Search Results for: Latin Jazz

Carlos “Nene” Quintero comes from a family of musical prodigies

Carlos Vicente Quintero De Jesús, better known as Nene Quintero, was born on October 21, 1946 in the Caracas neighborhood of Marín (a neighborhood of percussionists par excellence), in San Agustín del Sur.

In a family that has produced several musicians, among them his brothers the former “Madera”, Ricardo and Jesús “Chu” Quintero, who died in the Orinoco tragedy; Rafael who lives in Marseille or his nephews Luisito (the “chamo Candela” of Daiquirí), Robert and Chuíto, who live in New York.

During his adolescence he was in several groups and then he played with Los Dementes, the Venezuelan group Pan suerte de Santana with César Monge (Dimensión Latina) and Alfredo Padilla (La Salsa Mayor), Porfi Jiménez, Frank Quintero and Los Balzehaguaos, Yordano and many others.

Carlos "Nene" Quintero comes from a family of musical prodigies — Carlos “Nene” Quintero comes from a family of musical prodigies

-What would be the five main moments of his career?

Nené lists them:

1- Having worked with people I went to see at a radio station and then I got to play with them. That was in the 70’s, in a place called Playboy in Altamira, with their bunnies and everything.

I worked with Lewis Vargas and Rafael “Gallo” Velásquez on trumpets; Moscatt was the saxophonist; Willy Pérez, pianist; Jorge Romero, bassist of Aldemaro Romero’s Onda Nueva; and Marcelo Planchart on drums.

2- When I heard on the radio a song I recorded with Los Dementes: “Rómpelo”, which was very popular. I saw myself as a very famous person, I was heard on the radio for the first time.

3- When Eumir Deodato came and proposed me to go with him to the United States.

I was not in conditions to go because I was working very well, I was doing a lot of jingles, I had two children who were starting to study.

I was sacrificing something that was taking shape: my family. I told him I could go, work and come back. The surprise was when a letter arrived for a tour of Mexico and the United States.

Deodato is a very kind person, he gives you freedom to work, we communicated in “Spanglish” and “portuñol” and he loved beer.

4- Seeing Celia Cruz when I was a kid in Marin, going to visit friends like Johnny Perez, from Sonora Caracas, and some time later working with her, even in her last shows, in Montreal.

Celia’s birthday was the same day as mine, and she looked older, but as soon as she started the music and said “sugar!” she was different, she was transformed.

5- Working lately with my nephews Robert and Luisito gave me a lot of emotion: The three of us on the same stage in New York with Celia Cruz.

But there are more experiences. Eros Ramazzotti, for example. “I chose to go to New York and Miami when things got tough here. I worked with Gato Barbieri and with salsa people.

I would go back and forth, two months out and back. I was recording with a saxophonist who worked with Eros and, the following year while I was in Miami he called me for a six-month tour.

I said yes, they called me the following year again and I spent three years with Ramazzotti touring all over Europe, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Central America, Mexico and Miami.

-Any anecdotes with Ramazzotti? –

Once on his birthday he rented a track where they raced cars. We were drinking, driving, talking, talking, listening to music and they brought a cream cake for Eros.

At one point when he was very close to me with the cake in his hand, I put it in his face. It was a mess with everyone throwing things and pieces of cake at each other.

But I got the impression that he was upset and I went over to apologize and explain to him that it was something that could happen on any South American birthday, especially with a cream cake. He told me not to worry, that it was fine.

Other jobs came through Ramazzotti, such as with Jovanotti and Lucio Dalla.

-And how was it with Little Louie Vega, one of the producers and DJs of the moment?

-I met him through Luisito. We have been touring Europe, the United States and Japan for the last three years, and we recorded with Pushim, a Japanese woman, a song that was in the Japanese top ten.

Meanwhile, “Nené’s” routine continues to be more international than ever between the United States, Europe and especially France, where he has been working with a group that bears his name: Nequin Group, with whom he recorded an upcoming album.

