• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

International Salsa Magazine

  • Home
  • Previous editions
    • 2025
      • ISM / August 2025
      • ISM / July 2025
      • ISM / June 2025
      • ISM / May2025
      • ISM / April 2025
      • ISM / March 2025
      • ISM / February 2025
      • ISM / January 2025
    • 2024
      • ISM / December 2024
      • ISM / November 2024
      • ISM / October 2024
      • ISM / September 2024
      • ISM / August 2024
      • ISM / July 2024
      • ISM / June 2024
      • ISM / May 2024
      • ISM / April 2024
      • ISM / March 2024
      • ISM / February 2024
      • ISM / January 2024
    • 2023
      • ISM / December 2023
      • ISM / November 2023
      • ISM / October 2023
      • ISM – September 2023
      • ISM – August 2023
      • ISM July 2023
      • ISM Edition June 2023
      • ISM – May 2023
      • ISM April 2023
      • ISM March 2023
      • ISM February 2023
      • ISM January 2023
    • 2022
      • ISM December 2022
      • ISM November 2022
      • ISM October 2022
      • ISM September 2022
      • ISM August 2022
      • ISM July 2022
      • ISM June 2022
      • ISM May 2022
      • ISM February 2022
      • ISM January 2022
    • 2021
      • ISM December 2021
      • ISM November 2021
      • ISM October – 2021
      • ISM September 2021
      • ISM August 2021
      • ISM July 2021
      • ISM May 2021
      • ISM April 2021
      • ISM June 2021
      • ISM March 2021
      • ISM February 2021
      • ISM January 2021
    • 2020
      • ISM December 2020
      • ISM November 2020
      • ISM October 2020
      • ISM September 2020
      • ISM August 2020
      • ISM July 2020
      • ISM June 2020
      • ISM May 2020
      • ISM April 2020
      • ISM March 2020
      • ISM February 2020
      • ISM January 2020
    • 2019
      • ISM December 2019
      • ISM November 2019
      • ISM October 2019
      • ISM Septembre 2019
      • ISM August 2019
      • ISM July 2019
      • ISM June 2019
      • ISM May 2019
      • ISM April 2019
      • ISM March 2019
      • ISM February 2019
      • ISM January 2019
    • 2018
      • ISM December 2018
      • ISM November 2018
      • ISM October 2018
      • ISM September 2018
      • ISM August 2018
      • ISM July 2018
      • ISM June 2018
      • ISM May 2018
      • ISM April 2018
      • ISM March 2018
      • ISM February 2018
      • ISM January 2018
    • 2017
      • ISM December 2017
      • ISM November 2017
      • ISM October 2017
      • ISM September 2017
      • ISM August 2017
      • ISM July 2017
      • ISM June 2017
  • Download Salsa App
    • Android
    • Apple
  • Spanish

Search Results for: Latin Music

Salsa En La Web also promotes Latin music around the world

Salsa En La Web

As our dear readers know, International Salsa Magazine is dedicated to promoting Latin music artists, especially those who sing salsa, but we also believe that it is of extremely importance to promote platforms that, like us, seek to spread this wonderful and colorful music everywhere.

Salsa En La Web is a salsa community on the internet, so there are members from all over the world. This site is devoted to promoting and spreading everything related to salsa and Latin music so that the new generations get to know the musical idols of their parents and grandparents. They also want this musical genre to keep growing and never go out.

DJ Danny Salsa, director and programmer of Salsa En La Web

Interview

Today, we talked to the administrators of the website Salsa En La Web, which is devoted to promoting salsa worldwide, and our questions were as follows:

Who are we talking to? Please provide your name, occupation and direct or indirect relashionship with salsa.

You’re talking to DANNY SALSA, director and programmer of SALSAENLAWEB. I am also a chemist and DJ by profession. – Collector of romantic salsa.

According to what I read on your Facebook page, you have spread salsa culture at the global level for 11 years. How did everything start?

In 2011 we started sharing music on a blog where we spread LP, CD, ARTISTS, GROUPS, ORCHESTRAS. After that, we also shared gatherings of collectors and salsa events in Bogota.

