Search Results for: Timbales

How Junito Albino began his career

Junito Albino is one of those artists who has been influenced by some of the greatest artists in Latin music and that has led him to become what he is today. Julio Junito Albino was born in New York in 1962 and got curious about the same music at the age of 11, after which he joined the school band of San Germán until he graduated from high school. When he was still a teenager, he began to play timbales with the first group to which he belonged, whose name was Orquesta La Crítica and belonged to director and trumpeter Fernando Vega. 

When he attained the proper age, he began to study music education at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico in 1980, when he would be a part of the Orquesta Kachende de Mayaguez whose direction was by Gilberto Gili Toro. With this group of musicians, he released his first record production. By that time, he met singer-songwriter Antony Martínez, with whom he would have a great friendship. 

In 1983, he went to live in New York City and began collaborating with the Orquesta de Los Hermanos Colón, with whom he wasted no time in returning to the Island of Enchantment to do some live performances. With this same group, he recorded his second album Ámame Un Poquito Más, which was directed by Sergio George. 

Some of the orchestras with which Albino worked

Another of the most important society that Albino achieved realizing during his career was with Joe Quijano’s orchestra and his Conjunto Cachana, with whom he had the opportunity to share the stage with La Guarachera de Cuba Celia Cruz, The King of Timbales Tito Puente, Latin Grammy winner Ray Santos, talented pianist Charlie Palmieri and many others.   

In 1986, he was fortunate to accompany some of the greatest artists from Latin genres such as Paquito Guzman, Marvin Santiago, Hector Tricoche and many more. One of the greatest unions that he would give tangible shape to would be with Moncho Santana’s Orchestra, former vocalist of Grupo Niche, with whom he chalked up enormous successes and demonstrated all his talent. However, collaborations would not stop there. 

Junito also came to be part of the orchestra of Tito Nieves and that of Ramon Rodriguez. The latter was directed by pianist Gilberto Colón, Jorge González (bongo) and Willie Romero (conga). With all his accumulated experience at this point in his life, it was not difficult for him to find a place in the Orquesta Tártaro led by Franke Ruíz. 

When he moved back to Puerto Rico, he was also in other orchestras in the country such as Puerto Rican Power, Jorge Carrión, Luisito Escobar and many more. In addition to the foregoing, he has managed to work as a producer and musician in a large number of independent groups collaborating with percussion, timbales, bongo and other instruments.   

After a successful career in other groups, he decided to create his own orchestra, Secreto A Voces, in which genres such as salsa and Latin jazz stand out. His first album was called Báilalo and contained songs of his own that were big hits in some European countries such as Italy. His second album was entitled Haciendo Ruido and included the participation of artists such as Nino Segarra, Jaime Rivero, among others.  

 

By: Johnny Cruz correspondent of International Salsa Magazine in New York City, New York

The most progressive arranger and innovator of New York Salsa in the 70s and 80s.

Music often requires characters who are always backstage and support with their talent the work of singers and performers, who are eventually the ones who “come forward” and assume the popularity. Sometimes, though, these anonymous characters shot to fame in order to be able to perform their own work and even become more popular than any fashion singer.

In the case of Pop, this character is named Quincy Jones, who was said to be the arranger for Frank Sinatra and the producer for Michael Jackson. A “nonentity”. In the case of Salsa, these characters have been symbolized by the emulator of Jones, a guy named Louie Ramirez who has done everything with everyone.

An afternoon in 1994, Ramirez was driving his car on the highway that took him to Variety Studios in New York. It was going to be a quick session because he only lacked one track to complete his 20th album as a bandleader. Perhaps this is why he was nervous and full of anxiety. Minutes later, he could not resist the feeling and had to stop the car. He had not finished doing it when a heart attack ended his life.

Introducing Louie Ramirez

Louie Ramirez was a genius. The one to whom all run for advice and solutions to their problems. It did not matter if they were young or old musicians. The fact was that Louie had the answer and visiting him was like rubbing Aladdin’s lamp. That was a characteristic that always accompanied him, from the first recording “Meet Louie Ramirez” in 1963.

He was 20 years old back then and had a good record with regard to composing some pachangas and arranging for the orchestras of Pete and Tito Rodriguez. Commentator Dick Sugar introduced him like this: Ramirez breaks through the image of a bandleader who uses the talents of other composers and becomes a follower of a rhythm. No, Louie Ramirez is a creator in his genre.

Louie Ramirez Ali Baba

That talent did not go unnoticed by the new Czar of Latin music in New York, Jerry Masucci, who hired him as a star of Fania Records and at the same time, as an arranger for the orchestras and ensembles that belonged to the record company. Ramirez was soon wrapped up in work and could only record two albums during the 1960s, “Good news” and “Alí Babá”.

The last album included the hit that allowed him to be a famous artist, El Títere, a true Salsa classic. The song was performed by Rudy Calzado, the third of the soneros Louie had used without finding the right one. It was a ballast that stayed with him as a director during the 1970s, when he used singers such as Pete Bonet, Tito Allen, Jimmy Sabater, “Azuquita” Rodríguez, Adalberto Santiago, and even Rubén Blades.

Louie Ramirez y Sus Amigos

It was precisely Blades that he made an anthological album with, “Louie Ramirez y sus amigos”, which included the song Paula C, with an arrangement of those that deserve to be admired. By then, Ramirez was already considered as the most progressive arranger of Salsa in New York, thanks to the brilliant works done for the Fania All Stars. An excellent work had been the instrumental arrangement for Juan Pachanga, to be performed by Blades, from Canta for a performance by Cheo Feliciano, and of the entire album “Algo nuevo” performed by Tito Rodriguez with Louie’s orchestra.

