LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html Home |Features | Columns |Hit Parades | Rev iews | Calendar |News |LB Style |Contacts | Shopping | E-Back Issues MARCH 2012 ISSUE QUÉ PASA IN LA By Rudy Mangual Chico Álvarez El Indio Caonabo Windows Media Quicktime Bio Ritmo La Muralla Streaming Music Louie Cruz Beltran Paint the Rhythm Windows Media 1 of 21 4/1/2012 12:01 AM LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html Quicktime Cintron Band Live Human Nature Windows Media Quicktime Vanelis Como Lo Extraño Windows Media Quicktime Nayibe Borinquen Windows Media Quicktime Luis González Spain Windows Media Quicktime Rolando Sanchez Vamonos De Fiesta Windows Media Quicktime Steve Pouchie Watch Ur Wallet Windows Media Quicktime On Sunday, February 12, 2012, while the 54th Grammy Awards ceremony was taking place at the Somos Son Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles, numerous musicians representing Latin jazz, rock, Bilongo blues, world and Native American music, aficionados of diverse music genres, and community Windows Media leaders protested against the National Association of Recording Artists’ (NARAS) decision to Quicktime eliminate 31 Grammy music categories from its roster in April, 2011. Among the eliminated categories were: Latin jazz, traditional and contemporary blues, Hawaiian, Mexican Norteña, polka, Native American, R&B, gospel, traditional and contemporary jazz, and Cajun/Zydeco music. The Estrada Brothers The decision was made by Grammy president Neil Portnow and a select small group of top Mr. Ray 2 of 21 4/1/2012 12:01 AM LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html Windows Media executives of NARAS, without consulting any of NARAS’ 21,000 voting members. Quicktime Manny Silvera Bassed in America Windows Media Quicktime Bobby Matos Cuchy Frito Man Windows Media Quicktime 3 of 21 4/1/2012 12:01 AM LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html Chorus "Stop Grammy Attacks on Culture!" "Music Rights is our Fight!" 4 of 21 4/1/2012 12:01 AM LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html "The incredible response to our call for musical justice demonstrates that our movement to reinstate the 31 categories has deep roots, roots that are growing," said Bobby Matos (Latin jazz bandleader and a leader in the "Grammy Watch" movement to reinstate the deleted categories). West Coast Latin jazz musicians from San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco came together in a collective show of strength including John Santos, John Calloway, Bobby Matos, Gary Eisenberg and Sandy Cressman, as well as East Coast representatives Bobby Sanabria and Oscar Hernández. Chorus "Stop Grammy Attacks on Culture!" "Music Rights is our Fight!" 5 of 21 4/1/2012 12:01 AM LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html After the protest, musicians and local fans came together at the popular Mama Juana's nightclub in Studio City to celebrate with a jam session concert. An all-star cast band led by guitarist Ray Carrion was joined by many top players from diverse musical genres on hand to support the protest. The core band included Ileana Rose, Alberto Salas, and Zak Astor (piano), Susie Hansen and Papo Mendez (violin), Conchita Lopez (vocals), Bob Desena and Ruben Estrada (vibes), Joey De Leon, Victor Baez, Ramoncito Ramos, and Robertito Melendez (percussion), Walfredo Reyes (trap drums), Gilberto Torres (flute/vocals), George Lopez and Eliseo Borrero (bass), Gary Eisenberg (trumpet), and Ray Carrion (guitar). Guest players included: Oscar Hernandez and Sergei Kasimoff (piano), John Calloway and Sandy Cressman (flute), Bobby Sanabria (trap drums), John Santos and Bobby Matos (percussion), among many others. Joining the Grammy Watch movement was Presente.org (the largest online Latino advocacy organization in the country). "Presente.org and its thousands of members joined forces with the musicians in order to tell Mr. Portnow and NARAS that they cannot simply render our music irrelevant and think that we will simply stand by and leave the musicians alone," said Arturo Carmona, executive director of Presente.org. On August 1, 2011, four Latin jazz musicians, Bobby Sanabria, Mark Levine, Doctors Benjamin Lapidus and Eugene Marlow, filed a historic class action lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court against NARAS for the elimination of the Latin jazz Grammy category. Latin Beat Magazine Online published an article by Benjamin Lapidus in regards to the lawsuit in the September 2011 online issue (See E-Back Issues on lbmo.com). 