To date, we have not failed to spread salsa culture that through this beautiful music, we want to make a better culture.

DJ Danny Salsa loves salsa and wants to promote it

What has motivated you to create a website of this style? Why are salsa and Latin music so important to you?

First of all, the taste for salsa music started from I was 13 years. From a very young age, I had contact with computers after school. In my spare time, I created my first blog and, after knowing the world of the internet, I created this website of salsa.

Salsa has brought me great friends, moments, live artists since I programme salsa at bars. I saw the happiness dancing and sharing after entering the world of collecting your albums for your own taste brings.

What part of the world is the largest part of your audience from?

Colombia is our biggest audience with listeners who always listen to our programming at any time of the day and from any time of the day and from any part of the planet where there is an Internet connection.

According to the map on your website, many members of your audience are in Europe and the southern United States. Where are you located? Are you in different countries?

The website is free on the platform www.salsaenlaweb.com.co and from the APP without any cost, listeners in these countries can listen to us from these countries send us their good comments and this motivates us to programme the best salsa music through our . We are in Bogota, Colombia but we have listeners all over the world.

In addition to salsa, what other musical genres do you promote?

We don’t do dissemination of other genres because we are select in salsa.

What goals have you set in the long run?

We want to be the salsa website of reference for its good content in the whole world and have great sponsors that allow us to keep working in favor of salsa.

Logo of Salsa En La Web

 

Home

The Tambor, Tumbadora or Conga is a percussion instrument of great importance in Latin music

The drum, tumbadora or conga as a soloist instrument in Cuban music or jazz bands, had as its first figure Chano Pozo, who, upon receiving the invitation of Mario Bauza and Dizzy Gillespie to participate in his big band, turned the world of jazz upside down.

This explosive union resulted in compositions such as Manteca or Tin Tin Deo.

They also created the roots of what is known today as Latin Jazz, which was originally called Afro Cuban Jazz “Cubop”.

After the surprising death of Chano Pozo, figures such as Cándido Camero, Carlos “Patato” Valdés, Mongo Santamaría, Armando Peraza, Tata Guines and Ray Barretto emerged who gave development and personality to the conga drum as a solo instrument.

It should be noted that Ray Barretto was born in New York and is of Puerto Rican descent.

He would be the first important figure in the world of conga drumming not born in Cuba. As a teenager, Barretto took care of his siblings in the evenings while his mother worked and spent hours listening to the radio.

There he was influenced by jazz and, in addition, his mother listened to Cuban and Puerto Rican music at home. This is how he formed his taste and love for music.

Mario Bauzá

He was a saxophonist in Justo Azpiazu’s orchestra and trumpet player in the Machín Quartet. Later, he joined Chick Webb’s orchestra as principal trumpet. In 1933 he was named director of the orchestra, and remained as such until 1937. Between 1937 and 1939 he played with the orchestras of Don Redman and Fletcher Henderson. And in 1938 he joined Cab Calloway’s band.

We can also affirm that Mario Bauzá is the musical godfather of two great jazz legends: Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie. Because it was Bauzá who made Calloway meet the then young trumpeter John Birks Gillespie, and Chick Webb incorporated Ella Fitzgerald into his band.

Chano Pozo

Luciano Pozo González, better known as Chano Pozo was born in Havana Cuba on January 7, 1915 and died in New York, December 3, 1948, was a Cuban percussionist, half brother of trumpeter Félix Chapolín.

Percussion instruments are instruments that produce sound when struck, shaken or percussed in some way.

This percussion can be done with drumsticks, with metal bars, with the hands, with keyboards or by striking two bodies against each other. This wide variety of possibilities allows for a wide range of sounds and types of instruments.

He shined shoes and sold newspapers, played music in many places and even danced in the well-known Havana comparsa of “Los Dandy”.

He belonged to the Abakuá Secret Society, which explains the perfect mastery he had of the drums of the rite. He had the habit of playing sacred rhythms on his congas, as well as singing Abakuá and Yoruba songs.

He worked in the public transmissions of the radio station Cadena Azul, together with figures of the stature of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, being with Dizzy when he popularized the well-known theme of “Manteca”.

