Search Results for: Legacy of Salsa

Néstor Sánchez “Maestro de Soneros¨.

Born in 1950 in New York, of Puerto Rican origin, he is considered by critics as one of the soneros with the best vocal technique.

Néstor Sánchez “El Albino Divino”.

In 1968 he began his musical career at the age of 19 in New York with the orchestra of Ray Rodriguez, Ray was the brother of the late Bobby Rodriguez, the recording was entitled “Introducing Ray Rodriguez and his Orchestra”, he was also with the Tonny Pabon Orchestra, and the Conjunto Candela.

1976 Nestor Sanchez joined the orchestra of the wonderful Jew, Larry Harlow, replacing Junior Gonzalez as lead vocalist and became a member of the Fania label stars, at that time,

Harlow was recording the album “La Raza Latina” for which Sanchez performed one song and the rest was in charge of the Panamanian Ruben Blades where he musically created the history of Nuestra Raza, from the Amerindians, the Spanish conquest, and the arrival of the black African slave.

The album, “El Albino Divino”, was one of his official presentations with the orchestra, with the Harlow Orchestra he spent almost ten years and recorded seven albums, among these: Rumbambola, Dulce aroma del éxito, Soy Latino.

1979 Harlow disbanded his orchestra, Sanchez also recorded with Tito Puente’s orchestra the song “Bonito y Sabroso” in the LP “Homenaje a Beny Moré” which won a Grammy award for Puente.

In 1984 he recorded the production Julio Castro y La Masacre, in 1990 he was released as a soloist in the romantic wave with the album Como Nunca.

In the year 2000 he was invited by the King of Bass Mr. Bobby Valentin to participate in the album La Gran Reunión, and in all the recordings where he participated as the first voice in the chorus.

This talented man, whom we consider one of the most outstanding voices in our music, and sonero of soneros, never had the recognition he truly deserved. As a tribute and vindication, the February 2017 Salsero of our page is dedicated to him in a heartfelt and sincere way.

As a singer, Néstor Sánchez loved Cuban music and considered himself an admirer of Abelardo Barroso, Beny Moré and Miguelito Cuni, and from La Isla del Encanto his favorites were Tito Rodríguez and Ismael Rivera, in whom he was most likely inspired to create his own style.

His musical career began at the age of 19 in New York in 1968 with Ray Rodríguez’s orchestra. His first recording was the same year and was entitled Introducing Ray Rodriguez and his Orchestra; the second, in 1969 and with this same orchestra, was called Delusion, these two musical works were made for Al Santiago’s label “Alegre Records”.

In 1970, Néstor Sánchez joined Tony Pabón’s orchestra with which he recorded six albums in LP format, these musical productions are: in 1970, Tony Pabon And His All-Stars and La Protesta With Tony Pabón: Free; in 1972, On The Right Track; in 1973, Introducing Néstor Sánchez; in 1974, Tony Pabón & La Protesta Featuring Néstor Sánchez – El Capitán; and in 1976, Tony Pabón Y La Nueva Protesta – Fango – Pura Salsa, Puro Disco.

After his time with La Protesta, El Albino Divino joined Conjunto Candela, with whom he produced an LP entitled Conjunto Candela.

In 1976, he joined the orchestra of “El Judío Maravilloso” Larry Harlow as lead vocalist, replacing the Puerto Rican singer Junior González. With that, he became one of the stars of the Fania label. Between 1977 and 1984 he recorded the albums La Raza Latina – A Salsa Suite, El Albino Divino, Rumbambola; Larry Harlow & Junior González – Our Latin Feeling / Nuestro Sentimiento Latino; El dulce aroma del éxito; Larry Harlow, Canta: Gary Carrión / Así Soy Yo; Larry Harlow – Yo Soy Latino and Larry Harlow / Señor Salsa, featuring the young singer Ray Pérez.

