Salsa celebrates five decades of the movement started by Dominican Johnny Pacheco, who together with his partner, the American businessman Jerry Masucci, and musicians of the stature of Bobby Valentín, Larry Harlow, Ray Barreto, among others, managed the movement they called “The Sound of New York.”
This group would give way to the formation of the orchestra that would represent him from then on: “Las Estrellas de Fania”.
The origin dates back to the creation of the record label that was born in 1964 as Fania Records, founded in New York City by Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci. The record company took its name from an old Cuban song sung by Reinaldo Bolaño.
The call for the “The Sound of New York” movement had the particularity of being a gathering only with musicians clearly signed by the Fania Records label.
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As early as 1968, these stars had come together for a purely jazz concert with guest musicians and singers from other companies.
The real meeting with the formation of this extraordinary orchestra began on Thursday, August 26, 1971 with the documentary film “Our Latin Thing”, directed by Leon Gast about the flourishing Latin music scene in New York, and which ratified the official use of the commercial and marketing name on August 24, 1973, when the second meeting of these stars was filmed at the legendary Yankee Stadium entitled “Salsa”.
The structure of the orchestra was formed with the presence of 7 orchestra conductors, 7 singers and the main musicians who made up these orchestras purely from the record label.
The rhythm was composed as follows: on the piano, Larry Harlow and as a guest Richie Ray; on the bass, Bobby Valentín; on the congas, Ray Barreto and his timbalero Orestes Vilató; on the bongo and the bell, Roberto Roena, and on the cuatro, Yomo Toro.
In that same order, the brass was composed of three trumpets and three trombones, excluding the saxophones in their four forms: baritone, tenor, alto and soprano, because of the soft sound of these instruments, and they wanted a strident, hoarse and irreverent sound from those instruments.
Roberto Rodríguez, Héctor “Bomberito” Zarzuela and Larry Spencer, first, second and third trumpets, to close with Barry Rogers, Reynaldo Jorge and Willie Colón, first, second and third trombone.
The violin was by Pupy Legarreta, with musical direction by Johnny Pacheco, and executive direction by Jerry Masucci,
The voices
The singers were: Pete “Conde” Rodríguez, Héctor Lavoe, Ismael Miranda, Adalberto Santiago, Bobby Cruz, Cheo Feliciano and Santitos Colón and others who joined later, such as Celia Cruz and Ismael Quintana.
The presenters who performed the presentation were: Symphony Cid, Polito Vega, Aníbal Vázquez and Izzy Sanabria “Míster Salsa”. Most of the members of this great orchestra have already passed away, although several are still alive.
Among those who left were Larry Harlow on piano, Salvador Cuevas on bass, Ray Barreto on congas, Tito Puente on timbal, Roberto Roena on bongo and bell, and Yomo Toro on cuatro.
Likewise, the brass band, the three trumpets, died: Roberto Rodríguez, Héctor “Bomberito” Zarzuela, and Larry Spencer. On the trombones, Barry Rogers, Leopoldo Pineda and Toñito Vázquez, all under the musical direction of Johnny Pacheco, who passed away on February 15, 2021.
In addition, the deceased singers are Celia Cruz, Pete “Conde” Rodriguez, Cheo Feliciano, Hector Lavoe, Ismael Quintana and Santitos Colon.
Of that great group that started the Fania Stars, Ismael Miranda, Bobby Cruz, Adalberto Santiago and Rubén Blades are still alive.
Likewise, musicians Richie Ray, Papo Lucca, Bobby Valentín, Eddie Montalvo, Nicky Marrero, Reynaldo Jorge and Willie Colón, among others who the world of salsa reveres.
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