Dizzy Gillespie

He was born on October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina.

Son of a bricklayer and occasional musician who treated him very badly.

The young Gillespie hit on everyone: “I was a devil, a strong devil”.

At the age of fourteen, he began playing the trombone, but soon switched to the trumpet, which he was already playing proficiently when his family moved to Philadelphia in 1935. There he got his first important contract with Frank Fairfax’s orchestra.

His life changed as he transformed from a thug in his youth to a true citizen of the world, supporting social causes such as racial integration.

Ray Barretto

Of Puerto Rican parents from Aguadilla, Raymundo Barretto Pagan was born on April 29, 1929 in Brooklyn, New York. He spent his childhood and youth in the Bronx and Spanish Harlem.

He grew up with his mother Dolores Pagan and his siblings Cecilia and Ricardo.

As a child, when he was only 10 years old, he listened to Arsenio Rodríguez, Machito, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Los Panchos, Pedro Flores, Daniel Santos and Miguelito Valdez.

At the age of 17, in 1946, he joined the U.S. Army.

In Germany he discovered his taste for music represented in Bebop, listening to the songs “Shaw Nuff” by Charlie Parker with Dizzy Gillespie and “Manteca” by Dizzy Gillespie with the Cuban Chano Pozo, who became his source of inspiration. It was at that time that he became thoroughly acquainted with jazz.

“The word percussion comes from the Latin percussio, a variation of the word percussus, which refers to the action of striking, shaking or vibrating something repeatedly.”

Percussion instruments have a great importance in music because, within a group of instruments, their usual function is to mark the rhythm of the piece. This means that they are often seen as the heartbeat of a musical composition.

Because of their primary role in creating and maintaining the rhythm of a piece, percussion instruments often work in conjunction with bass instruments, including the double bass or electric bass.

There are a large number of percussion instruments that can be classified according to different criteria. In this article you can find the most important classifications used today.

Many of these instruments are simple and rudimentary. It is due to their simplicity that percussion instruments are the oldest in the history of mankind.

The evolution of technology and music gradually allowed the development of more complex instruments, among which are wind instruments and stringed instruments.

Sources:

https://www.instrumentosdepercusion.com/

http://clasica.latinastereo.com/Salsero-del-mes/Mario-Bauza

http://old.latinastereo.com/html/genteLatina/salseroMes/RayBarretto/cronologia.shtm

Catalino “Tite” Curet Alonso, the most important composer in the history of Latin music.

(Guayama, 1927 – Baltimore, United States, 2003) Puerto Rican composer considered the most important author of salsa music in his country and one of the most outstanding Latin American composers of the second half of the 20th century.

His songs, produced throughout a fertile creative career that gave birth to more than two thousand pieces, were brought to fame by the most famous interpreters of the genre (Rubén Blades, Tito Rodríguez, Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano or Willie Colón, among others).

The son of an orchestra musician and a seamstress, Tite grew up in a working class neighborhood in Santurce, where he remained after his parents separated.

He studied music theory and solfeggio with professor Jorge Rubián, and in 1965 he wrote his first melodies for Joe Quijano, one of the best pachangueros of the time.

Are the 100 most listened to songs by Catalino “Tite Curet” Alonso in alphabetical order.

 

1.Adelante siempre voy :Ray Barreto con Adalberto Santiago

2.Anacaona :Cheo Feliciano

3.Adios Adiós :Pedro Arroyo

4.Apelo:(tema brasilero adaptado al Español por Tite para Roberto Roena)

5.Aquella mujer: Bobby Valentín y Marvin Santiago

6.Aqui estoy yo con mi son: Frankie Hernández

7.Aqui se puede :Airto Moreira /versión Ray Barreto

8.Babaila :Pete Conde Rodríguez

9.Barra limpia: Sonora Ponceña y Tonito Ledee

10.Barrunto: Willie Colon y Héctor Lavoe

11.Bandolera :Héctor Lavoe

12.Boca mentirosa(Andy Montañez)

