Venezuela).

Gil with his flute — Gil Tower with his flute

As a teenager, Gil used to go to La Pastora to learn to improvise with Carlos in salsa, as he liked this genre so much ever since. This is how he started learning about harmonies and taking his first steps as a composer.

When given the chance to play with the group Los Morrillos, he learned a lot about gaitas and other Venezuelan rhythms from the western region of the country. In the case of the group Madera, he learned (and keeps learning) a lot about Afro-Venezuelan music in general.

After that, he met Jesús ”Chucho” García, who is an intellectual, activist and author of several books on Afro-Venezuelanity. Together they formed a group called Cimarrón, with which they represented Venezuela at the International Jazz Plaza Festival in 1989. To date, they are still very good friends and continue to learn about this great musical branch from one another.

Why move to Germany?

His initial plan was to move to the United States to continue his studies in Berkeley, but he was unable to obtain the required visa at the time. However, that would not be the end of his dream.

It turns out that some friends of his from the group Madera went on a Germany tour and stayed to live there. Then, one of them, Felipe ”Mandingo” Rengifo offered him to join them to work in that country and try to be admitted in one of their conservatories. At the time, Gil only had a saving of $1,000, with which he took a gamble.

Although he had to play in the streets and wash bathrooms at the beginning, he achieved his goal of entering a conservatory, an institution that gave him the opportunity to fix his papers to have a legal status in Germany. Having solved this inconvenience, he was able to focus his attention on his musical project Guapacha (name in honor of a great Cuban drummer who lived in the parish of San Agustin del Sur, Caracas).

All this experience was preparing him for when he could finally achieve his goal of going to the United States.

Gil and Guapacha — His project Guapacha was named after a great Cuban drummer who lives in Caracas

Arrival in the United States

While still in Germany, Gil was invited to participate in a jazz festival in the United States, specifically in Montana. He did so well that he amazed many musicians with whom he shared the stage that day and exchanged contact information for future events.

Later, he managed to play in San Diego and Boston, where he had the opportunity to share the stage with the Boston Power Orchestra and meet Danilo Pérez, Dizzy Gillespie’s pianist. The latter, in turn, recommended him to maestro Tito Puente, whom he met shortly thereafter.

This was how the artist managed to build a very respectable reputation in the industry through his talent. This is how he ended up playing with ”half the world” and building a great prestige as a musician and composer.

In addition to singing and playing multiple instruments, Gil has also taught low-income youth in order to spread the knowledge he has gained throughout his career. He even created an orchestra composed of children whose parents have no resources or documents in order to help them learn music and provide them with better work-study opportunities in the future. Some have even got into college and obtained scholarships thanks to this knowledge.

Parallel to these activities, he began composing and making arrangements for other artists who began to require his services.

Guapacha Productions

On the subject of Guapacha Productions, Gil says that the idea came when he began researching on the music industry, licensing, distribution and other things.

The musician saw an opportunity to achieve his dreams during the pandemic, which is when he noticed that many artists had no idea how to register a composition and how other necessary licenses to collect their royalties from their music works.

Gil, Guapacha, and major labels — Guapacha was created for the purpose of becoming independent from major labels

Noticing the ignorance of many young talents about the industry, he created the company Guapacha Productions, which is responsible for the musical production and arrangements for artists signed to this label.

When asked how the economic issue was handled for artists who do not have the resources to launch their career as it should be, he explained that there are three types of music distributors: major labels, labels created by the artists themselves and independent companies like Guapacha Productions. We are a group of independent artists who created our own label and we are trying to have our own distribution, so we would not be obliged to negotiate with any big distribution company” explained Gil.

Along with that, it is Guapacha Productions that will make agreements with Spotify, iTunes and other digital platforms to distribute the music of its artists without intermediaries.

The company has been so successful in these efforts that its name will soon be part of the Latin Grammys, which means that the talents signed to the label will have the chance to stand out and be finalists in the various categories.

