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What Ángel Meléndez has to say about his brilliant musical career

Who Ángel Meléndez is

Ángel Meléndez is a source of pride for Puerto Rico who lives in Chicago, United States, and has a bright musical career that has not gone unnoticed by great well-known people and record labels linked to Latin music. The producer, arranger, composer, music teacher and trombonist studied at VanderCook College of Music, where he gained most of the knowledge that would serve him to become the figure he is today.

His hard work has allowed him to be nominated for the Best Tropical Music category at the Grammy Awards and the winner of the 2005 Annual Independent Music Awards thanks to the talent he displayed on his album Ángel Meléndez & the 911 Mambo Orchestra.

Meléndez was great lick to collaborate with some of the greats of music such as Cheo Feliciano, Adalberto Santiago, Tito Puente, Tito Allen, Frankie Ruiz, Ismael Miranda, among many others.

Trombonist Ángel Melendez — Producer, arranger, composer, music teacher and trombonist Ángel Meléndez

His most recent projects include the one he made with Gia Fu and Ralph Riley. Riley was in charge of the making of Big Band Maquina (album name) and was in charge of organizing the work of all the artists who lent their talent to carry out this ambitious project together with Meléndez and other producers. The album includes 11 tracks and a bonus track, as a result of the serious issue of fathering so many music professionals in a single project in the middle of the pandemic and from so many recording studios.

We had the opportunity to talk to him to learn a little more about his career and what he is doing now. We hope everyone reading this pleasant talk will enjoy it.

Interview

Today we are pleased to welcome composer, arranger, instructor and trombonist Ángel Meléndez. Good afternoon, Mr. Meléndez, how are you today?

I am doing very well, thank goodness. Although I am very cold here in Chicago, but it is not your fault (laugh).

You once commented that you always liked the Big Band sound. How important is the number of musicians in an orchestra?

When I was a kid, my family always organized parties and played the music of Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez and many others. So when I went to college, the jazz band director made me his manager. When I had it in front of me, I knew that was what I wanted to. I love it. That is why I say the more the better, but there are also groups like Joe Cuba Sextet that sound great with only six or seven members.

You have been a music teacher for several decades. Do you think training other artists has influenced your style? Do you think that you have learned from your students?

I have had many students who have become professional musicians and also learned a lot from them. In college I learned to play many instruments on a very basic level. One of the things I have learned from my students is that you can learn to play two, three or four instruments properly. I love the piano, I bought a Spanish guitar and am learning to play flamenco late in life.

Ángel playing his instrument — Ángel Meléndez performing and playing the trombone

So you never stop learning and are always looking for new instruments and rhythms to add to your work

Yes! Right now I am working on a project with Hong Kong producer Gia Fu and she is going to kill me because she does not want anyone to know yet (laugh). It’s called the Borinchino Project and includes Chinese songs in Latin rhythms. The first song is a bolero cha cha chá.

What was the experience of working together with Gia Fu, Ralph Raley and the rest of the team of musicians with whom you made this album? Are you happy with the result?

Of course we are! We were all pleased with the record. What happened was that I made a jingle called Lisa La Boricua for a dance academy called Lisa La Boricua in swing dancing about 20 or 25 years ago. In Germany, it was a hit for about 14 weeks. Gia is also a salsa DJ, she was doing some work in Switzerland when she heard that track which was like a jam session. She liked it so much that she thought about collaborating with me. After many months of looking for me, he found me. So my former timbalero is now music director of Victor Manuelle and knows the best musicians in Puerto Rico. When they called me and offered me to collaborate with them, they only wanted to make two songs. I told them if I said yes, we were going to get it right and go to Puerto Rico. Since we are in times of Covid-19, the best musicians are available. We went to Puerto Rico, made two songs and loved the result, so they said to make four more songs. The second time, Gia came from Hong Kong. She is like a painter who knows exactly what she wants. She already bears in mind the idea of how this will all turn out. She can be a bit stubborn, but, at the end of the day, everything always goes as she hopes. If she imagines a song with Tito Allen singing, she got it.

Something that got our attention at International Salsa Magazine is the way you did this project. We know that you were conceiving everything from different countries and studios thanks to new technologies. How was the process of recording from several places as far apart? How do you feel about what you achieved?

