THE BAND: a discussion with members of
the Tito Puente Orquestra

Tito Puente, Machito, Tito Rodriquez, Johnny Pacheco, Orquesta Harlow, Tipica '73--these are just some of the bands that members of Tito Puente's Orquestra have played with in their careers. On May 12-18, "El Rey" and company christened Yoshi's new digs in Oakland's Jack London Square where the cities of Oakland and San Francisco declared May 14 'Tito Puente Day'. Looking up at the stage as the band performed, in addition to Tito Puente himself,the history of the NYC salsa and Latin jazz scenes radiated accross the audience: Johnny Rodriquez, Mario Rivera, José Madera, Sonny Bravo, Bobby Rodriguez, Reynaldo Jorge, Bobby Porccelli and Louis Kahn--all of them veterans of the bands that launched the NY music scene known today as Salsa. Ray Vega, Mitch Fromen, Yolanda Duke and Joe Walsh shined with their well-honed chops as well.

When not performing or touring, some members have turned to music education. Hailing from Puerto Rico, with an MA in music education, Reynaldo Jorge began playing with the Fania All Stars in the 70's and has played with the top Latin bands ever since. Reynaldo plays with a big band that is made up of Jazz educators and has applied for an Arts Council grant to be an Artist in Residence at the new NJ Perfoming Arts Center. José Madera, who says he's been with Tito Puente for "too long!" [23 years], Johnny Rodriquez, [34 years], and Ray Vega [4 years] all teach at Boy's Harbor, a privately funded Jr. High School for the Performing Arts in NYC. At Boy's Harbor, the students take workshops and the old music style is taught and preserved. Like their students, José and Johnny have both played since they were young. José's father, José "Pin" Madera, was one of the first arrangers for Machito and worked with them for over 14 years. "Without question [Machito], the best Latin band of all time", says José. At the age of 5, Johnny Rodriguez started playing percussion, also influenced by his father.



José Madera and Johnny Rodriquez

I met with a few of these infamous musicians whose names grace one album cover or CD liner after the other for an afternoon interview. During the course of the day, Mario Rivera, flute and sax player, stopped by. He was one of the first musicians out of the Dominican Republic to enter the Latin music scene. He arrived in NYC in 1961 and began playing with Tito Rodriquez, Machito and Tipica '73, to name only a few. Rivera is one of the original members of Tito Puente's band, and has been with them since 1979. Other band members stopped by as well, to say hello, stay, or leave; Tito himself walked by, waved and then walked on. Conversation turned to the music scene most of them had come out of in NYC. As Johnny Rodriguez (percussion) explained, in the late 60's and 70's, the Fania label recorded everybody. When a winning combination of people was found, the label went with that and studio work was abundant. José Madera (percussion) mentioned that the music recorded today "can't hold a shine" to the music recorded from 1972 to 1983/84. "Whether it was us playing, arranging, or writing the music, today's [music] doesn't hold up." Johnny's feeling was that something had been lost since that era. "During the 70's, we were watching, and picking up stuff from the musicians of the 50's and 60's--Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodrquez, who were great. We grew up with their music, and used to hear the bands when they were at their peek. That seems lost today. Now, there is no one to see that inspires you to write or play. Record companies have now stepped in and brainwashed people, having radio stations plug who they want. The music is not much to listen to. The Latin music scene we knew in NYC has disappeared. Where there were once 15-20 clubs, now there are 6-7, and only 2-3 are any good." "You used to have to choose where to go on any given night. Unfortunately, the music [today] is completely inferior," José added, "No comparison. It is crap. They make hits out of songs we wouldn't think twice about."

Johnny added that there are a few Cuban groups coming out with good music, but they too, he felt, have lost a lot of the drive the old Cuban groups had. "Tata Guines is one of those inspiring musicians I'm talking about. He is one we used to watch. It is great to see and hear him [Tata Guines] again. We had the Cuban music as a foundation to build on. Today's music doesn't have any foundation. There doesn't seem to be any respect for that music, or what we did. Some of these young musicians have never even heard the music we played, or the music that proceeded and influenced us.

What has helped us to survive is that the Latin jazz scene came along, and we took another avenue, and have been able to maintain working and recording ever since. We can't really compete with the young kids on the Salsa scene. In NY, it [Latin jazz] is really the only Latin venue There used to be only a few Latin jazz bands; Cal Tjader, Willie Bobo, Mongo Santa Maria. Now, there are a lot of bands."

"The first Latin jazz concert in NYC was in January 1948," related José. "It featured Machito, among others. That same show will be recreated in Jan. of 1998, for the 50th anniversary of Latin Jazz here in NYC. Since a lot of the [written] music doesn't exist, I end up writing and transcribing because I know how the music was played and what it sounded like. At Boy's Harbor, where I teach, we run weekly workshops, and use the music of Machito, and some of Tito's [Puente]. We have access to musical charts that no one else has. I've become a good transcriber and whatever we don't have, I'll get real close to the sound of what was once played. Tito [Puente] gives us some older charts, as does Machito's son. The school has quite a library of over 300 tunes. All this is played in a Monday night workshop, with a select group of musicians that are preserving the old music. This group backed up the show 'Oh, So Many Stars: a Tribute to the Sidemen of the Palladium' last Dec. in NYC."

José and Johnny explained how Tito Puente's orginzation used to be made up of a big band, a small ensemble, and a small band. Eventually, it was made into one big band. "If we were called to play dance music, we had the guys to cover that, especially once we added a female vocalist (Yolanda Duke for the past few years). Before, we would go to a jazz gig, and people who had followed Tito's music, expected to hear the old Mambo music, and we couldn't play it because we had no vocalist. Now, we can play anything. Of course, it costs more money, with a 14 piece band, for touring and all."

Yes, it might be expensive, but what a tremendous sound: 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 3 saxaphones, flute, timbales, conga, bongo, keyboard, vibes and vocals. I thanked everyone for their time. January 1998 is not so away. I would suggest making flight plans now if you want to catch the 50th Anniverasry celebration of Latin Jazz in NYC!






Interview &photo © 1997 by Julia Sewell