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Beatriz Márquez Castro, an exponent of romantic songs, “Feeling” and Bolero

Beatriz Márquez Castro is a singer, composer, and pianist, born on February 17, 1952, in Havana.

Beatriz Márquez Castro. Cantante, compositora y pianista

She is the daughter of the prestigious composer and performer René Márquez. She began her artistic career in 1968.

An exponent of romantic songs, “feeling,” and bolero, she gracefully delved into these genres, performing pieces by prolific authors such as René Márquez, Marta Valdés, Juanito Márquez, Silvio Rodríguez, and Germán Nogueira, among others.

Her mezzo-soprano range has enabled her popular “descents” to low tones, as well as her unexpected and no less appreciated “ascents” to much higher tessituras, without losing her defining style. This style is very appropriate for songs and boleros, genres in which she has remained one of Cuba’s leading cultivators.

She is known as “La Musicalísima.”

We are witnessing the realization of a long-cherished project with which the performer, pianist, and composer Beatriz Márquez settles a debt both on a family level and within Cuban discography.

After several years of searching through archives and old recordings, thanks to the collaboration of Cuban audiovisual producer Felipe Morfa, it was possible to prepare “Este encuentro” (Colibrí Productions, 2023). This album features a selection of known and unreleased pieces by singer and composer René Márquez Rojo (1914-1986), some of which were popularized in their time by internationally renowned figures like Antonio Machín or the Puerto Rican Daniel Santos, to name just two examples.

Beatriz Márquez Castro, an exponent of romantic songs, "Feeling" and Bolero — Beatriz Márquez Castro, an exponent of romantic songs, “Feeling” and Bolero

Given the influence René had on the career of his daughter and grandchildren, this is an album full of love and, above all, gratitude.

While he was best known for his songwriting, it is important to highlight the mark he left as a charanga singer.

Among others, we can mention his work with the charangas of violinist Cristóbal Paulín, Oscar Muñoz Bouffartique, and René Touzet.

He debuted at the Mil Diez radio station with the group led by Julio Cueva, to which he dedicated himself for ten years.

From the late 1930s onwards, the lyrics by the artist from Villa Clara quickly resonated with the public.

“El Inquieto Anacobero” recorded “El disgusto de bigote” with the Sonora Matancera in 1949 and also sang other Cuban songs such as “Soltando chispas,” “A San Lázaro,” and “El granito de maíz.”

René’s songs, among which “El quinqué” cannot be missed, speak of his natural ingenuity for storytelling.

Upon his death at 72, he left a musical legacy that has since been defended by his descendants.

In over five decades of her artistic life, Beatriz has become her father’s most faithful interpreter, having recorded songs for several albums such as “No respondo,” “Explícame por qué,” and the now famous “Espontáneamente,” initially included in the LP “Es soledad” (Egrem, 1970) and re-recorded on multiple occasions.

In “La Musicalísima”‘s discography, prior to this material, there were only two phonograms exclusively dedicated to the work of a single author: “Beatriz canta a Juan Almeida” (Egrem, 1978), followed forty years later by “Libre de pecado” (Colibrí Productions, 2018), a tribute to maestro Adolfo Guzmán, thus contributing to the rescue of the island’s musical memory.

“Este encuentro” spans traditional trova and moves from guaracha to son, without forgetting some of the composer’s most notable boleros.

It also allows us to appreciate René Márquez’s interpretive qualities by hearing his voice, rescued from old recordings.

The special participation of singers Evelyn García and Michel Maza, continuators of the family saga, is noteworthy.

Now, the 2015 National Music Award winner and the main architect of this phonogram invites us to explore René Márquez’s immense body of work, one that will by no means be forgotten, across eleven tracks._ Jaime Masó

Beatriz Márquez – Este Encuentro (2023)

Tracks:

Este Encuentro
La Vida Es Un Momento
Muchachito Inocente
No Respondo
Nunca Habrá Distancia
Soltando Chispas
En El Cielo De Mi Vida
Imposible Amor 09. Popurrit 10. Espontáneamente 11. Mi Placer

By:

L’Òstia Latin Jazz

Augusto Felibertt

Ecured

Instituto Cubano de la Música

Also Read: Enrique “Culebra” Iriarte, master of the piano and musical composition

Oscar D’León’s La Crítica was founded in Caracas in 1978

La Critica by Oscar D’León

We had just returned from New York when “Chiquitín,” Oscar D’León’s longtime secretary, called us at the office to let us know there was a commotion in the “Faraón de la Salsa’s” office.

