Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! #fania #hispanicheritagemonth #latinx

The Fania All-Stars, circa mid-1970’s. Courtesy of the Fania/E-Musica archives.

Welcome to our second hour of amazing music from the classic Fania archives. For those of you who missed the first program, you can link to it here. Additionally, based upon the numerous requests I received about the first program, I am including the historical bio information I research with each show below this section for both programs.

“Salsa is not a rhythm, it’s a concept.”Willie Colon

First Part

* Saona, Manuel Sanchez Acosta* Te Estan Buscando, Rubén Blades* Rat Race, Ralfi Pagán* Amor Y Tentacion, Sophy* Acere Bonco, Típica ´73* Lamento De Concepción, Tite Curet Alonso

Second Part

* Rush Hour In Hong Kong, Louie Ramírez* Volar A Puerto Rico, Willie Colón* Times Are Changing, Jimmy Sabater* Las Caras Lindas, Ismael Rivera

Finale

* Soy Guajiro, Fania All-Stars (live in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1973)* Quimbara, Celia Cruz & the Fania All Stars (live in Zaire, Africa, 1974)

Ben “Bear” Brown Jr., ownerHost, Producer, Audio Engineer and Writer

Artist/Song Info First Hour

PART ONE 

Black Brothers, Tito Puente

Known often by his nickname, El Rey, or “The King, Puente was born in Spanish Harlem in New York, the son of native Puerto Ricans. A WW2 Navy veteran, he used his GI Bill to enroll in Juilliard. An expert percussionist, he was instrumental in bringing Latin music stateside in the 1950’s. His most famous composition is the song “One Como Va”, which was popularized by Santana in 1970.

Lluvia Con Nieve, Efrain “Mon” Rivera

There are actually two different men named Mon Rivera: Efrain, who is the more well known of the two, and his father, who was a janitor and songwriter in the plena genre, a Puerto Rican style of dance music. The younger Rivera, Efrain, who, in a send, have two careers: one in the 1950’s and 60’s as a bandleader on New York City, and a. huge career resurgence in the mid 1970’s on Fania after being rediscovered by bandleader Willie Colon.

The Bottle (La Botella), Joe Bataan

Still with us to this day, and still living in New Work City, his birthplace, he was a member of a street gang in his youth and did time for grand theft auto. Upon his release from prison, Bataan decided to get his act together and started the first of many ensembles he would front. This song is a cover of a track by spoken-word/freeform jazz artist Gil Scott-Heron.

The Oracle, Sabu Martinez

Blending and blurring the lines between Latin Salsa and Jazz music, Martinez actually played with some of the biggest and best known Jazz artists of the mid-20th century, including Dizzy Gillespie, Carlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton and countless others. Over a period of 16 years, he ended up recording 4 albums of material as bandleader. 

Estoy Buscando A Kako, Charlie Palmieri

A self-taught pianist, Palmieri was considered the master of his chosen instrument in the Salsa genre. Prior to his recording for Fania, he often found steady work playing in larger ensembles and as a sideman for other artists. Some of these recordings are with Herbie Mann, and both men were signed to Atlantic Records, a label that was hitting its stride with Soul J...