Between 1968 and 1984, Néstor Sánchez was not only part of the orchestras of Ray Rodríguez, Tony Pabón, Conjunto Candela and Larry Harlow. He also recorded with King Nando, Orchestra Colon, Los Hermanos López, Yambú, Andy Harlow, Adalberto Santiago, Charlie Palmieri, Ismael Rivera, Tito Puente, Willie Colón, El Conjunto Libre, Azuquita y Su Melao, Fania All Stars and Louie Ramírez.

Throughout the eighties, Néstor Sánchez’s career had a second stage, in which he participated in musical works as a singer and backing vocalist for other great stars of our musical firmament, such as Héctor Lavoe, Típica 73, Ray Barretto, Julio Castro y La Masacre, Rubén Blades y Seis del Solar, Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Miranda, Oscar D’ León, Celia Cruz and Bobby Valentín.

It is presumed that in his more than three decades of music he participated in some two hundred musical works, about half of which are presented in our “Discography” section, available on our web page. Her voice was also recorded in many musical works of the so-called salsa romántica.

Among the songs that the beautiful voice of our great Albino Divino left us, we highlight numbers such as: “Amor pa’ qué”, “Averigua”, “Bobo tú te quedarás”, “Bonito y sabroso”, “Compay, póngase Duro”, “Con la mayor elegancia”, “El bobito”, “El diablo viene”, “Madre”, “Mentiroso”, “Quasimodo”, “Suena La Quija”, “Va llover”, “Guaguancó para los soneros” and “Vamos a gozar”. Our great sonero also recorded some songs in English.

Finally, we repeat that the present investigative work on the musical life of the great singer, chorister, arranger and composer Néstor Sánchez, “El Albino Divino”, is a tribute to his musical legacy with which the section “El salsero del mes” of our web page www.latinastereo.com wants to remember and keep all his work in force. Néstor Sánchez will remain forever in the hearts of the salseros of the world.

On September 2, 2003, Néstor Sánchez passed away at the age of 54 at his home in Bronx County, New York, after losing a battle with lung cancer.

Main source:

By: Sergio A. Rendón Ángel

To: www.latinastereo.com

Medellín, Colombia

Article of Interest: Raymundo “Ray” Barretto Pagan was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 29, 1929

Album covers can express the technological and social advances of different epochs through indirect means.

“Salsa Fantasy” is a term coined by journalist Pablo Yglesias to describe a concept that artist and illustrator Ron Levine wanted to implement when he started creating various album covers for Latin music in the 70s.  He was primarily intended to propose a style that could compete directly with the creations of the prosperous American industry.

This article presents the reasons why Ron Levine decided to set out on on that journey. To that end, we have drawn on an interview conducted by Pablo Yglesias in 2011 in which, in addition to his interesting anecdotes, we are being offered a glimpse of a retrospect of all his work, going through his work with the Sonora Ponceña in which he had the opportunity to develop his style.

Album cover design, Fania Records, illustration, Pop Art, La Sonora Ponceña.

Introduction

Album covers can express the technological and social advances of different epochs through indirect means (Rondón, C., 2008), (Figueredo, M., 2010). The interesting thing about this is that the relative precarious situation in which salsa album covers were designed and the marginality expressed in many cases by the lack of resources with which they were created.

Jerry Masucci’s Fania Records was really focused on supporting that nascent number of singers of Latin origin.

Many of those covers created were concepts on which certain issues closely related to the songs or what the singer wished to express were handled.

In most cases, staging and photography were resorted to express certain ideas related to migration of Latinos in the U.S. and others of social order that prevailed in the lyrics of the songs (Yglesias, P. E., 2005).

In this way, various artists became directly or indirectly involved in the making of their album covers; one example of this are Eddie Palmieri’s album covers where a set of simple but forceful photos and the good mastering of typography can be appreciated (Yglesias, P. E. ,2005).

Although there existed a number of non-Latin graphic designers and artists who engaged in Latin music in the United States during the 70s and 80s, the team formed by Ron Levine and Marshall Lee was the most visible of Salsa in New York.