Oscar D'León's La Crítica was founded in Caracas in 1978 — Oscar D’León’s La Crítica was founded in Caracas in 1978

It was about the defection of some musicians from the Orquesta La Salsa Mayor. Indeed, Leo Pacheco, Felipe Blanco, and other musicians had decided to leave for financial reasons.

The news caused a stir; Oscar had already achieved a very special sound. He had moved away from the trombones that characterized his style and had incorporated a brass section with trumpets that made a difference. Suddenly, he was without his powerful machinery. Leo and his group formed what was called Nuestra Orquesta La Salsa Mayor, and Oscar, without a second thought, reassembled his group alongside Enrique “Culebra” Iriarte.

La Crítica

No one should doubt that Oscar had a tough time, but the prestige he had gained and the popularity of the sonero allowed him to come out on top.

Paul González, the son of “El Guajiro” González, a veteran guarachero and who at the time served as manager for the now-called “Sonero del Mundo,” devised the orchestra known today as La Crítica to avoid future setbacks and to have an orchestra on hand to alternate in scheduled dances.

The project’s formation brought together pianist and arranger Mauricio Silva, percussionist Radamés Pimentel, and Teo Hernández, who would serve as vocalist.

Since 1978, La Crítica emerged as an exceptional group. The jazz influences infused by Mauricio Silva from the very beginning were crucial for the public to accept the band as a favorite. In that “beginning,” other significant names included “Cheo” Navarro and Gustavo Quinto, who were already known from their time with Grupo Mango.

It could be said that Teo Hernández was the newest to the scene, as he had only been “toiling” in the world of salsa for five years, although he already had a “summa cum laude” after recording with maestro Ray Pérez and his Dementes. A female voice would debut with the orchestra: Gladys Torres.

40 Years of La Crítica

There have been many setbacks and successes over 40 years.

The musicality of this successful group is to be celebrated this Saturday, June 16, at the BOD Cultural Center. The event is at 5:00 in the afternoon, when the salsa public will gather en masse.

La musicalidad de esta exitosa agrupación ha de ser celebrada este sábado 16 de junio en las instalaciones del Centro Cultural BOD.

Jorge Collazo, who was Oscar D’León’s press chief and now is La Crítica’s on their return, tells us that a spectacular night is being prepared, “an evening to remember, a show that no salsero should miss.

The original singers will be there: the sonero Teo Hernández and Gladys Torres, who will take the stage accompanied by top-tier musicians and luxury guests to celebrate, dance, and sing the well-known hits of the moment, we are talking about ‘Se necesita rumbero,’ ‘Amada ven,’ ‘La merenguita,’ ‘Madre,’ ‘Rumba rumbero,’ ‘No lloraré,’ ‘A él,’ and ‘Cruel desilusión,’ among others.”

The prestige gained by La Crítica allowed it to accompany great international soneros such as Justo Betancourt, Héctor Lavoe, Ismael Miranda, Ray de la Paz, Daniel Santos, and the legendary Celia Cruz.

This is part of La Crítica.

Also Read: Cheo Linares is a Singer, Composer, Sonero, Poet and Caraqueño

Tito Planas talked to us about his Orquesta Afinke and its members

If there is something that we have seen in recent times is that Los Angeles, New York and Miami are not the only places Latin music has had great boom due to the huge number of Latinos in those areas, as our culture has permeated many other places in the United States. A great example of that is the Orquesta Afinke, based in the state of Connecticut, and its director Herminio ‘‘Tito’’ Planas, with whom we were able to talk about his career and band.