Most of the recordings were made at Rolo Studios in Puerto Rico. The vocals for the two tracks recorded by Herman Olivera were created at Nino Cegarra’s studio, but vocals by Tito Allen were done in New York because he did not want to travel to Puerto Rico. That is why Ralph, Gia and I went to New York to record them there, but the base, percussion, brass and backing vocals were done at Rolo Studios.

Album Big Band Máquina — Album cover Big Band Máquina

In addition, the pandemic made everything difficult, especially travel, how much do you think the pandemic has affected your work? Do you feel that things are coming back to normal? Is your work back to normal?

It has made it impossible to go back to work. I had about three or four bookings, but everything got cancelled when the Covid pandemic was getting worse. As I told you, In part it was a blessing because no one was working. Luis Marín (Gilberto Santa Rosa’s piano player), bassist Pedro Pérez (he has worked in more than 500 recording productions), conguero Sammy García (musical director of Charlie Aponte), Pocorelli (musical director of Víctor Manuelle as I had said), Sammy Vélez (musical director of El Canario), Richie Bastar (El Gran Combo’s congocero) were available to work with us and that it was a blessing.

Exactly. This whole situation has given you the opportunity to do other activities such as writing music, making new arrangements and many other things.

That’s it. I put my students on an assignment and most of them paid no attention anyway. I gave them 10 or 15 minutes to practice while I sat at the piano and waited for them to tell me something. During that time, I used to write. As they say, everything happens for a reason.

What plans do you have for 2022?

There’s Borinchino, which is the project I am working on with Gia and Ralph wants to repeat what we already did in mambo. Right now I am writing two new musical productions with new songs. In the case of Borinchino, the album will include several Chinese songs with Latin genres such as salsa, bolero, merengue, cha cha chá, among others. In the case of the project with Ralph, it will be almost the same as we did with the previous album.

This is Gia Fu — Hong Kong producer Gia Fu

This all means this partnership with Ralph and Gia will continue for an indefinite time?

Of course it will! They are thrilled with me and I am thrilled with them. They are my family in Hong Kong. The two people I love most in Hong Kong. The only people I know there, but I still love them very much.

What recommendations do you make to young people who want to do the same thing in the future?

I would advise them to learn about their culture. Our music is incredible and has a very high level. We grew up with children’s songs like Cheki Morena, so a complicated rhythm is very easy for us. In contrast, Americans grow up listening to the A, B, C song. When kids from our Latin countries begin to learn music, it is much simpler for them to play things with complicated rhythms. What I would like to tell those who read this interview is that they have to learn about their culture and 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

The legendary singer Guadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond “La Lupe”

On February 28, 1992, the Queen of Latin Soul and Boogaloo “La Yiyiyi” passed away in New York.

While Curro was scaring the children in the Cartuja of Seville, Guadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond, a Hispanic neighbor of the Bronx of New York, died at the age of 52, in misery.

A few years earlier she had enrolled in college in order to survive on scholarship money.

The Queen of Latin Soul and Boogaloo "La Yiyiyi". February 28, 1992 died in New York. — The legendary singer Guadalupe Victoria Yolí Raymond “La Lupe”

Maybe when her neighbors heard her talk about limousines, fame, luxury and parties, they looked at her with a knowing look on their faces and played along. There you go again.

But it was true, during the sixties Victoria, La Lupe, also known then as the queen of Latin soul, bragged about being able to spend the twenty thousand dollars she earned per concert on a fur coat.

Long before the invasion of salsa there she was, La Yiyiyi, wandering from bar to bar along 53rd Street, a meeting and exchange place for Latino immigrants in the city of skyscrapers. Busamba’, ‘Boogaloo’, gentlemen.

That’s what it sounded like when Cuba slept with Mexico or Puerto Rico on the stage of any club. Salsa? No, not yet, please. It was still La Lupe’s time.

Yolí Victoria Raymond “La Lupe”

The Queen of Latin Soul and Boogaloo "La Yiyiyi" — The Queen of Latin Soul and Boogaloo
“La Yiyiyi”

Exiled from Cuba because her singing offended the colonel, she was disputed in her beginnings by Mongo Santamaría and Tito Puente himself, with whom she made perhaps her most interesting recordings. From her first album, ‘Con el diablo en el cuerpo’, she made it clear that she was not going to be just any singer. She captivated the public with her extravagant personality and her madness.