The two artists, both iconic and revered, worked for Jerry Masucci at Fania Records where Levine created many of Fania’s best known and appreciated covers.

Salsa wonderful photos of Lee would be part of a comprehensive separate study, what interests us in this article is to show the work developed in Ron Levine’s work as a graphic designer and artist.

Throughout his career he played an important role in carrying on the legacy of high quality in the design of album covers initiated by Izzy Sanabria, Walter Velez, Charlie Rosario and other artists and illustrators in the 60s and early 70s.

Below is a review of Ron Levine’s work and some aspects that led him to develop a style so particular that, still today, is applauded by many designers, artists and illustrators who have been involved in the art of creating album covers.

Levine’s childhood: from drawing horses to Ronald Stuart art school Levine was born in 1947 in Brooklyn, New York and moved to Long Island at six years old. His maternal grandparents were Scottish Protestants; his maternal grandmother was Theodore Roosevelt’s nurse in a moment of her life (“She was a big burly woman with hair like sheep,” recalls Levine)

Her paternal grandparents were Jews from Poland and Russia. Her mother, who was born in Glasgow, converted to Judaism when she married her father. She attended art school and, besides being a housewife, she used to work in a professional photo studio and was an expert in dyeing and painting backgrounds oil colors in black and white photographs for weddings.

Her father worked in a textile store and had a knack for textile marketing and fashion in Manhattan.

Levine spent his childhood playing with drums, Jewish folk dances and horse riding. Drawing horses fascinated him and he was obsessed with science fiction illustrations such as Flash Gordon, Disney cartoons, superhero comics, horror and fantasy.

By the age of eight, he was longing to work for Walt Disney; at school he was irreverent in art classes, preferring to draw horses, fantasy characters or Flash Gordon, rather than those boring still life, fruit bowls and colour cards that were classroom exercises.

He motivated himself by drawing fantasy and beautiful horses. Despite his poor grades, his parents knew he had talent, so they encouraged his artistic skills knowing that his career in the arts may not be very financially feasible.

To him, music was a passion almost be likened to painting. Levine formed a band called “The tensions” in which he played drums. He was also the lead vocalist of another band called “The New Rock Workshop” and its members toured and recorded for several years in the 60s.

In addition to playing and singing in those bands, Levine began studying at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where he took classes in a 4-year programme. There he reclaimed his passion for drawing the human figure.

At the age of 20 Levine settled permanently in Manhattan anstarted his professional career as an artist.  He could not finish the last quarter of his studies, but through a professor he was able to make contact high-profile graphic artists such as Paul Davis, Milton Glaser, Chwast Seymour and Lubalin Herb. After a while he landed a job making magazine covers and also with the famous creative director Tony Palladino with whom he learned various tools of the trade.

In these early works, as may be noted, photography was used as an element of graphic expression, combining some illustration and staging. It was a work concluded between Levine and Lee.

After the first six years, Levine was already doing most of the work for Fania All-Stars together with Lee.

At the same time, Sanabria was occupied with Latin NY magazine, which was a very influential publication for Nuyorican popular culture.

Levine comments that he felt part of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly and Lo Mato.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Jhonny Pacheco had respect for his illustrations because Levine also knew about music.

However, he says he took an intensive course and went from not knowing anything about Latin music to witnessing its history and evolution in the front row.

After that, he worked for some albums by Rubén Blades in which he began experimenting with portrait photography, which was a realistic interpretation from photography.

Lo Mato

Despite the pleasant working atmosphere, Levine had some conceptual discussions with Masucci in relation to logos and title text sizes in typographies, resulting in controversial results in some cases.

Since Latin music was marginalized for many years, the designs of the 60s and 70s used a shoestring budget, considering that Fania All-Stars was neither Columbia nor Atlantic Records, for many of the typographies almost everything had to be created manually and with basic techniques such as the use of masks, photocopies, adhesive tape and rubber cement.

In this way, there was a lot of handmade work in which Levine’s photos were taken to the extreme. All the lines were done by hand and then tinted with rapidograph pens. Levine says that some of the typographies created had no concept behind them, however, illustration to produce a quality product take a long time.