13.Buen Corazón:(adaptación de Tite para Bobby Valentín/Cano Estremera

14.Cha cha ri cha :Willie Rosario/Guillo Rivera

15.CAONABO:(canta TITE CURET/arreglo Jorge Millet)

16.Candilejas:(Versión en Español de Tite para Wilkins/o Graciela)

17.Cabellos Blancos: Orquesta Mulenze y Pedro Brull

18.Callejon :Arabella (para la película Retén de Catia/Venezuela)

19.Camaron :Justo Betancourt /& versión Marvin Santiago

20.Cenizas:Milly Quezada con Perico Ortiz

21.Con los Pobres Estoy :Roberto Roena y Apollo Sound

22.Con mi viejo amigo: Larry Harlow e Ismael Miranda

23.De todas maneras rosas :Ismael Rivera y Los Cachimbos

24.Distinto y Diferente: Justo Betancourt y Borincuba

25.Don Fulano: Tito Rodríguez

26.Efectivamente: Joe Quijano

27.El eco de un tambor Dimensión Latina con Andy Montañez

28.El hijo de Obátala :Ray Barreto con Tito Allen

29.Ella está en otra rumba ;Justo Betancourt

30.Ellos se juntan: Cortijo y su combo con Maelo

31.Escucha una voz latina: Conexión Latina de Alemania

32.Estaca de guayacán: Marvin Santiago

33.Estampa Marina :Cheo Feliciano

34.El antifaz:Willie Rosario con Gilberto Santa Rosa

35.El cantar de los pinales: Pacheco y Pete Conde

36.El verdadero aniversario :El combo del ayer

37.Felicitaciones: Cheo Feliciano

38.Flor de los lindos campos Ray Barreto y Adalberto Santiago

39.Galera 3:Ismael Miranda

40.Guaguanco del Adiós :Roberto Roena y Apollo Sound

41.Hace furo: Cheo Feliciano

42.Hermano Héctor: La 2013 canta: Van Lester

43.Huracan:Bobby Valentín con Frankie Hernández

44.Isadora: Celia Cruz y Estrellas de Fania

45.Juan Albañil: Cheo Feliciano

46.Juanito Alimaña: Héctor Lavoe y Willie Colon

47.La Cura: Frankie Ruiz

48.La esencia del guaguancó (Pacheco/Pete Conde/primer versión Willie Rosario con Meñique)

49.La Oportunidad :Ismael Miranda con Larry Harlow

50.La Oportunidad: Ismael Rivera

51.La palabra Adiós: Ruben Blades con Estrellas de Fania

52.La Perla: Ismael Rivera

53.La Tirana: La Lupe

54.Lamento de Concepción: Roberto Roena y Apollo Sound

55.Las Caras Lindas: Ismael Rivera

56.Las mujeres son de Azúcar: Sonora Ponceña y Luigui Texidor

57.Los Entierros: Cheo Feliciano

58.Luz Negra: Sonora Ponceña y Miguel Ortiz

59.Llevame: Adalberto Santiago

60.Marejada feliz: Roberto Roena y Apollo Sound

61.Me pongo yo: La Descarga Boricua de Frank Ferrer

62.Morejon: Frankie Hernández

63.Mi música: Ismael Rivera

64.Mi triste problema: Cheo Feliciano

65:Nabori:Cheo Feliciano

66.Noche como boca ‘e lobo: Sonora Ponceña y Luigui Texidor

67.Pa’ Colombia: Willie Colon y Héctor Lavoe

68.Pa’ los ponceños: Sonora Ponceña y Tito Gómez

69.Pa’ que afinquen: Cheo Feliciano

70.Part time lover:(tema de Stevie Wonder traducido al español por  Tite para Bobby Valentín)