She shrieked, shuddered, pulled her hair, insulted the audience, laughed, tore her clothes in passionate outbursts.

But she also cried and demonstrated her incredible technique when she was asked to sing a bolero. As she sang she lived. Pouring out and enjoying the joy and the sadness.

Then something happened. A new sound began to soundtrack the daily routine of the immigrant ghettos.

A less compromised rhythm that allowed evasion, at least for the duration of the dance, to all the Hispanics living badly in the United States.

Celia Cruz, for better or worse, gave salsa to the world and buried La Lupe in life.

Celia took away her throne and made sure that no one would remember her.

Fame and success is a war and Victoria no longer had the strength to participate in that battle. Her life was an earthquake.

Around that time her second husband began to develop schizophrenia and she decided to take care of her.

After that, little else is known about her until her death.

At the end of the 80’s she converted to the evangelist religion and composed a series of songs that may come to light under the name of La Samaritana.

Although surely her praises to God still sound as warm and sensual as the boleros ‘Orgasmo’ or ‘Puro Teatro’.

La Lupe

The year of her death, her friend Tito Puente and Celia Cruz were offering a conventional Latin music concert at Expo ’92.

Perhaps, at some point, the percussionist remembered when he played ‘Boogaloo’ with the first Latin queen.

As Lupe herself says in her explosive version of ‘Guantanamera’: “Sobre tu tierra divina riega mi voz campesina versos que son como flores, con los más grandes honores de La Yiyiyi, señores”.

Facebook: La Lupe

Article of Interest: Markolino Dimond’s voice and his irreverent piano in Funk/Soul & Funk-Disco “The Alexander Review”

Arturo O’Farrill’s career and upcoming projects

The story of Arturo

Latin America has given rise to a great number of musical legends who have made history in the United States and Arturo O’Farrill is one of them. Arturo O’Farrill Valero is a bandleader, composer, arranger, pianist and jazz and Latin jazz musician who was born in Mexico City, fruit of the union of his parents Chico O’Farrill and Lupe Valero. Both were closely linked to the world of music since before their son was born, which means that the young O’Farrill followed the footsteps of his parents.

His family lived in Mexico City until the mid-1960s, when they decided to move to New York City, where Chico began to work as a musician and to establish contacts with some of the greatest musicians of the moment, such as Dizzie Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, La Lupe and many others. His first contact with music was at the age of six, when he began taking piano lessons, which he did not like very much, but then he changed his mind and decided that music was what he wanted to dedicate his entire life to.

One of his big breaks took place when composer and jazz pianist Carla Bley contacted him to play with her band at Carnegie Hall. After getting some kind of piano and organ experience with this group, he started making solo collaborations with Howard Johnson and Steve Turre.

This is Arturo O'Farrill — Arturo O’Farrill

In the 1990s, he joined his father to help him revive his musical career. Given that Chico was in a rather vulnerable state of health, he had to delegate the hiring of his musicians to others, so Arturo wanted to intervene to help his progenitor and formed the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra that began playing at Birdland every Saturday night. Once his father passed away in 1995, he went on to become the orchestra leader.

In the early 2000s, Lincoln Center jazz program director Wynton Marsalis contacted Arturo to ask him to help with a concert entitled The Spirit of Tito Puente. The problem was that the Lincoln Canter jazz orchestra did not get what it took to play Latin jazz. As expressed by O’Farrill in the Wall Street Journal, he tried to make the musicians to play jazz in a more Afro-Cuban way, but he could not manage to. They ended up playing a quite traditional type of jazz, but failed to capture the essence of what Arturo wanted to obtain as a result.

That’s when he knew they needed a very special group of musicians who could play music with the right approach for the genre. After that, Marsalis invited the musician to found and lead an Afro-Cuban jazz band that would perform at Lincoln Center regularly, which was baptized as the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) after accepting the proposal. One of the things which have characterized the orchestra since its beginnings has been the use of a large instrumentation very typical of traditional jazz bands and a three-piece percussion section.