Creativity was blooming as was humor. Many musicians used to dress up in costumes and pose with girls.

Subsequently, he was called to work in the covers of La Sonora Ponceña given that the aesthetics of this orchestra’s pieces were in line with his expectations about fantasy illustrations.

La Sonora Ponceña.

Many of the covers created by Levine and Lee challenged the concept of the Latin identity’s representation, this can be better seen in the LP’s created for La Sonora Ponceña from Ponce, Puerto Rico.

The record label Fania Records offered that differentiation to new musicians, giving them the opportunity to say something interestingusing their covers. Sanabria had already begun to develop a concept, but were at the hands of Lee and Levine that a classic representation of the style based on comic-inspired illustrations, some humor and Pop Art was truly shown.

Ruben Blades.

Ruben Blades With Strings

This is how contextualized ideas and stories were developed; an example of this is a cover where a representation of the conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon in full body armor (something incongruous with the use of a sweater), a guitar on his shoulder, a maraca in one hand and a parchment in the other one.

When Levine took charge, there was some controversy concerning how the group should be represented; however, Levine was quite good in the eyes of the fans.

Given that they felt the story needed to be told in some way and the problems and artistic freedom so important to salsa in the 70s were illustrated with authencity through his creations.

These creations that came out from an initial idea of Juan Ponce de León’s representation mutated and became the issue of many album covers that not only told fantastic fictional stories related to music, but also changed the traditional image of the Latin album.

Sonora Ponceña albums (Musical Conquest – Back to work).

Sonora Ponceña Musical Conquest

Despite the success of Levine’s work with the public, Sanabria, who always tried to remain within the limits of Latin culture, criticized him precisely for distorting music and its culture.

Sonora Ponceña Back to work

However, Levine defended his idea by saying that Latin music and its artists very good music), had not received before the support as is provided to American music and artists. Given that Levine had been linked to the creation of covers for rock bands, he always felt that the quality of Latin music covers was very poor due to the low budget.

 Sonora Ponceña albums (Determination – Night Rider).

Sonora Ponceña Determination

In this way with his fiction proposal, Levine put Latin music on a par with some American artists who had recognition (Boston, ELO, Earth, Wind, Fire, Kiss and Yes).

Levine believed the covers should reflect the image of success. Fortunately, he had the support of Masucci, who, motivated by Levine, invested more money in the covers using the same premise.

Sonora Ponceña Night Rider

With his proposal for the covers, Levine wanted to show that Latin music was part of one of the biggest music scenes in the world.

He remarked that each of the covers had the same standard of treatment as a work of art; it was worked with great care and detail.

Finally, the last cover created by Levine for La Sonora Ponceña was made in the digital age – On Target (1998). There is a kind of hybrid between samurai and barbarian, with certain influences of the aesthetics of video games, fast-moving typography management with a flatter illustration but with a three-dimensional look.

The CD was released the year after the death of Masucci.

Sonora Ponceña On Target.

Conclusion

The concept proposed by Ron Levine allowed to explore from creation not only the various ways of making known a musical group, but also the establishment of a style that spread among the public to such an extent that his work on each cover is recognized as a work of art at present.

Mongo Santamaria

On the other hand, he was a pioneer of a style with which Latin music was not initially identified in its beginnings (fiction illustration, Pop Art, humor.) Yet, despite economic constraints, he designed several album covers with the best quality, they are even on the same level as those created on American record labels with higher budgets.

Notes

1 Member of the Research Group Camaleón.

2 Member of the Research Group Palo de Mango.

3 Music festival, art and Hippie congregation; held on 15, 16, 17 and the early morning of 18 August 1969, in Sullivan Country, New York.

References

Figueredo, M. (2010).

Album cover design in the 1970s.

Creation and Production in Design and Communication [works of students and Graduates] Nº 35 (2010). pp 99-102 ISSN 1668-5229 99

Rondón, C. (2008).