Cheo Valenzuela’s ”Salsa Buena” Tour

With respect to the important issue of Cheo Valenzuela’s ”Salsa Buena” tour (artist signed to Guapacha Productions) in Europe, there are negotiations with some event producers in France, Spain and England so that Cheo Valenzuela can perform at various venues in those countries. There are also talks of taking the artist to Central America and the United States, specifically to San Francisco, where Gil lives.

In addition to that, Valenzuela is working on an EP with five songs by other artists and another one with five compositions created by himself. Being already a singer with a long-standing career, this last work would also become him a consacrated composer before the world. Once all this material has been released, his name is going to be considered for a Grammy nomination, which Gil has a lot of faith that he will win due to his great talent.

At the time of doing this interview, Valenzuela is taking a few days off due to the death of his mother, so we send our condolences and solidarity to him and his family at such a difficult time.

Anderson Quintero

North America / United State / California

Anderson Quintero. The Multi Percussionist of relief generation in the Quintero Dynasty

Anderson Quintero began his musical career at the age of seven, when he joined Salserin, the only children’s Salsa orchestra visiting more than 10 countries.

Throughout his journey in this group, the young Anderson Quintero demonstrated the talent inherited from his father and the rest of his paternal family, who have been recognized as the greatest percussionists in Venezuela.

While in Salserin, Anderson Quintero became the official timbale player of the group, however he continued his developed on other percussion instruments.

This experience led him to visit about 20 countries, and record 5 musical productions.

Nevertheless, the talent that flowed through Quintero’s veins grew stronger with his studies in the Conservatory José Angel Lamas, along with lessons through which he discovered an interest for drumset.

Well-known musicians such as Vinnie Colaiuta, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, Paul Wertico, Brian Blade, Robby Ameen, Jack Dejohnettee, and others, have influenced his musical career.

His talent on the drums eventually led him to join several rock bands in the city of Caracas, Venezuela.

During 2004 and 2005, Anderson Quintero was part of the band that accompanied Venezuelan singer/songwriter/Grammy Award Winner Franco de Vita on his tour “Mil y una Historias”, visiting more than 10 countries and garnering 2 Grammy nominations in 2006. That same year Quintero met up with two ex-band members of Salserin, Servando and Florentino, and joined their band “Enamorame”, playing drums and the timbales.

In mid-2006, Anderson Quintero moved to New York City, where he began to gain international recognition. Since then, he has performed with Jerry Rivera, Obie Bermudez, Louie Vega, Don Omar, Servando Y Florentino, Chino Y Nacho, Luisito Quintero Percussion Madness, Paloma San Basilio, Huascar Barradas , Aditus, Vanessa May, Kevin Jones, Tenth worlds, Sheila Charles (Ray Charles’ daughter), Emilly King, Taxi Amarillo, and Willie Colon’s bands, with whom he has traveled internationally.

Anderson worked on a musical about the life of the “Guarachera de América” Celia Cruz, in an Off-Broadway show.

He is a first-call session drummer in Venezuela and has recorded with the most important artist in that country in many different styles of music: pop, rock, folk, ethnic, latin, and jazz.

He’s also on tour with Venezuelan Trombon Ensamble, the best known trombone players in Venezuela. He recently joined the band of Spanish singer Paloma San Basilio, playing drums for their American tour.

In 2011 Quintero won a Grammy for Chino y Nacho’s album “mi nina bonita”.

He recently recorded drums on the album “punto ciego” by Venezuela’s progressive rock band LEXESTET and on “third element” by Luisito Quintero.

Anderson began 2014 touring with Frank Quintero and then joined the salsa orquestra “Los Adolescentes” for a tour around Mexico.

Currently he finds himself in the city of Los Angeles, California where he continues his musical career.

Eddie Montalvo

USA / New York / New York

Eddie Montalvo, Was a personal friend of the singer and legend of Afro-Caribeña music Héctor Lavoe

Eddie Montalvo, two time Grammy award winner, born and raised in the South Bronx of New York City, descendent of Puerto Rican roots, found his passion for music at very early age.

His parents Leonardo and Carmen instilled in Eddie the richness of Latin music and the heritage of their Puerto Rican culture.

During his high school years, he ventured in the school band and decided to become a conga player.