“Working abroad is like working here, but in another language”, he reflects on the matter and says that he is preparing a method for percussionists to work with their feet as well as with their hands.

Carlos Nené Quintero con mi Signature congas (Roberto Quintero)

-What has seemed new to you lately in Europe or in these parts?

-Those jazz works in which there is no conventional group with drums or bass, like what I did with Gerry Weil and Pablo Gil at the Corp Group Cultural Center.

THE BATICONGA AND THE “MCGIVER SET”.

The baticonga is a hybrid: drums with conga. I use bass drum, hi-hat, cimbals, toms, snare and cymbals of various thicknesses.

It has a special redoblante with a rim that does not protrude from the leather so that it does not bother when hitting it like a tumbadora.

It is an idea that I have been maturing. It was born because of Yordano’s album that made him famous, Manantial de corazón, there I recorded all the percussion and when it was time to play it live we needed a drummer and two percussionists. We got the drummer, but things were missing and I started to add electronic pedals, electronic drums, octapads and to use feet and hands.

Then we did an unplugged set and it had to be acoustic with congas, bass drum, snare drum, hi-hat, cymbals.

The McGiver set is a djembe with brushes, cymbals with rivets, a conga that is just like a lid, like a tambourine, and I mount it on top of a snare drum stand and a cowbell. A set that does it all.

SIX INFLUENTIAL PERCUSSIONISTS

Alejandro Blanco Uribe and Airto Moreira: “I saw a lot of Gerry Weil with La Banda Municipal in the 70s and Alejandro as a multi-percussionist with effects and accessories.

That led me to look at Airto’s proposal and to fall in love with percussion at a time when I was playing guitar”.

Trilok Gurtu: “For his fusion of oriental music with rock and jazz. I’ve been hearing him since Oregon, and when I heard him with John McLaughlin on the live album in London my jaw dropped.”

Jack DeJohnette: “As a drummer he has a very floaty groove, he can do with the beats what he wants and the rhythm is always there.”

Tony Williams: “Another drummer. I saw a video that aroused my interest because his technique is like the one I use with the baticonga”.

Giovanni “Mañenguito” Hidalgo: “Since he came out the thing changed, he gave another level to the congas or tumbadoras, with him there has been a ‘before and after'”. – with Roberto Quintero and Luisito Quintero.

Also read: Argenis Carruyo is known in the music scene as “El Volcán de América” (The Volcano of America) due to the power of his voice

John Narváez and Elizabeth Rojas from Salsamania

John and Liz from Salsamania

Between days 23 and 25 March, 2023, the San Francisco Salsa Festival took place, which brought together some of the cream of The Bay Area Latin music scene. One of those attending this great event was the main editor of International Salsa Magazine, Mr. Eduardo Guilarte.

On site, he had the opportunity to share with other guests and some of the organizers such as Elizabeth Rojas, affectionately known as Liz, and John Narváez. We had the chance to talk with both dance professionals to know more about their beginnings, festivals and projects. Do not miss it!

John and Elizabeth — Colombian dancers John Narváez and Elizabeth Rojas

Beginnings

After several attempts to schedule a meeting with John and Liz, we finally managed to talk with these Colombian dancers and entrepreneurs, who began by thanking us for the contact and the opportunity to promote their passion for salsa and the community they represent.

This love they have for the aforementioned musical genre has much to do with their roots. Both were born in Colombia and left the country when they were 12 years old (they are the same age) because of the violent situation caused by the guerrilla that existed in those years.

Although those were hard times, John says these were very nice years from which he has fond memories. He remembers almost all his family members singing or playing an instrument, while he was the only dancer. All this influenced him in such a way that Latin music remains his north after so many years.

Moving to the United States

Since the social situation did not allow them to live in their country, they decided to move to the United States and apply for political asylum. At the beginning, it was not easy and the focus was on working hard to get ahead in this new country and to learn English. However, all that changed over time.

With the arrival of economic and family stability, priorities changed. John comments that his interest in music and dance perked back up due to the family gatherings that his relatives celebrated such as birthdays, quinceañeras, weddings, among others.