Tito playing the trombone — Orquesta Afinke director Tito Planas playing the trombone live

How Tito fell in love with music

Tito was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the town of Ponce, the home of great luminaries of salsa such as Hector Lavoe, Pete ‘’El Conde’’ Rodriguez, Papo Luca, Jose ‘‘Cheo’’ Feliciano, Ismael Quintana, Yolanda Rivera, among many others. He even attended school with Keila Lucca, the daughter of one of the Luccas of La Sonora Ponceña, and is still in contact with her through social networks.

He studied at the Free School of Music in Ponce where he sang in a children’s choir and they traveled around the town to delight a variety of audiences with his voice. Building on the success of this program run by the school, there were many children from third through eighth grades who began taking lessons of solfeggio or any instrument they wanted.

In Tito’s case, he moved with his parents to the United States at age 13 in the eighth grade of the secondary education. His father had lost his job in Puerto Rico and the economic situation of the family was very precarious, so he made the decision to go first to find work and, in so doing, taking his children and his wife to live there.

In college, he started getting involved with salsa and had Jerry Perez as a trombone teacher, who taught him in this instrument for several years and offered him to form an orchestra together. They eventually did and toured with it in various parts of the United States.

Tito moved to the United States — Tito Planas moved to the United States at age 13, but never left his Latino heritage behind

Professional start

After being played the trombone for some time, many other musicians saw him and offered him to play with them in their orchestras. Many of these job opportunities came from New York, which was very close to him, which benefited him greatly because the clubs in that city closed much later, so they could play even till five in the morning. He combined all these activities with university and his private lessons in order to further improve his musical skills.

Orquesta Afinke

After the foundation of the orchestra, Tito and his musicians accompanied many great artists such as Hector Tricoche, El Grupo Guayacán, Viti Ruíz, Van Lester, Frankie Vázquez and many others.

Thanks to all these shows they were doing with other groups, Sammy Diaz, co-director of the orchestra, and Tito decided it was time to create a much more formal project that grouped together all the original members of the band. What brought them closer together was the fact that both Tito and Sammy had teenage children, whom they included in the group to keep them playing and in constant contact with music.

Tito and the rest of the group — From left to right: Junior Travieso, Victor Planas, Jerry Perez, Daniel Planas, Tito Planas, Samuel Diaz Jr., Samuel Diaz III, Louis Carrasquillo, and Rafael Rosado

Today, Tito’s youngest son is 18 years old and is about to enter the University of Connecticut to study music in order to follow the same path as his father, with whom he has been working in the orchestra since he was about 11 years old singing backup and playing the saxophone.

They started with about three scores with which they managed to put on a show for as long as half an hour. Today, 16 years later, they have more than 80 scores and about 12 original songs, of which one was recently released and another is being recorded at the time of writing this article.

On the other hand, the core of the orchestra has been the same since its foundation and includes pianist Rafael Rosado, bassist Victor Planas, bongo player Sammy Diaz Jr. (co-director of the orchestra Sammy Diaz’s son), timbalero Sammy Tercero (another son of Sammy Diaz), conguero Luis Carrasquillo, singer Junior Travieso, singer Raquel Ramirez, Peruvian singer Jano Arroyo, trombonist Jerry Perez (the teacher who taught Tito to play the trombone) and Daniel Planas (Tito’s son).

Tito and his son — Tito Planas with his younger son Daniel Planas

Ismael ‘Pat’ Quintana, born in Ponce Puerto Rico, began his musical career in 1961 alongside Eddie Palmieri and La Perfecta

Ismael ‘Pat’ Quintana, born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, began his musical career in 1961 alongside Eddie Palmieri and La Perfecta

Commemorating one more anniversary of the departure of the Maestro: Ismael Quintana (Ponce, June 3, 1937-Colorado, April 16, 2016) was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of salsa, bolero and other genres of Caribbean music.

He began his musical career in 1961 alongside Eddie Palmieri and La Perfecta, and later continued as a solo singer.

In 1970, he signed with Fania Records and joined the Fania All Stars, in addition to recording more solo albums.