71.Pase la noche fumando: Willie Colon y Héctor Lavoe

72.Pedregal:Justo Betancourt

73.Penas de amor: Bobby Rodríguez y la Compañía

74.Periodico de Ayer: Héctor Lavoe

75.Piano Man: Ismael Quintana y Estrellas de Fania

76.Pirana:Willie Colon y Hector Lavoe

77.Plantacion Adentro: Willie Colon y Rubén Blades

78.Por que adore :Markolino y Chivirico Dávila/Versión Truco &

Zaperoko

79.Plante bandera: Tommy Olivencia canta: Chamaco Ramirez

80:Presencia:Justo Betancourt y Borincuba

81.Primoroso cantar: Pacheco y Pete Conde

82.Profesion esperanza: Ismael Rivera

83.Pueblo latino: Pete Conde con las Estrellas de Fania

84.Punto Bare: Pete Conde Rodríguez

85.Primer Montuno: Andy Harlow con Johnny Vásquez

86.Puro teatro: La Lupe

87.Que me lo den en vida: Roberto Roena y Apollo Sound

88.Reunion en la cima: Andy Montanez con la Puerto Rico All Stars

89.Sali porque sali: Cheo Feliciano

90.Salome:Cheo Feliciano

91.Salsaludando:Cheo Feliciano

92.Saborea:Los Hermanos Lebrón

93.Sobre una tumba humilde: Cheo Feliciano

94.Susana:Jose Feliciano

95.temes:Vitin Avilés

96.Tiemblas:Tito Rodríguez

97.Tomatero: Kim de los Santos

98.tu loco, loco y yo tranquilo: Roberto Roena y Apollo Sound

99.Vale más un guaguancó: Ray Barreto y Rubén Blades

100.Vete y Pregona: Justo Betancourt

Curet Alonso, the most important composer in the history of Latin music.

 

How Birdland began operating and its role in Latin music

What is Birdland?

Birdland has been the place in which many of the most important New York’s stars of the show were born and has represented the beginning of many artistic careers that have achieved worldwide fame, so this spectacular venue deserves all the recognition and fame that it has accumulated over the years. 

This is a jazz club that began operations in December 1949 in Manhattan and was closed for a few years until its reopening in 1986. What happened was that a second location of the same name was opened in Manhattan and was not too far from the land on which the original club operated. Today, Birdland operates at the same facility as the headquarters of the famous local newspaper The New York Observer in the past. 

Stage at Birdland
Stage of the jazz club Birdland

Story about how the idea to create Birdland was born  

During the 1920s, there were a lot of musicians who had to move to New York City because it was there that the biggest jazz movement of the moment was being produced. It could be said that the birthplace of the most famous jazz styles of the last decades was the Big Apple and its surroundings. 

It was there where and when the musical career of Charlie Parker, affectionately known as Bird by most of his fans, emerged. Some time later, it would be this brilliant artist and talented saxophonist who would get one of the most popular jazz clubs in the city and the country in general named after him. This would be one of the many tributes received by Parker before and after his death in 1955. 

Once Birdland was opened in the late 1940s, the saxophonist began performing there on a regular basis along with many other music legends of the moment such as Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Young, Lennie Tristano, Maxie Kaminsky and many more. Although Birdland was named to honour Charlie, that did not keep the artist from having some friction with Oscar Goodstein, one of the founders of the venue, who said that Parker was constantly asking for too much money. As the story goes, this was the reason why the musician did not perform as many times as expected. 

On the facade of the club, a neon sign could read Birdland, Jazz Corner of the World, making it clear what its customers would find once they entered the facility. Once inside, there was space for approximately 500 visitors and a full orchestra to lighten the mood that night. Birdland included a very long bar, spacious tables, stands with a wide variety of products, folding chairs, among other things. At that time, customers only had to pay a $1.50 fee to enjoy everything that the nightclub had to offer.   

It went on to have so much prestige that it had among its visitors Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Gary Cooper, among other personalities from the entertainment world. It has taken so much popularity in those years that composer George Shearing dedicated one of his greatest creations entitled Lullaby of Birdland to it, which was also inspired by Charlie Parker as well as the name of the place.  

Tommy Potter, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane at Birdland
Tommy Potter, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane performing at Birdland in 1951

The role of Birdland in Latin music 

Just as Birdland contributed to the emergence of important careers in the jazz music scene, it also did the same with a good number of Latin music singers who saw this corner of New York as an opportunity to make their art known to other audiences. One of them was world-famous bandleader, composer and musician Tito Puente, who performed at the venue on several occasions and improvised many sets with Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton. 