Although at the time dancing was not considered a serious profession, both John and Liz began to practice it at amateur level. Once they turned 21, they started going to the most popular salsa clubs, but it was all for recreational purposes. It was years later before they began to analyze all the technical and historical part of dancing to understand it better and take it more seriously.

John, Liz, and Barbara — John and Liz with Barbara on Despierta América

Dancing as a profession

John and Liz started to take dancing seriously in 1999. They both attended a three-day salsa event in Los Angeles, but what they did not know is that this was the first world salsa congress in America.

This gave them the opportunity to share with the best salsa dancers in the world and they saw such impressive things that they were inspired to return next year with a well-established dance team with which they could participate fully in these activities.

Being full of motivation, they decided to create Salsamania Dance Company and performed with their team at the festival. They started doing the same thing every year, which helped them gain experience and evolve their styles.

After earning the trust of the festival organizers thanks to their talent and professionalism, they were given the opportunity to start teaching salsa workshops at the aforementioned congress. This is how little by little John and Liz began to build the reputation and credibility they have today.

In 2004, it got to a point where John took the important decision to quit his job to devote himself to dancing and Liz was quick to do the same. His resignation came with the opportunity to take a three-month trip to Hong Kong to teach salsa in a community where people did not dance it.

They managed to build a community from nothing, since at that time, Hong Kong was not a place where people listened to salsa. However, everything went well and the dancers managed to seamlessly connect with the local audience. As John rightly said, ”salsa is a universal language and you don’t have to speak that language to feel the music”.

On returning to the Bay Area, they began to practice dancing as a profession in the United States.

On this point, Liz commented that her parents became very upset with her when she quit her job because of dancing, but today, they admit that it was the right decision and support her totally.

Liz and John dancing — Liz and John during a social dance in Boston

Salsamania Dance Company

Liz told us that it was difficult to create Salsamania Dance Company because it requires a lot of discipline and healthy coexistance between different types of personalities to create a group like this and keep it together. Fortunately, John is an industrial psychologist, so he helped to prevent these aspects to be a problem.

Basically, Liz is responsible for the company’s management and John is the one who takes care of the human part of all the staff.

They started the whole process like any regular company and drew up the contracts for all those who were going to work with them, making Salsamania a much more established, structured and serious project in the eyes of everyone else. Today, it is one of the largest companies in the Bay Area.

They also took it a step further and built a salsa academic program with a thoroughness and detail that has not been seen in other projects of this kind.

San Francisco Salsa Festival

San Francisco Salsa Festival is one of the biggest salsa events in California and the United States in general and we were fortunate to have representation there with our editor Eduardo Guilarte.

It began to be celebrated in 2008 with the support of international salsa promoter Albert Torres, who was a fundamental piece in the development of the festival and talent recruitment for an event of this size, as there were many things John and Liz had to learn. That is why they are both incredibly grateful for what the congress organizer did for them back then.

To recruit artists, the dancers only require candidates to be good teachers, to share with the salsa community and to put on a good show for the audience.

They also often invite colleagues they have known for years and some recommended to whom they give them the opportunity to shine and make themselves known during those days.

Every year, they look for dancers, dance instructors, DJs and live orchestras. For Liz and John, the thing about live bands is very important, as they are concerned that there are so many clubs and venues that no longer hire these talents. This year, they focused on local bands that play on Thursdays and Fridays in San Francisco and were very happy with the results.

It is expected that the next San Francisco Salsa Festival is scheduled between days 22 and 24 March, 2024 at the same venue, which is the Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

The orchestras hired to perform for next year are Cabanijazz, The Latin Rhythm Boys and Orquesta Boyacán. The dancing couples are Alex and Judy from Colombia, Colombians Felipe from Colombia and Kathe and Mauricio and Danny from Mexico.