By 2012, his health condition prevented him from continuing to perform and he stopped giving concerts.

In April 2016, he died of a heart attack at his residence in Colorado in the United States at 78 years of age and paid the first tributes.

Quintana was the singer who gave the name salsa to Afro-Caribbean music, after having heard it in Venezuela.

Ismael ‘Pat’ Quintana, born in Ponce, a town rich in culture on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, moved to New York when he was very young. It was in the South Bronx that he fell in love with Latin music.

During these early years, he played percussion with a variety of bands throughout New York City.

He persevered and eventually joined Angel Natel’s orchestra as a teenage bongosero.

During one memorable night in 1959, the band was asked to play a particular number for one of the club’s dancers.

Natel’s singer was not familiar with the song, but Ismael was. He stepped up to the microphone, performed the song and in the process electrified the crowd with his talented voice. That night launched a magnificent career, a career that would eventually position Quintana as one of the most prominent vocalists in Latin music.

In 1961, visionary keyboardist Eddie Palmieri decided to leave the sanctuary of Tito Rodriguez’s eminent orchestra to pursue the dream of forming his own band.

Eddie was present when Quintana auditioned for Orlando Marin’s popular orchestra.

The pianist would eventually track him down and offer him the opportunity to become the lead singer of his new orchestra, La Perfecta.

This proved to be a vital move in Eddie’s quest to become one of the top Latin music bandleaders. Their alliance would last 12 years.

Together, Quintana and Palmieri pushed the boundaries of progressive salsa, creating dissonant improvisations that fused the raw tradition of Afro-Caribbean music (exemplified by the singer’s hardcore sonics) with a relentless desire to experiment (illustrated by Palmieri’s choice of electronic keyboards, use of structures borrowed from other musical formats, as well as meandering solos that had their own idiosyncratic logic).

Quintana inició su carrera musical en 1961 al lado de Eddie Palmieri y La Perfecta

The 1965 album Azúcar Pa’Tí is probably the aesthetic pinnacle of their collaboration. It featured classic salsa anthems such as “Oyelo Que Te Conviene”, included here for your listening pleasure.

Another unforgettable moment was Eddie’s decision to record a double LP set in the Sing Sing penitentiary.

Quintana’s voice sounds appropriately impassioned on that socially significant 1972 concert recording.

By 1973, Quintana had decided to embark on a solo career. He signed a contract with UA Latino Records and recorded two albums of excellent quality.

Quintana En 1970, firma con el sello Fania Records

The second of these two releases gave him the opportunity to sing tangos and ballads, backed by a spectacular orchestra led by South American arrangers Héctor Garrido and Jorge Calandrelli.

Surprisingly, the singer has stated in interviews that he prefers to dance ballads and boleros rather than sing more fast-paced material.

Quintana’s first work for Vaya Records was recorded in 1974, It included the hit “La Blusita Colorá”, which is featured in this collection.

The singer also collaborated with keyboardist and bandleader of La Sonora Ponceña Papo Lucca, as well as Ricardo Marrero.

In 1975, Quintana was invited to join the legendary Fania All-Stars as one of their lead vocalists.

He appeared in the movie Salsa and participated in many of the combo’s historic performances, delivering a blistering version of the self-written “Mi Debilidad” at Yankee Stadium.

When not traveling the world with the All-Stars, Quintana could be found in the recording studio, working on material that appeared on his albums for Vaya Records.

Ismael Quintana’s name appears on many classic albums from the salsa explosion of the 1970s, both as a background singer and as a percussionist.

His phenomenal vocal abilities have obscured the fact that he is one of the most exciting maracas players in the genre.

He is also an innovative composer, having written many of the songs that make up Eddie Palmieri’s seminal albums of that era.

Quintana is also known as one of the nicest guys in the Latin music business.

A true professional who is never late for his concerts and a devoted family man who doesn’t smoke or drink.

Ponce in Puerto Rico has given birth to several legendary Latin singers, from Héctor Lavoé and Cheo Feliciano to Ednita Nazario and Pete ‘El Conde’ Rodríguez. Ismael Quintana is yet another luminary from that region.