The Book of Salsa: A Chronicle of Urban Music from the Caribbean to New York City The University of North Carolina Press.

Cocinando. Fifty Years of Latin Album Cover Art.

New York: Pricenton Architectural Press.

Received: June 30/ Approved: November 28, 2013.

For Santa Maria’s bongo album Afro-Indio, Levine produced a masterful watercolor of ritual imagery focused on African culture.

https://nexus.univalle.edu.co/index.php/nexus/article/view/747/870

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Ron Levine

How Latin soul was born

There are certain musical genres that, despite their short duration on the public stage, marked history to such an extent that they continue to be named and taken into account when analyzing the process experienced by Latin music in the United States. One of them is Latin soul, which is defined as a musical genre born and developed in the 1960s in New York City, such as in the case of many of the rhythms we have today. 

Latin soul was born of the mixing of Cuban mambo and some elements coming from the American version of soul and Latin jazz. Even though it was a set of rhythms that became relevant only in the aforementioned decade, it played a particularly valuable role in the salsa movement that was starting to take shape at that time. 

One of its most striking characteristics is that it places a lot of emphasis on its Afro-Cuban rhythms, but at the same time, most of its songs are in English, which reveals an extremely interesting mix of Cuban and American cultures. After to have acquired a little more specific style, it started to become popular among New York-based Latin artists, who used the emerging genre to win over communities of their respective countries and local media at the same time. 

Among the greatest exponents of Latin soul is Joe Bataan, an American of Filipino descent who is regarded as the most famous vocalist of the genre. Something that made him really different from the rest of the artists of his kind was the merger between American soul and salsa that was already sounded at that time. For this and many other reasons, Bataan is still seen as one of the greatest idols of those golden years of music. 

Bataan, Willie Colón, and other performers represented the emergence of a generation of musicians whose formation was the street itself and the harsh experiences occurring it. At the same time, there were others who had an academic background and studies that made them play and behave otherwise. When the union between both groups took place, the result was a display of talent that is still turning heads. All those who were trained in academies and on the street joined the new oncoming wave of rhythms. 

An important detail about this is that the Latin audience in general was eager to look for artistic role models through which to reflect their daily lives. We must remember that many of these people lived in poor conditions in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country, so many did not really identify with educated music that came from the music academies and schools. All that changed greatly after the emergence of a group of artists who wanted to have their own place in the Anglo-Saxon entertainment business. In some cases, these young people came from an origin very similar to the one that has been described. 

This led to the creation of groups and orchestras in which formal and sophisticated music training had to coexist with other styles emerging from the humblest alleys in certain Latin neighborhoods. Music had ceased to be an elitist thing and would go on to become a mixture of different flavors and colors that were gradually brought together as the decades of the ’60s and ’70s went by. 

Around this time, the figure of Monguito Santamaría (Cuban percussionist and bandleader Mongo Santamaría’s son) emerged, who would be his biggest inspiration to take the path of music. The boy studied piano and proved a great talent for leading bands, but he needed something to push his career, since the mere fact of being a legend’s son was not going to guarantee the success he longed for. This led him to be carried away by the current of Boogaloo, another nascent genre that had gained overwhelming popularity at the time. 

From there, Monguito created his own orchestra and invites some of his schoolmates to join him, which resulted in a quite complete group in which these guys designed their own American R&B versions and sounds and an accent that made them much closer to the African-American community that loved soul and funk. This made them put aside the Latin community for a while, but that would change sooner than expected.   

Long after Monguito completed his musical studies, he and his band decided to audition for Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci. Let us not forget that Santamaria and the rest of his orchestra had a typically American vision of music, but they did not put aside the Cuban heritage behind them, so they always included songs in genres from the Caribbean island. This pleased the Fania All-Stars so much that they agreed to work with the orchestra, which adapted to the exigencies of the record label without losing sight of their goal: making music for Latinos in New York. 