John, Liz, and Oscar D’ León — John and Liz with Venezuelan singer Oscar D’ León

Difficulties in the pandemic

As dancing is an activity with a lot of physical contact and closeness, we were curious to know how they lived the pandemic and what they did to keep their project afloat in this situation.

Though they admit that those months were not easy, they have always been very disciplined with their money and had enough to resist as long as possible without working.

They tried to make up for lost time by teaching classes via Zoom as did most of their colleagues and designing new choreographies to apply when they went back to their usual activities.

In addition to this, both had not spent time with their respective families in a long time, so they also took advantage of the absence of work to reunite with their loved ones and take up those important contacts that were lost due to stress and routine.

ISM – September 2023

Remembering Domingo ”Tito” Gutiérrez’s career

Domingo ”Tito” Gutiérrez

Domingo ”Tito” Gutiérrez is one of those names that can never be missing when talking about Latin music in the United States, since the contribution made by this musician has been invaluable. That is why we found this to be a good opportunity to look back on the trajectory of this great artist, who has demonstrated again and again that the language of music is universal and crosses borders.

Domingo with bongos — Domingo ”Tito” Gutiérrez posing with his bongos

Childhood and musical beginnings

Tito Gutiérrez was born in Guánica southwest of the ”island of Enchantment”, Puerto Rico on August 16, 1957 into the heart of a culturally Latin family, especially in the case of music. However, he moved with his parents to New York City when he was about 11 years old.

Given that little Domingo had to start making friends again after the move, he took every opportunity to interact with other children of the same age, which led him to meet a group of kids enthusiastically playing instruments in a park.

The boy had never played an instrument before in his life, so he felt a little intimidated at first, but that did not stop him from approaching them and saying he wanted to play with them. When asked him what instrument he played, he replied that he played the bongo, since he noticed that the improvised band did not have one.

This is how Domingo joined them, started playing the bongo and continued playing it until he became a professional of this instrument.

Domingo on stage — Domingo ”Tito” Gutiérrez performing on stage

Professional life in music

In 1972, he finally ventured into music at a professional level with the same instrument with which he began in this world during his childhood and it was the group El Son De Hoy that gave him his first job opportunity.

Not much time would pass before he became a musical director and founder of an orchestra when he created his own group called Orquesta Borinqueya. At the same time, he was also working with the Orquesta Alianza Boricua, with which he was recording a studio album.

For a period of approximately five or six years, the artist has been recording with countless local orchestras with which he has continued to make a career and expand his musical curriculum, such as Orquesta La Crítica, Orquesta Nelson Feliciano, Orquesta Crisis, Orquesta Guainía, among others.

In 1978, he went to live in New York and did his thing with the bongo along with some groups such as Grupo Melao, Conjunto Avicú and Peter Brown Jazz Cuartet.

Domingo with a cowbell — Domingo ”Tito” Gutiérrez playing a Puerto Rican cowbell designed by his own line of instruments

In the late 90’s, his fame had grown so much that he has had the opportunity to work in orchestras of international stature such as Orquesta La Terrífica, Orquesta Costa Brava, Orquesta de Simón Pérez, Orquesta de Roberto Ortiz and more. He has also shared the stage with Ismael Miranda, José Alberto ”El Canario”, Andy Montañez, Cano Estremera, among others.

Today, he plays for La Sonora Ponceña of Puerto Rico, ”45 Aniversario” being the first project he recorded with the group and has participated in a number of albums with this great team.

While on tour with the different orchestras to which he has belonged, he was able to visit a large number of countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Spain, France, Italy, among others.

Parallel to all this, Domingo has his own line of bongos which he named ”Tito Gutierrez Bongo Series”. This line is part of an initiative of the Reyes Family, who are a group of Colombian artisans who are dedicated to designing bongos of different colors and sizes.

Johnny Cruz Correspondent for ISM in New York City

Humberto Ramírez

Latin America/ Puerto Rico / San Juan

Humberto Ramírez one of the most innovative musicians on the Island of Enchantment Puerto Rico

Recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of his generation, Humberto Ramírez grew up in a home where the music of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, Cal Tjader and Machito was heard.