6 of 21 4/1/2012 12:01 AM LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html Chorus "Stop Grammy Attacks on Culture!" "Music Rights is our Fight!" Happenings around town… 2 Hombres (featuring Eliseo Borrero on vocals & guitar) Saturday nights at Ortega 120 in Redondo Beach. Call for weekly schedule and reservations (310) 792-4120. Directly from Puerto Rico, salsa singer Michael Stuart performs at The Conga Room on March 1st. Local favorite Chino Espinoza y Los Dueños del Son will be at Steven's Steakhouse in the city of Commerce on March 1st. Susie Hansen Latin Band performs at Michael's Tuscany Room in the city of San Pedro on March 1st, as well as the Fisherman's Village in Marina del Rey on April 1st. The Boogaloo Assassins will be at The Copper Door in downtown Santa Ana on March 16th. Guitar sensations Rodrigo y Gabriela play the Hollywood Palladium on April 7, showcasing their latest concert tour "Cuba," backed by a full Cuban ensemble of players. The group Tiempo Libre and pianist Alfredo Rodriguez will be a part of this year's Ventura Music Festival held May 6, in Ventura, California. The 14th Annual Los Angeles Salsa Congress takes place May 24 through May 27 at the beautiful Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Headlining this year's event are Oscar D'Leon, Luis Enrique, and The New Swing Sextet. For tickets, reservations and more information, visit www.mysalsacongress.com and/or www.atevents.com. The Annual Dia de San Juan Festival is scheduled for June 17 at the Queen Mary Events Park 7 of 21 4/1/2012 12:01 AM LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html in Long Beach, California. Headliners include (directly from Puerto Rico) the group NG2, and singer Choco Orta. Representing Los Angeles will be the groups Tabaco y Ron, and La Bomba Mix, plus Super DJ Robby, and MC Paloma. Support all your local artists, musicians and their venues. Live music rules! Peace. A BITE FROM THE APPLE By Vicki Solá Whiskey Café patrons recently enjoyed dancing to the dynamic sounds of Jerry Hernández & Orquesta Dee Jay on “Latin Sunday”. Impressed to see so many young musicians on stage, I decided to find out more. 8 of 21 4/1/2012 12:01 AM LBMO.com - Latin Beat Magazine - Latin Music Magazine - Columns http://www.latinbeatmagazine.com/columns.html In 2007, puzzled that he didn't hear Orquesta Dee Jay's music on any major radio stations, Hernández- the band's original trombonist-researched the Internet. He found that his orchestra, formed initially in 1968, hadn't been forgotten by record collectors or DJs. In fact, Orquesta Dee Jay remained popular into the mid-seventies, when it featured some of the salsa industry's youngest players. "We performed at the big dances run by Ralph Mercado and Héctor Maisonet, and in all the top New York nightclubs - The Cheetah, The Psycho Room, the Corso, Casa Blanca and the Village Gate, which only presented headliners," recalls Hernández, adding that they even appeared on Miguelito Valdés' TV show. In 1970, the group recorded the LP "Pa'lante Con La Orquesta Dee Jay" (MGM Latino), featuring "Las Malas Lenguas," "La Jara," "Camaguela," and "Yemayá". Its second LP, "Forget It" (released in 1971 by Lenguas Records and reissued on CD format by the label Latinsooul in 2007), including the tracks "Doña Paula," "Buena Suerte," "Yemayá y Obatalá," and "Mi Son". "Our original LPs are now collector's items that go for up to $250," notes Hernández. "Our music is original-created from jam sessions before rehearsals." At the 2007 New York Salsa Congress, Hernández discussed re-releasing "Forget It" through Latinsoul Records and Hardsalsa.com's Andrés Padua. After consulting this matter with Orquesta Dee Jay's original leader George de Jesús, who was unable to devote time to the project, Hernández reformed the orchestra in 2008. "I hadn't played since 1993," stated Hernández. He bought a new trombone and began practicing. Orquesta Dee Jay performed at the 2009 New Jersey Salsa Congress and the 2011 New York Salsa Congress, in addition to the Festival Salsatongs in Marseilles, France. They now boast a worldwide database of over 4,000 followers. "Today's band," says Hernández, "is comprised of a younger generation, as well as a few older members like Willie Serrano and Fernando Rentas, who played in rival bands back in the 1970s, and have been with us since our new beginning. The younger ones were brought up on "salsa romántica"-playing "salsa dura" is new for them." Twenty-two-year-old conguero Noel Otero, Jr. is the youngest. "In the 1990s, his father and I played in a cover-tune band. Junior would cry-he wanted to be on stage with his father, who'd sit him under his timbal. He would want to hold the sticks and bang them on the floor." As school budget cuts decimate music programs, Hernández worries.