Noche Caliente

The peak of Ramírez’s career was in 1980 when Joni Figueras, a representative of the K-Tel International label, hired him to maka arrangements for the ballads Todo se derrumbó and Estar enamorado by Manuel Alejandro. The album, which included these and other songs, was released two years later under the title “Noche caliente” and was recorded by Louie’s orchestra.

Ballad-salsa or romantic salsa was born as a result of a work Ramírez did until his death, making occasional attempts in Latin Jazz, which he loved. That is why he recorded a tribute album to Cal Tjader in which Louie was the director, producer, composer and arranger. Apart from that, he played the timbales and his favorite instrument: the vibraphone.

Louie Ramirez was a genius of arrangements, in a career that included Guantanamera and Isadora for Celia Cruz, El Guiro de Macorina for Johnny Pacheco and El Caminante for Roberto Torres.

The Cesta All-Stars Vol. 1

Further to that, there are his works for La Alegre and the Cesta All-Stars. Regarding this Ramírez’s profile, critic Eleazar López defined it very well.

“It is not easy to arrange for a dance orchestra, especially when it is a group that cultivates the hot tropical genre. Many musicians feel influenced by Jazz and the result of their orchestrations leaves a vacuum in the dancer”.

Others arrange in a simple way, but it is so simple that they repeat and copy themselves, and the result is tired music, without any degree of creativity: music that says nothing, that leaves nothing. Louie Ramirez has found the perfect balance… that’s why he always stays relevant.

Article of Interest: Bobby Valentin, the King of Bass at the Fania All-Stars Machinery

#ISMPublicity

Edwin “Mulenze” Morales was born on 9 April.

Orquesta Mulenze came out in 1976 due to the motivation of Edwin Morales. At that time, he was a young rocker who decided to change his guitar for a bass and in turn become part of Orquesta Yambo, often accompanyng artists such as Hector Lavoe, Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano, Ismael Miranda among others arriving in Puerto Rico without an orchestra; then it was later identified and we would know as MULENZE.

The Orchestra was created in the era where salsa was booming and was fortunate to have musicians, composers and singers of great stature who are now recognized. These include Cano Estremera (R.I.P), (El albino de la Salsa) who would later join Bobby Valentín’s band as a vocalist; in the choir singer-songwriter Pedro Arroyo who has brought several of his compositions to Mulenze, in the piano Andy Guzmán and Eric Figueroa. The latter would be one of the influencers in the style which would be adopted by the orchestra, practicing a little sophisticated and revolutionary rhythm for the public that follows popular music.

Mulenze was one of the first orchestras to use synthesizers within salsa, working rhythmically out of the beat in which the clave pattern is set, giving some jazz variations to their music; it was an innovation that was not very accepted by the groups that were already established at that time, though later this would give respect and an its own identity to the orchestra with its brilliant arrangements.

The ninth record production “Extravagante”

This ninth record production “Extravagante” is impossible to get since 1990 as the company under which it was released has ceased to exist and it is one of those many lost records.

In the voices of Pedro Brull and Rafy Andino, excellent album and Edwin “Mulenze” Morales as director of the group with a first-class team of musicians and arrangers surprises us with this release.

Orquesta Mulenze – Extravagante 1990.

Record label: Hitt Makers

Quédate: Written-By – Pedro Arroyo

Ese Loco De La Vida: Written-By – Juan Bautista

Es Al Amor Que Llega: Written-By – Jose Luis Perales*

No Hay Preguntas: Written-By – Jose Luis Perales*

Contra Viento Y Marea: Written-By – Gloria Gonzalez

Zumba Con Mi Rumba: Written-By – Poldo Castro

Mi Tremendo Caso: Written-By – Tite Curet Alonso

A Dormir Afuera: Written-By Fabio Espinoza, Joaquin Galan, Lucia Galan

Arrangers:

Eric Figueroa (2) (tracks: B3),

Julio Alvarado (tracks: A2, B1),

Luis Garcia (5) (tracks: B2),

Ricky Rodriguez (3) (tracks: A1, A3, A4, B4).

Talent:

Bongos, Cowbell – Charlie Sierra

Congas – Jimmy Garcia (3)

Choir – Alex Castro (3), Cheo Andújar

Guest Musician, Congas – Giovanni Hidalgo, Johnny Rivero

Guest Musician, Keyboards – Jose Pujales

Guest Musician], Maracas – Cusy Castillo

Guest Musician, Timbales – Chago Martinez

Guest Musician, Trombone – José Berrios

Guest Musician, Trumpet – Carlos Martinez (3), Mario Ortiz Jr.

Güiro – Ricardo Salgado

Leader, Bass, Producer, Directed By – Edwin Morales

Mixed By – Papo Sánchez (2)

Piano, Keyboards – Ricky Rodriguez (3)

Producer – Antonio Rodríguez

Technician – Andrés Reyes, George Kamarinos

Technician, Mixed By – Ricky Martínez

Timbales – Roberto Whatts

Trombone – Eliut Cintron, Rafy Torres

Trumpet – Angie Machado, Roberto Santiago (2)

Vocals – Pedro Brull, Rafy Andino

Vocals, Choir – Jose L. Ramos

Extravagante 1990

#SalsaIsCulture

Article of Interest: Mulenze The Orchestra of Eternal Youth

Sources: Julio Vázquez Productions

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.