In 1970 at the age of 17, Eddie’s first professional show was with Joey Pastrana which led to another show with Tony Pabon & La Protesta and Ernie Agosto y La Conspiracion.

Then immediately after studio recordings commenced with La Conquistadora de Martin Galagarza, Tony Pabon y La Protesta.

Then in 1976 Eddie joined the band Los Kimbos of Orestes Vilato as the band’ conga player.

Montalvo’s distinctive and unique conga playing was spreading like wild fire among his peers and in the music industry which consequently led his endorsement in 1976 by the instrument company Latin Percussion and recordings with Luis Perico Ortiz, Nicky Marrero, Jose Fajardo, Pupi Lagaretta, Luigui Texidor, Los Kimbos, Hector Casanova, Santiago Ceron and renown artists such as Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe, Fania All Stars and Juan Luis Guerra and with Johnny Pacheco where Eddie was a member of his band for two years.

Eddie has had the privilege to record in over 200 productions for renown artists, as well as up and coming artists.

In 1977 Eddie had the honor of joining the band of one of salsa’ greatest artists, Hector Lavoe. Not only did Eddie successfully embraced the roll of conga player with Hector Lavoe’s band, but also did back up chorus for him as well.

While his time with Lavoe, Montalvo was hired to record on the album “Siembra” with renown artists, Willie Colon and Ruben Blades which sold over 25 million copies worldwide and became one of the most prestigious Salsa productions of all times.

In 1979 Eddie proceeded to audition and became the youngest member of the renown Salsa band, Fania All-Stars.

After numerous accolades, worldwide notoriety and sold out concerts, today Fania continues bringing to the world the very best of Salsa of which Eddie continues being a member and is about to embark on Fania All Stars 2013-2014 World Tour.

During this time it’s when the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself. Ruben Blades approached Eddie in 1983 to join his world renown group, Seis del Solar.

After a series of successful tours around the world, Eddie recorded on the 1986 Grammy award winning album “Escenas” with Seis del Solar.

Then in June 2009, Ruben Blades reunited the Seis del Solar for the 25th Anniversary of Buscando America in an ambitious tour of the Americas.

Culminating with the world tour of Todos Vuelven in 2010 which earned Eddie a Latin Grammy win in 2011 for the live recording of Todos Vuelven Live Vol 1 & 2.

Eddie Montalvo also had the privilege of performing with Ruben Blades and Sting at the Amnesty International in Santiago, Chile.

Eddie Montalvo has achieved many goals and one of them was to record his first production titled On My Own in 1995.

He also had the privilege of participating in a supporting roll in the 2006 movie “El Cantante” based on the life of his personal friend and Salsa legend, Hector Lavoe, and also recorded in the sound track of the Broadway play The Capeman with Paul Simon.

In August 2012, Eddie Montalvo finally launches his new recording project titled “Desde Nueva York a Puerto Rico”.

This amazing production is a master piece in the making which was brilliantly produced by Eddie Montalvo and Jose Lugo, which has gathered some of Salsa’ greatest like: Ruben Blades, Cheo Feliciano, Willie Rosario, Papo Lucca, Domingo Quiñones, Rico Walker, Issac Delgado, Wichy Camacho, Pichie Perez and Tito Gonzalez.

Since Nueva York a Puerto Rico took the music industry by storm and earned Eddie an American Grammy nomination on February 2013 for Best Tropical Latin Album.

The first single of the album titled El Hijo del Ricachon featuring Ruben Blades received airplay in the Northeast and Puerto Rico.

The following singles Caonabo featuring Cheo Feliciano and Abicu featuring Tito Gonzalez are currently receiving airplay in Puerto Rico and throughout the Northeast of the U.S with much success.

This is one production all hardcore Salsa lovers cannot miss. Eddie is also presently showcasing and featuring his talent with Jazz artists like Lou Caputo, Dave Chamberlin, Joe Battaglia and Pucho & Latin Soul Brothers.

As one of the most sought after conga players, Eddie will continue to build his legend as a skilled clinician who shares his limitless knowledge of music to congueros and percussionists around the world.