This is how Monguito and Bataan became the Fania artists whose repertoires were more inclined to Latin soul. In view of the great success that Mongo’s son had with his projects on the label, he continued to immerse himself in the aforementioned rhythm and to enter Boogaloo, whose popularity was at its peak at that time. 

The bad news is that there were a set of factors that did not help the musician to make history as he wanted. One of them was the birth of salsa orchestras that perfectly read the social moment that lived by the poor Latin neighborhoods of the United States, a point on which Monguito stayed in the past. He and his musicians may have been better than many other bands of their generation, but they did not know how to read the historical moment when they were in. This and his little promotion in much of Latin America made much of his legacy be buried and forgotten. 

Eddie Palmieri’s role in this process 

American bandleader and pianist of Puerto Rican descent Eddie Palmieri played a very important role in the process carried out by Latin music during its evolution into what we know today. The artist radically changed the way Latin music was perceived thanks to his spectacular mix of Afro-Cuban rhythms and certain touches typically of Latin jazz. 

During the heyday of Boogaloo and Latin soul, Palmieri did his best to mix the best aspects of soul and funk with these Cuban rhythms, which would in turn be united with a typical revolutionary message of those years. Thanks to all these messages captured in his lyrics, the musician’s repertoire became more and more present in acts promoted by leftist movements and his music was brought to several prisons, giving it a nuance of denunciation that was very difficult to ignore.  

In contrast to other talents of those years, the New Yorker cannot be classified as a salsa, Boogaloo or soul musician. This is because he knew how to handle all genres and combine them in a novel way for that time.   

From the pen of the novel writer Urayoán Enrique comes Relatos en clave de salsa, a collection of eleven stories, all inspired by the same erotic salsa that revolutionized the salsa music scene at least three decades ago.

The eleven songs that inspired the stories contained in the book that Urayoán recently built-in clear homage to salsa erotica are all undisputed hits.  The concept of this collection of short stories follows the line that the author calls: from the LP to your library.

Most of the musical themes contained here came in LP (Long Play) format, those vinyl records that compiled ten musical themes in one unit, known as an album. From that concept, Urayoán came up with the idea of making the conversion, deciding that the collection of stories would be one of eleven, including ten tracks -in this case stories- plus the well-remembered bonus track, for a total of eleven.

During the official launch and presentation of the book, which took place at the Teatro Renacimiento in Arroyo, Puerto Rico on September 18, 2021; young actor Bryan (Brayito) Lebrón and Suhey Moraima played the lead roles in an apt theatrical interpretation of the story entitled Esa chica es mía.  Broadcaster and DJ Eduardo Huertas Alicea moderated the event.

Puerto Rican writers Bella Martínez and Richard Rivera Cardona, editor of the literary work, were in charge of the question and answer segment, whose answers brought to light details about the construction of this text that, as previously stated, pays homage to erotic salsa.

The titles contained in this collection, whose inspiration came to Urayoán by way of the musical themes with which the stories in reference share the titles, are:  Ven, devórame otra vez, Insaciable, Desnúdate mujer, ¿Quién será ese ladrón, Esa chica es mía, Desayuno, Caricias prohibidas, Mi mundo, Quiero morir en tu piel, Lluvia and Tu prenda tendida.

Before reading each story, it is suggested to listen to the musical theme that inspires it. The book is so carefully constructed that each story has the credits associated with the theme song.  The credits include the title, the performer, the composer of the lyrics, the arranger responsible for the musical composition, the album that contains it, the record label that published it and the year in which the song was published.  As can be seen, the research was exhaustive and the writing comprehensive; which evidences the care and respect with which this work, which has also been called salsa in prose, was treated.

Urayoán contemplates with his usual shyness to follow this literary line in order to continue building stories that keep the salsa alive and in the minds of the readers. There remained on the shelf the restlessness to write about: Me acostumbré (interpretation by “Tártaro de la salsa”: Frankie Ruiz), Sí, te mentií (interpretation by Lalo Rodríguez), Aquel viejo motel (interpretation by David Pabón) and 5 noches (interpretation by Paquito Guzmán).