This Latin Heritage compilation is a well-deserved tribute to one of salsa’s best. Fania All Stars.

By:

Marino Del Jesus

Historia Salsera

Dj. Augusto Felibertt

Also Read: The Royalty of our Latin Music Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez first singer signed by Fania Records label

This is Indiana composer, arranger, music teacher, and trumpet player David Hardiman

Our interviewee today is very special because of the talent and the enormous academic background he has, so we are very pleased to have been able to talk with him. We are talking about the arranger, composer, trumpeter, pianist and music teacher David Hardiman, whom we welcome to International Salsa Magazine.

This is David Hardiman — Music teacher and musician David Hardiman holding his trumpet

A little bit of David’s story

The artist from Indianapolis, Indiana, began his tale telling us a little bit about how he started getting interested in music, which was when he was in fourth grade. That is when he started learning to play the trumpet and piano, taking advantage of the fact that he had one at home.

Unlike other children and young people who find other interests and hobbies besides music, David never stopped and kept playing the trumpet until high school, during which time he played in the marching band, the orchestra, the jazz band and the concert band of the institution.

Years later, he attended Indiana University where he also played in the marching band and concert band. He received his bachelor of music education through which he obtained a lot of classical training that he would later apply to his artistic career, but he did not stop there, as he also began to participate in ensembles with which he played R&B and jazz.

When he returned to his hometown Indianapolis, he was hired by a band with which he started playing blues, tap and jazz at parties, weddings and other events of this type.

In addition to that, he also taught instrumental music for over 11 years at the elementary level. He also taught flute at the fourth grade level and prepared children of those ages to be introduced to instruments until their formation in high school, something very similar to his case when he got started in this world.

The young musician already wanted to expand his horizons and thought about leaving the nest and moving from his home state to try his luck elsewhere, but first he obtained his master’s degree in music education in 1970. This was the final step that would make him realize that he was ready to take flight farther away from home.

David playing the trumpet — David Hardiman playing the trumpet live

Berkeley

In 1971, David went to Berkeley, California, where he began to teach at King Junior High School, which he describes as an excellent experience that taught him a lot about music at the educational and practical level. His teaching specialized in the orchestral and symphonic part of classical-oriented music. At the same time, he spent much of his time playing for clubs and private parties with various orchestras and bands.

One of his fellow teachers at King Junior High School named Grey Gomez taught at the elementary level and was a trombone player. Gomez told David that he needed a trumpet player for a group called ‘’The Aliens’’, so he proposed him to join the band and play with him at The New Yorker club. This would be the first time the musician played Latin music, more specifically salsa.

Introduction to Latin music in San Francisco

By then, David was looking for new challenges, so he decided that he could not teach at low levels at King Junior High School for life, so he began working part-time at the City College of San Francisco. Parallel to this, he played with another band for various basketball and soccer games during breaks.

Soon after, the musician began directing the big band in the aforementioned institution and teaching at the middle college level outside of San Francisco. When he became a full-time professor at the City College, he was much more exposed to Latin music and genres, which was contrasted with his hometown, as Indiana is not known for its large number of Latin orchestras and musicians.

David at 12 years old — Young David Hardiman playing the trumpet at 12 years old

In the Bay Area, he began to have much more contact with people from other nationalities and cultures, especially Latinos, which made him listen to various Latin music groups and play with others. He even opened up for great artists such as Celia Cruz and the Fania All Stars.

He also played with the group Café Canela, whose genres are a very interesting combination of salsa, chá chá chá and many more.

San Francisco All Star Big Band

About 50 years ago, parallel to what he did with other orchestras, he created his own big band named San Francisco All Star Big Band, with which he has played for all kinds of events such as festivals, university parties, religious services, weddings, birthdays, charity balls, nightclubs, among others.

With this orchestra, he has a few albums which can be found on YouTube and other similar platforms and they are ‘’It’ll be alright’’, ‘’Portrait of David Hardiman’’, and ‘’Music Around The World’’.