There is also the case of Tito Rodríguez, who made use of his great talent to record a spectacular live album entirely dedicated to Birdland and whose name was Live at Birdland. In addition, he featured incredible collaborations with great musicians such as Clark Terry, Al Conh, Zoot Sims, among others. 

Another of the great Latin music artists who came to perform at this venue was Cuban bandleader, arranger and trumpet player Chico O’Farrill. The artist played and recorded at the club on a wekly basis about the time he already had his own orchestra called Afrocuban Jazz Orchestra. Arturo O’Farrill, worthy son of his father, also performs regularly at Birdland with his orchestra The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. 

Announcement about Tito Puente's concert
Announcement of Tito Puente’s show at Birdland in 1999

Maestro Mario Ortiz Jr. Living legend of Latin music, a musician out of series

Then professionally with Tito Allen and Gunda Merced (Salsa Fever).

In 1977 he started with his father at the Caribe Hilton Hotel accompanying local and international figures.

In 1979 with Willie Rosario with whom he recorded 3 albums.  He directed the album Nuevo Horizontes which featured Gilberto Santa Rosa and Tony Vega.

In 1984 he started with Mario Ortiz y Su Orquesta with whom he recorded six albums.

Mario Ortiz Jr. studied at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music.

Mario Ortiz Jr. studied at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in music. From 1991 - 1994 he traveled extensively with Juan Luis Guerra.
Mario Ortiz All Star Band

From 1991 – 1994 he traveled extensively with Juan Luis Guerra.

Mario Jr. has participated in recordings for Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tony Vega, Oscar de Leon, Ismael Miranda, Cheo Feliciano, Tommy Olivencia, Andy Montañez, and Willie Chirino among others.  He has accompanied artists such as Juan Gabriel, Raphael, Donna Summers, Gloria Estefan, Rocio Durcal, Julio Iglesias, José Luis Rodríguez, Frank Valli, Vic Damone, among other international artists.

His albums 45 Aniversario (2010), 50 Aniversario (2014), and 55 Aniversario (2019) have been nominated for a Latin Grammy.  For the past 23 years, he has worked in the public school system as a music teacher in Miami, Florida.

The late musician Mario Ortiz opened the doors of the artistic world to figures such as salsa singer Gilberto Santa Rosa. His contributions as musical director, instrumentalist, and arranger marked the careers of many artists, who did not hesitate to donate their talent for the making of the album Mario Ortiz All-Star Band, as a tribute to his 45 years of career.

Mario Ortiz, the son, summoned musicians and singers who shared with his father at a time when salsa was at its peak in the 1960s and 1970s.

The musician also managed to bring together Cheo Feliciano, Tony Vega, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Ismael Miranda, Richie Ray, Bobby Cruz, Roberto Roena, Andy Montañez, Elías Lopés and others in this record production.

“We recorded a tribute album, based on my father’s 1963 orchestra. Everyone told me that this group was ahead of its time. Some time ago, Gilberto gave me the LP On the Road (the orchestra’s first album), and that inspired me to make the record.

The first person I called was Elías Lopés and he told me to call everybody and that I would be surprised. And so it was because everyone was willing”, explained Mario Ortiz, son, in a press conference, attended by about twenty artists who recalled the times of the 60s and 70s.

The creator of the project said that the album contains 16 songs and an introduction featuring the original music of the All-Star Band, which became the first Puerto Rican orchestra to play at the Palladium in New York, where figures such as Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez, and Frank “Machito” Grillo performed.

She mentioned that in the last track of the album, El Cid, she “played” the trumpet with her father thanks to technological advances.

Musical director Elías López and singers Gilberto Santa Rosa and Cheo Feliciano agreed that this production served as a pretext to recall anecdotes they lived together with the musician, who died on November 4, 1999.

“He was the only artist I have ever seen doing arrangements without piano and listening to other music on the other side. He had the virtue of concentrating and producing something well in advance,” said Elías Lopés.