By popular demand, Urayoán could write stories inspired by boleros. If he is motivated to explore the bolero, I suggested he develop a story inspired by Deseo salvaje (Lalo Rodríguez’s rendition). In addition to the lyrics of that song, the value lies in the fact that it was also composed by Lalo Rodríguez. Lalo wrote Deseo salvaje when he was only fourteen years old, and two years later he recorded the vocal part for Eddie Palmieri’s orchestra when he was sixteen years old. The album that contains the song I suggested here, The Sun of Latin music was the first salsa album to win the Grammy for “Best Latin Recording”. Even more significant is that it was the first salsa album to be nominated for the highest music award given annually by the world’s leading society of music professionals, better known as the Recording Academy.

In short, if the reader dares to dive into a daring read, inspired by salsa erotica, Relatos en clave de salsa is highly recommended.

Facebook: Urayoán Enrique

By: Bella Martinez “La Escritora Irreverente de La Salsa”

Puerto Rico

WebSite: Bella Martinez

Article of Interest: Tito Rodríguez, Jr. “The Palladium legacy lives on”

He is a traditional and important figure in Latin music.

Pianist, Multi-Instrumentalist, Arranger, Composer, Producer and Musical Director Lawrence Ira Khan “Larry Harlow el Judío Maravilloso” was born on March 20, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

He traveled to Cuba in the ’50s, at which time he established his residence and began to study Afro-Cuban music. After gaining experience, he returned to New York to develop his own style and created his group “The Harlow Orchestra”.

Later, he participated in “The Fania All Stars”. During his years with Fania, Harlow recorded 35 albums as the leader of his own orchestra and another 20 as a member of Fania.

He also produced more than 200 recordings for other artists, created and composed the first salsa opera, “Hommy”, which he orchestrated, directed and performed in New York and Puerto Rico.

Harlow stays active on international tours as well as in the main cities of the United States. In the present day, in addition to playing with his band, Harlow records and directs videos for standout artists from the United States and Europe.

Larry Harlow, a salsa composer.

The Latin music iconic pianist’s career in 10 recordings that marked an era and the history.

Heavy Smokin’ (1966)

In 1964, future salsa impresario Jerry Masucci went to the Chez José club to go dancing with his girlfriend in Manhattan. Impressed with the orchestra playing, Masucci approached its leader, a young pianist of Jewish origin named Larry Harlow, and offered him a record contract. Harlow would be the first artist signed by the newly-opened label of Fania Records. Recorded with Cuban singer Felo Brito, this first LP includes “La juventud”, as well as “Chez José”, which was a tribute to the club where it all started.

Presenta a Ismael Miranda (1969)

In the late 1960s, Harlow found the singer who would bring his group to the aristocracy of salsa: a young Puerto Rican boy named Ismael Miranda. Although their personalities are completely different, Harlow and Miranda record a series of explosive LPs with Afro-Cuban rhythms. This is their second collaboration and features some boogaloo songs, which was the fashion of the moment. The bassist is Bobby Valentin, who contributes three songs, including the lethal swing of “La Contraria”.

Abran Paso! (1971)

While collaborating with the legendary Fania All Stars as a keyboard player, Harlow feverishly records, taking advantage of the explosion of salsa as a cultural phenomenon. His trombone and trumpet sound reaches a paroxysm of flavor on Abran paso!, anchored in such wonderful compositions made by Ismael Miranda as “Abandonada fue”, “Donde llevas el son” and “Dolor y amor”. The singer brings his Puerto Rican sensibility, while the orchestrations of Harlow are nurtured in the tradition of Cuban son. An combination of electrifying artistic and commercial success.

Homenaje a Arsenio Rodríguez (1971)

When Arsenio Rodriguez (musical genius, blind, and pioneer of Cuban son passed away in Los Angeles in December 1970) Harlow quickly decided to record an LP dedicated to his work. Along with Miranda, he wrote the song “Arsenio”, a strong salsa with Cuban flavour and a climate of heartbreaking melancholy. The rest of the LP, which was recorded in an eight-hour session, is dedicated to Rodríguez’s repertoire, with extraordinary versions of “Tumba y bongo”, “No me llores” and “El terror”, among others. Indispensable.

