Last year the Bill Graham Civic Center was a great location for the Salsa night of the San Francisco Jazz Festival, and this year was no different. There is a great sound system, plenty of seating above, and a big floor for dancing below. The show was called 'Fiesta Boricua.'

First up were John Santos and the Machete Ensemble, the Bay Area's premier Latin Jazz band, who were fronted for this show by singer Ramon Esteves, who often works with Eric Rangel's Orquesta América. Machete's soloists were uncompromising in their expression. The horns--Wayne Wallace, Melecio Magdaluyo and Ron Stallings--hung together as well with swing and style. This band is a direct descendent of the music made by Charlie Parker with the Machito band in the late 1940s, and could be referred to, as that was, as Afro-Cubop.

Before the Gran Combo came on, the announcer said "They are known as the University of Salsa--and class is in session!" As indeed it was. This 13-piece band took the Civic by storm, natty in their uniforms, happy in their affect, perfect in their movements, glorious in their sound. They opened their set with two new songs, and they tore it up! The singers--Charlie Aponte, Jerry Rivas Diaz and Luis Rosario--pulled their microphone stands around and back and forth and then up to their mouths just in time to sing the inspiraciones and coro before letting loose again all over the stage. It was total excitement. The Gran Combo spent most of the set moving through versions of songs from the repertoire they have built up after thirty-three years together--Brujería, Azuquita pa'l Cafe, No Hago Más Na, etc. Finally they closed the set with Timbalero, and Domingo Santos León soloed on the timbales to bring the house down. The band was impeccable, and I can't wait for them to release a new album (it's been almost three years) and come back to the Bay Area.

The show's headliner, Marc Anthony, is a phenomenon in Salsa. I saw him about five years ago when he played Alberto's Night Club in Mountain View, before he was launched into super-stardom. He impressed me then as a hippie troubadour, in jeans and at that time with hair down to the middle of his back, who could nonetheless lead a great straight ahead band. And what a band he has these days! They were absolutely professional--the horns were a powerhouse and the rhythm section was incredibly strong. Jimmy Bosch on first trombone and Bobby Allende on timbales stood out--these brothers are bad! Anthony is not a strong man physically, not a great dancer, but he has an aura of spiritual strength which his fans adore. 'Angst' is a word that describes his persona well. Just look at the intensely moody photos accompanying the recent CD Contra el Corriente! It seemed to overwhelm Anthony that his fans were so many and so ecstatic. After hitting the stage, he just looked out at the crowd, shook his head, and mouthed the words 'Oh my God.' A young man came on stage early in the show to touch Anthony, who tried to get away, then sympathetically tried to approach the man, then tried to get away again as the stage crew struggled to control the situation, finally hustling the man off and unceremoniously flinging him five feet off the side of the stage onto the concrete. Later Anthony’s men had trouble controlling a steady flow of ladies wanting to come up for a hug. Anthony got a sore neck towards the end of the show (a lady near me in the front yelled 'Come home with me, baby, I'll rub it out for you!') which could have been a symptom of his difficulty playing leader of one of the world's most popular Salsa bands. It is, paradoxically, his angst which makes Anthony so appealing. He struggles with life and shares his struggle with us. He is a man who looks inside for his truth, turns it into art, and presents it to us in a appealing way. And he is a man who makes truly great dance music.

Photos © 1998 by Peter Maiden