“I had the joy of knowing Mario for a long time because he and Marito used to pick me up to go to school. I have always said that he is my dad in music…He told me to study because the music was a hobby, but when he realized my interest, he gave me that first opportunity,” commented El Caballero de la Salsa, adding that Mario Ortiz “was an outstanding musician and represents the heart of the career of many of us”.

Mario Ortiz, son, summoned musicians and singers who shared with his father at a time when salsa was at its peak in the 1960s and 1970s.
Mario Ortiz Jr.

Mario Ortiz All Star Band includes songs such as Chinita, with Gilberto Santa Rosa; Se acabó el bembé, with Ismael Miranda; Rumberito, with Bobby Cruz and Roberto Roena, and others.

Source: Primera Hora, Puerto Rico. By: Jaime Torres Torres

At the age of 64, trumpeter Mario Ortiz was a man brimming with health and life. Death took him by surprise on November 4, 1999.

Thus came down the curtain on one of the most brilliant careers in Puerto Rican salsa and jazz.

His wake was attended by practically all the musicians of the country to bid farewell to the virtuoso trumpet player, accomplished arranger, and experienced orchestra conductor.

His son Mario Jr. inherited part of his arrangements because the maestro was so generous that he gave his music to his friends and colleagues. To commemorate his memory on the 10th anniversary of his passing, Mario Jr. celebrates his father’s contribution to salsa and Latin jazz with the historic recording “Tribute”.

“I was able to transcribe the arrangements that I didn’t have and thus confirmed what the musicians at the wake were saying in terms of his music being ahead of its time. With the help of Lenny Prieto, Ernesto Sánchez, and Tito Rivera I was able to decipher what Papi did in terms of harmonics and rhythm,” said Mario Jr.

In “Tribute” Mario Jr. recorded without alterations the orchestrations and arrangements of “A quitarse”, “Yaré yaré”, “Chinita”, “Move”, “Se acabó el bembé”, “Mambo infierno”, “Güiro y pandereta”, “El soplo”, “Rumberito”, “Que bonito es Puerto Rico”, “Maina” and others.

“What I did to make them sound more harmonically updated was to extend the duration with more participation of the singers and with additional solos and moñas,” he explained.

Coining the name “All Star Band”, as his father’s group was known during the 1960s, Mario Jr. brought together a core of the most respected soneros and instrumentalists in salsa.

On “Tribute”, arguably the Afro-Antillean music album of the year, Cheo Feliciano, Andy Montañez, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Ismael Miranda, Adalberto Santiago, Tony Vega, Chico Rivera, Pedro Brull, Tito Allen, Primi Cruz, Anthony Cruz, Ismaelito Rivera and Bobby Cruz joined their talents.

And, representing the musicians, he recruited as soloists Papo Lucca, Bobby Valentín, Richie Ray, Elías López, Roberto Roena, and others.

None of the artists were paid, out of respect for Mario’s memory and in reciprocation of their friendship.

“It’s incredible. Elías was the first one I told to do this. He was so happy that he suggested I call everyone who knew Mario. And Gilbertito quickly said yes because his first recording was with Papi.”

The presentation of “Tribute”, in honor of the forty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the All-Stars Band, was held yesterday at the Alquimia Bistro Restaurant in Condado.

The album, a Zamora Music Group production, will be distributed by Sony Music. The first single is titled “Chinita” and is performed by Gilberto Santa Rosa.

“Sony is interested in my project because Gilbertito interceded on my behalf. He wanted to release it with his label Camínalo, but he thought it would have more possibilities with a multinational”.

Mario Ortiz y Su Orquesta "Ritmo Y Sabor" 1985
Mario Ortiz y Su Orquesta “Ritmo Y Sabor” 1985

Source: https://www.radioelsalsero.com/2009/09/se-viene-la-mario-ortiz-all-stars-band.html

Articles of Interest: Celso Clemente Torres is considered one of the best sounding bongos in the world

By: Diana Marie International Salsa Magazine Correspondent

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Page 8
  • Page 9
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 222
  • Go to Next Page »

International Salsa Magazine (ISM) is a monthly publication about Salsa activities around the world, that has been publishing since 2007. It is a world network of volunteers coordinated by ISM Magazine. We are working to strengthen all the events by working together.