Arturo and his piano — Arturo O’Farrill while performing

Arturo O’Farrill’s new album

According to some media reports, the artist released his latest album entitled Dreaming In Lions on September 24. In the album, O’Farrill leads a very special group of 10 musicians The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble and receives the cooperation of the Malpaso Dance Company from Cuba.

The artist was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea (one of his favorite books at a young age) to give a name to his album. Its protagonist is a Cuban fisherman who starts dreaming of lions prowling the African shores while doing his job at sea.

What he is trying to achieve is that those who listen to the album are not just listeners of it, but also actively participate in that dream, even if it is not real.

FIREWALL

Del Mar
Intruso
BeautyCocoon
Ensayo Silencio
La Llorona

DREAMING IN LIONS

Dreaming in Lions
Scalular
HowI Love
TheDeep
WarBird Man
Strugglesand Strugglets
IWishWe Was
Bloodin the Water
Dreams So Gold

Luigi Texidor el Negrito del Sabor

Luis Guillermo Texidor Ortiz, more commonly known as Luigi Texidor, was born on January 20 1935 in the Puerto Rican town of Santa Isabel, more precisely in Colonia Florida.

The town of Santa Isabel in Puerto Rico is located south of the island of enchantment and borders Cuamo to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the south, Juana Díaz to the west, and Salinas to the east.

He was orphaned as an early age, so upon reaching the legal age, he joined the Army of the United States of America.

On returning to Puerto Rico in 1956, he studied to be a professor at the Catholic University of Ponce.

In parallel, he began participating in various groups as a percussionist (he played the bongo).

It was in the Orquesta Hispana de Juana Díaz where he had the opportunity to sing for the first time.

Then, he joined Antonetti y su Combo, until he finally joined the group Papo Lucca y su Sonora Ponceña in 1963.

After the departure of Papo León, Luigi Texidor became the lead singer of the group.

Was born on January 20, 1935 in the Puerto Rican town of Santa Isabel, more precisely in Colonia Florida. — Luis Guillermo Texidor Ortiz, better known as Luigi Texidor

Between 1969 and 1977, he became the best-known voice of “La Ponceña” with the release of the LP Hacheros pa’ un palo and the albums Conquista Musical and El Gigante del Sur.

With this group, he made immortal songs such as “Fuego en el 23”, “Boranda”, “El Pío Pío”, “Bomba Carambomba”, “La Clave”, “Noche Como Boca’e Lobo”, among others.

It is noteworthy that in 1977, he participated in two albums by the Puertorican All-Stars, which is a group that brought the best Puerto Rican musicians and a sort of rival to the Fania All-Stars.

There he shared stages with Mario Ortiz, Andy Montañez, Paquito Guzmán, Lalo Rodríguez, Tito Allen and Gilberto Santa Rosa.

In 1978 he had to leave La Sonora Ponceña because of differences with singer Yolandita Rivera.

This motivated him to have outstanding participation in the orchestras of Tito Puente and Bobby Valentín (with whom he produced the song “Moreno soy”).

He also had a fleeting involvement in the record label Fania. It should be noted that he has always being one of the first salseros to qualify his verses with jocular and catchphrases.

In 1979 he launched solo and his best-known songs include “¿Quién trabajará?”, “Adiós don Gabino”, “Reina Negra”, “El llanto de las Flores” and “Tema de una Flor”, from the albums El Negrito del Sabor, El Caballero, Betún Negro and Sabroso.

Over the years, he made fleeting comebacks with La Sonora Ponceña, as part of the celebrations for its 40th and 45th anniversaries.

Luigi developed a very particular style for his soneos, highlighted by his fun style. With almost six decades of musical life, Texidor has forged a special place in the hearts of salseros. In the city of Medellín, lovers of good salsa have enjoyed the visit of the singer from the town of Santa Isabel on several occasions, the great Luis Guillermo Texidor Ortíz, “thank you, maestro, for all his music. This is a well-deserved tribute to one of the great Puerto Rican singers in our music”.

Luis Guillermo Texidor Ortiz, better known as Luigi Texidor

Today, very close to reaching the age of 80, he maintains good health. By his own admission, it is known that he does not smoke or try other substances harmful to his health.

Photo by Facebook: Luigi Texidor

Source: Frank Manuel Orellana Rosas

Article of Interest: Yolanda Rivera The Lady of Salsa and the Sonera of Ponce