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Young Joseph

Joseph Gonzalez has been one of the greatest Latin percussion icons of our time and it is worth talking about his past and current accomplishments. He was born on March 12, 1953 in the San Juan Hill section of Manhattan and grew up in a mixture of cultures with Puerto Rican and Italian roots, which ensured that the young Joseph and the rest of his siblings were raised with the best of each.

According to the musician himself, his passion for music started in the 1950s when he listened to all kinds of genres and rhythms at home, which trained the young man almost without him realizing it. At home, his family used to enjoy the talent of Frank Santana, Machito, Jerry Vale, Tito Puente, Mario Lanza, among many other artists of the time. Upon hearing these names, one can already get an idea of what Gonzalez’s vocational training would be like in the future.

From a young age, he would liven up family parties by playing the conga. At the age of 15, the boy first became interested in music as something more than just a hobby to kill some time. The teenager gave signs that music would be a very important part of his life.

Already in the 1960s, Gonzalez had made his first long-playing record with Frankie Nieves, vocalist and neighbor of the artist who had set himself the goal of taking over the boogaloo world and become one of its greatest exponents. The album was called ”The Terrible Frankie Nieves”, was under the direction of producer Stan Lewis and contained all kinds of popular genres for those years such as R&B, guaracha, mambo and much more.

Self-taugh musician

Something very striking about this music is that he never attended an institute or school of arts, but learned everything by himself through the experience he gained in San Juan Hill, where the best Latin music orchestras were always heard and whose musicians lived and some even resided in Amsterdam Houses.

In 1971, he became  a member of the Ruben Betancourt’s orchestra, with whom he would play the group’s first LP entitled ”Orquesta Tentación” and published by the record label Mañana Records. A few years later, he married and soon he and his wife had their first daughter, to whom they gave the name Audrey Valentina. Around the same time, he separated from Rubénm stayed with ”Felix Morales & Orchestra Caprí” for two years and was part of ”Son De La Loma”, whose members were veteran musicians who taught Joe everything they knew.

Cover of the album ‘’62nd and 10th’’

During the 1980s, there was a dramatic decline in the Latin music scene, which caused Gonzalez to look for a regular job that could support his family and provide them with the the finaltial security they need. In those years, he partnered with jazzman Mario Bauzá and his orchestra, a group with which the percussionist finally achieved the level he was destined to get to.

He started making very important appearances in a lot of concerts with the Bauzá’s orchestra and recordings that would lead him to have access to many other opportunities on TV shows, film soundtracks, tours, awards, among many other things. This led him to be worthy of the Latin Grammy on several occasions and perform with stars such as Celia Cruz, Papo Vázquez, Arturo O’Farrill, Daniel Poce and many more.

His most recent album is entitled ”62nd to 10th”, which is absolutely dominated by Latin jazz and whose compositions are written by Gonzalez himself, except for one track. In this album, Joe Gonzalez once again demonstrates that he has not forgotten everything he has learned and is still as strong as ever.

Read also: Tribute to Larry Harlow about a year after his departure

By Johnny Cruz, ISM Correspondents, New York, New York City

Who is D’ William?

William Pagán Díaz, artistically known as D’ William, is a talented producer, composer and singer with extensive experience in various tropical genres. He was part of the Oro Negro Orchestra and the Tañón Band before starting his solo career. We were fortunate to talk to him and learn a little more about his history and career.

How his career began

The Oro Negro Orchestra represented his first musical experience and he was about 17 years old at the time. In fact, his mother had to sign a contract for him to be part of the group because he was underage. He stayed there for a year until he got asked to audition for the Tañón Band, a group that Olga Tañón was creating at the time.

After auditioning with 300 or 400 candidates, I was chosen as the last missing member for the group because it required four and there were only three. D’ William told us that he felt he had the world in his hands due to work with Olga Tañón, but unfortunately she decided to broke up the band because she had other plans. At that time, Pagan did not know what to do with his life because he thought he had already pursued the ultimate in his career, so he decided to turn his life around, enlist in the army and forget all music.

These years of his life contributed a lot to strengthen his discipline, but he also realized that he did not want to dedicate himself to military life forever. After he retired, he moved to Japan and lived there for about seven years, during that time he was introduced to Puerto Rican salsa thanks to some friends. He started singing salsa, but always saw music as sort of a hobby and not as something he wanted to do professionally.

He toured all over Japan with the Conquistando Orchestra and composed for other artists and various franchises, but nothing for himself. In 2010, he decided that he wanted to change that situation and recorded six salsa songs with the idea of moving to Puerto Rico thinking he was going to find the same country in the musical field. Then, all the songs recorded by him stayed on the hard drive of his computer and he could not do anything with them.

Unable to get a job, he decides to use his veteran’s benefits to complete his education, which leads him to study criminal justice and law. In 2018, a job opportunity as a lawyer for the federal government in Washington DC arose, so he moves there and meets some people who reconnect him with music thanks to his career in Japan.

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, he finally made the decision to start his solo career and choose a stage name that referred to his real name, which led him to use D’ William. In September 2020, he recorded his first song titled “24 horas enteras” giving start to his solo career.

Why use merengue as a base for his music?

Although merengue has not had such a boom in recent years, D’ William is passionate about this genre that he never wanted to leave aside and even said that “a party without merengue is not a party”. The artist wanted to do something that included a tropical genre handled very well by him and he knows he was right about deciding on merengue, since he has observed a renaissance in the popularity of this set of rhythms with the help of artists such as Elvis Crespo, who was again seen in awards recently.

Music for millennial ears

D’ William points out that the most important elements of merengue will always be present in his work, but in his own words, ”the years and generations make the music evolve”. Since the performer did not want to stignate in the same thing, he tries to experiment with a new style of singing merengue and writes some of his lyrics with other genres in mind, such as dembow. He also incorporates kicks, snares, synthesizers and other sounds to reach millenial ears.

This combination of the above elements has made the reception to the artist’s music great.

Experience in Guatemala

D’ William also told us about the Estela Awards in Guatemala, which he did not knew nothing about until he was invited to attend. Once there, he noticed the importance of these awards for Central America, as they recognize the talent of Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and many more.

He had the honor of being in its sixth edition and seeing how artists who did not have the opportunity to be in bigger events such as Billboard, Tu Música, Latin Grammy, among others, were awarded. Something very special about this year was the participation of a Puerto Rican delegation of for the first time in its history, in which D’ William was with several of his compatriots.

The reception of the public and press towards this group was great and they really enjoyed the show. They were so well received that they plan to return soon in December to continue delighting Guatemalans with their talent.

What did D’ William do during the pandemic?

D’ William told us that he did a lot of things for himself and other colleagues during the pandemic. He did a great collaboration on a track with Dominique Patrick Noel, a French percussionist with whom we had the pleasure to talk beforehand. They have done several songs together in which the Puerto Rican sings and does some arrangements with Noel.

He also sang with Eduardo Padua, who is a very famous Puerto Rican conguero in Virginia and Peruvian Andy Caseda.

Read Also: The interesting story of French percussionist Dominique Patrick Noel