His father, who is a saxophonist and conductor, was the one who inspired him to play the flugelhorn at age 11.

By the age of 14, Humberto was performing professionally with his father’s orchestra and at the same time taking orchestration courses with bassist Inocencio “Chencho” Rivera.

At the age of 18, after graduating from the Escuela Libre de Música de San Juan, his interest in composing and arranging music motivated him to enroll at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in music, then studied composition and orchestration for film and television at the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles, California.

In 1985, and for a period of four years, Humberto worked with the Willie Rosario orchestra, one of the most popular bands in Puerto Rico.

In 1989 he became the musical director of Tony Vega.

His admirable ability as a producer and arranger led him to make important collaborations with great figures in music.

In 1999 he took over the musical direction of merengue and tropical music star Olga Tañón.

His work as a producer, arranger, composer and director for tropical music artists such as Willie Colón, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Marc Anthony, India, Domingo Quiñones, Lourdes Robles, Rubén Blades, Brenda K. Starr, Tito Nieves, Víctor Manuelle and others , has established him as one of the busiest arrangers and producers in the industry.

He has also had the responsibility of directing the concerts of important exponents of reggaeton such as Daddy Yankee, Tito El Bambino and Zion, which undeniably demonstrates his broad musical mastery in various genres.

His great dream was always to develop a career in Jazz. In 1992, Humberto Ramírez debuted as group leader in his first production for the Tropijazz label entitled “Jazz Project”.

Since then he has shared the stage with important jazz musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Justo Almario, Alex Acuña, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Tito Puente, Hilton Ruiz, Michel Camilo, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Gómez, Michael Brecker, Paquito D ‘Rivera, Chucho Valdés, Ray Santos, Gato Barbieri, Terence Blanchard and Herb Alpert, with whom he recorded the album “Passion Dance”.

His music has received rave reviews from prestigious publications such as Down Beat, Jazz Times, Jazziz, Latin Beat, CD Review, Hispanic Magazine, New York Daily News, The Plain Dealer, Miami Herald, The Boston Globe, and Austin Chronicle.

From the launch of his first record proposal, Humberto Ramírez has established himself as the most important exponent and promoter of Jazz in Puerto Rico.

He has recorded 26 albums in which he has experimented with all kinds of formats: duets, trios, quartets, quintets, sextets, octets and “Big Bands”.

His collaborations with the group Rumbantela and with the queen of filin, Lucy Fabery have received great praise from specialized critics. In 2005 he founded his own record label, Nilpo Music and last year he began to present his own Jazz festival: Puerto Rico Jazz Jam, marking a new stage in his musical career.

This year 2011 celebrates its 20 years cultivating the difficult expression of Jazz, a career that began with its debut as a leader in the first edition of the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Fest in June 1991. This year 2016 celebrates its 25 years.

Humberto Ramírez has received 4 Grammy Award nominations as a producer. His first nomination was for the album “Nueva Cosecha” by Willie Rosario in 1985, then for “Hecho en Puerto Rico” by Willie Colón in 1993, “Tony Vega” in 1996 and “Olga Viva, Viva Olga” by Olga Tañón, which earned him the Grammy Award in 2000.

In 2013 he was nominated for a Latin Grammy for his album Sentimentales with Lucy Fabery.

Among the awards he has received are 6 Platinum records, 12 Gold records, 4 “Visionary Awards” and six “Tu Música” awards. He has received tributes from Ohio State Representative Dennis J. Kucinich and from the Senate of Puerto Rico.

In 1997 he had the honor of entertaining the inauguration of the President of the United States, Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C. In October 2009 he was invited to play at the White House for President Barack Obama.

After having received several awards and nominations, as well as having recorded his own record successes, Humberto Ramírez shows that his creative explosion is still in its infancy.

https://www.humbertoramirez.com/#home-section

https://www.facebook.com/Humberto-Ram%C3%ADrez-Jazz-Project-110525453672/