Hommy A Latin Opera (1973)

In the early 70s, Ismael Miranda decided to leave the orchestra of Harlow and pursue a solo career, which would cause animosity between them for a long time. Harlow began developing ambitious projects. Inspired by the rock opera Tommy by the English group The Who, he recorded Hommy, with the participation of Cheo Feliciano and Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez, among others. Harlow asked Celia Cruz, who was neglected by the music industry at that time, to sing “Gracia Divina”, which resurrected her career.

Salsa (1974)

Harlow recorded one of his most significant albums in just two days. Under the simple title Salsa, it paid tribute to the Cuban roots of tropical music, combining the trombone and trumpet sound with two violins that evoke the aesthetics charanga made by groups like Orquesta Aragón. With “La cartera”, a cover version of a song by Arsenio Rodriguez, Harlow achieved his biggest hit. Thanks to singers Adalberto Santiago and Junior González, the nickname “El Judío Maravilloso” came about.

El Judío Maravilloso (1975)

Harlow continued to record prodigious albums, now with Junior Gonzalez as lead vocalist. This LP of the year 1975 continues to exploit an epic sound with a amarked Cuban influence. The opening track, “El dolorcito de mi china”, by Arsenio Rodriguez, lasts 10 minutes and includes a piano solo full of virtuosity and expressiveness. The peak of keyboard player’s carrer showed no signs of fading, as demonstrated by his versions of “Buenavista guaguancó” and “El negrito ñéngere”, as well as the psychedelic instrumental “Latin Roots”, composed by Harlow himself.

La Raza Latina (1977)

At the end of the 70s, salsa is fertile ground for grandiloquent experiments of a symphonic character. Harlow participated in this trend with a musical, A Salsa Suite, which describes the evolution of the tropical genre from Africa to the Caribbean, passing through New York of the 50s and 60s and culminating in a song dedicated to the future. Harlow hired Rubén Blades to be his vocalist, although this is not his prime. A failed and brief album, but fascinating in its conceptual ambition.

Larry Harlow presents Latin Fever (1978)

Harlow always showed the eclectic trends of a cosmopolitan musician. In 1970, for example, he recorded a rock record in the style of Chicago band with the group Ambergris. In 1978, he produced this fascinating LP by Latin Fever, a group consisting of 14 female singers and instrumentalists. These include percussionist Susan Hadjopoulos, who would become famous with English Joe Jackson, and the singer Ada Chabrier, who also collaborated with Ray Barretto and Willie Colón. A rarity that is worth discovering.

Larry Harlow’s Latin Legends Band (1998)

Harlow continued to record high-quality LPs in the 1980s. In the late 1990s, when the interest in classic salsa had been increasing, he formed the band Latin Legends with conguero Ray Barretto and singer Adalberto Santiago. This first album includes the participation of Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez (a few years before his death) and Ismael Miranda. The sound is warm and organic, emphasizing the musical knowledge of these veterans. According to Harlow, it was his favorite band to play live.

The Jewish Salsa Pianist, Innovative and Irreverent

This day 20 / 8 /2021 and after 32 days hospitalized “El Judío Maravilloso” Larry dies in New York at 12:30 a.m. from complications as a kidney patient that weakened his already weary heart.

Words of his wife Maria Del Carmen Harlow-Kahn

“Mi Amore, you are already free to play your music in the celestial orchestra. Thank you for the honor of accompanying you and loving you till the end of your life. 

You will live forever in my heart and in the hearts of all who love your music and your huge legacy, fly high my Wonderful Jew and rest in peace.”

Sources:

Ernesto Lechner de AAPR

Artículo de interés: La voz de Markolino Dimond y su irreverente piano en Funk / Soul & Funk-Disco “The Alexander Review