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Orlando Marín is a band leader and timbales player and a contemporary of Tito Puente, Machito, Tito Rodríguez, and other New York mambo-era icons. Marín was born of Puerto Rican descent in the Bronx, New York in 1935 and he has been a part of New York’s Latin music scene since his mid-teens. At the time that the Mambo was exploding in the early 50s, Orlando was already captivated by its rhythms and he acquired a love of music and developed a keen interest in Latin percussion.
At age 16, while preparing for a career as a cartoon illustrator at New York’s prestigious High School of Industrial Arts, he formed a small band with Chikie Pérez (who later would play for years in Tito Puente’s orchestra), Luis Goicochea, (who would play for many years with Tito Rodríguez), David Pérez, Larry Acevedo, Luis Robles and Clod Eve. The band also had a 15-year-old Joe Quijano on vocals and 14-year-old Eddie Palmieri on piano, both of whom were destined to become Latin music greats in their own right. The band quickly evolved into orchestra with 4 trumpets in the line up, and it was the first of the Bronx-born Latin dance ensembles to achieve solid commercial success, appearing in dance venues all over New York City.
By the age of eighteen, Marín was leading his own orchestra and playing dance venues like the Palladium Ballroom, the Tropicana, Stardust, and the Bronx’s renowned Hunts Point Palace. At a time when competition was strong and the top Latin bandleaders all battled for the title “Mambo King,” Marín built a reputation for having one of the tightest dance bands in the city.
In 1954 Orlando recorded his first 78 with his first composition, “Mi Mambo” on the Plus label, produced by Richard Marín.
His first big record deal, however, came in 1956 with Fiesta Records, where he recorded two (shared) albums: “Arriba Cha-Cha-Cha” (with the Orchestras of Monchito, Orlando Marin and Ramon Marquez) and, and “Lets Go Latin” (with the Orchestras of Ramon Marquez, Orlando Marin & Chico Sesma).
In 1958 Orlando’s musical career came to a hold when he was drafted to serve in Korea as part of the U.N. occupation forces in Korea’s DMZ. While in Korea, Orlando entered the All-Army Talent Competition, winning First Prize in the Pacific Command, after which a musical tour of Korea and Japan followed, ending with a trip to Washington, DC for the finals and a performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. While being stationed in California, Orlando sat in for Tito Puente on timbales at the Hollywood Palladium. Several years later, Orlando would appear with Tito again at the Hollywood Palladium, this time each leading his own orchestra, and dueling on timbales.
Following military service, Orlando returned to New York in 1960 and reorganized his orchestra with many of his previous members and began playing again in the Palladium Ballroom and and Hunts Point Palace, as well as in many other popular New York dance venues, such as the Limbo Lounge, the Bayside Manor and the Hotel Taft. Orlando’s Orchestra soon gained the attention of producer, arranger, composer and bandleader Al Santiago. Santiago, who previously worked for his uncle, the musician Bartolo Alvarez, (who owned the famous Casa Latina Record Shop in East Harlem) was also the owner of the “CasAlegre ‘55″ record store (then located on Prospect Avenue and Westchester in the Bronx).
In 1956 Al Santiago expanded his business when he went into partnership ‘56 with clothing businessman Ben Perlman and founded the Alegre records label. Just as the “Blue Note” records label was for Jazz, the Alegre Records Label instantly became synonymous with the New York Latin music sound and was unrivaled until the Fania Records label was established.
Santiago produced 49 albums on Alegre and some of its recordings include Pacheco y su Charanga, Charanga at the Caravana (by Charlie Palmieri’s Charanga ‘La Duboney’), debut albums by Kako and Willie Rosario, and the first three recordings of Eddie Palmieri’s La Perfecta.
Santiago wanted Orlando to record for him but Orlando had no lead singer at the time as Víctor Velásquez had just left his orchestra to sing again with Charlie Palmieri’s Band. At the moment that Orlando walked in at CasAlegre to tell Al that he could not record an album yet, luck would have it that Rafael ‘Chivirico’ Dávila was present in the store as well. Unlike the mega-music stores of today, CasAlegre and other neighborhoods music stores were gathering places for local and visiting musicians. Chivirico had just come to New York after leaving the Pérez Prado Orchestra where he had substituted for Beny “el Barbaro del Ritmo” Moré, (who had quit and went back to Cuba to form his own band). Santiago therefore hooked Orlando up with Chivirico and the cooperation between the two proved to be a magical one as they really hit it off together.
In 1961 Orlando and his Orchestra were regulars at the Alhambra club, the Triton after-hours club (where Johnny Pacheco improvised the “Bronx hop”, a step that became part of the short lived Pachanga dance fad) and the Caravana Club. Just as the Palladium in mid-town Manhattan was known as the home of Mambo, the Bronx’s Caravana Club became known as the home of Pachanga. That same year Alegre Records released the single “La Casa” by Orlando Marín and His Orchestra, one of the earliest Pachanga hits which quickly became a big hit in New York and abroad, particularly in Colombia, where Marín’s music was also very popular. Soon after the success of his first Alegre single, Orlando Marín recorded his first album for Alegre Records, “Se Te Quemó la Casa” (1962), the title track being written after Chivirico had an actual death threatening fire in his apartment and his wife and son barely got out to safety.
In 1964, Orlando Marín and his Orchestra recorded a second album for Alegre, entitled “Que Chévere, Vol. II.” This album consists of a set of short, hard tracks; 7 tracks are under 3 minutes, 3 tracks are over 3 minutes and “Timbalero” is the only one that clocks in over 4 minutes, mainly thanks to a, minute and a half lasting, Wild Timbale solo by Olando Marin.
Four different Latin Rhythms are featured; Mambo, Guaguancó, Son Montuno and Cha Cha Cha, which really gives a good overview of the musical trend of the groundbreaking sounds of the New York Latin scenes. Unfortunately, (and uncharacteristically for Alegre records), instead of crediting all the musicians the album cover jacket only names the four soneros; Willie Torres, Elliot Romero, Chivirico Dávila and Cheo Feliciano. The reason for this was that several of the singers and musicians were “moonlighting” while recording this album; Willie Torres sang with the band of Jose Curbelo and Cheo Feliciano with the Joe Cuba Sextet, while ‘Chivirico’ Dávila sang lead vocals both with Orlando and with Kako y su Combo and Elliot Romero sang with Johnny Pacheco.
These four soneros were some of the best at that time and as they take turn as lead singers from track to track, it provides a lot of variety to the album as a whole and they were backed up by a great Coro made up by Santos Colon, Celia Gonzalez and Yayo El Indio, all of them also great soneros in their own right. The names of the musicians that participated in the recordings, all undocumented until now, were given to me by Orlando Marín himself and are listed below, as well as a listing of the composers and arrangers for each song.
The six Mambo tracks on the album are Orlando Marín’s signature style with a tight rock-solid rhythm section and impeccable instrumentation. The title track “Que Chévere”, with Willie Torres on vocals, has an incredible Swing with bangin cowbells and cascaras (shell of the Timbales) and cymbals work and great solo work by Walter Gene Jefferson on Flute and Jack Hitchcock on Trombone. “El Loco” and “Besitor de Caramelos” both with Chivirico Davila as lead vocalist, and “El Timbalero” with Elliot Romero as lead vocalist,are are up tempo Mambos and Orlando gets to showcase his skills as a percussionist with Bangin’ Timbale solos on the last two tracks. Pastor’s composition “Llegue”, is an instrumental track with has a nice Latin Jazz feel to it and plenty of room for the Bass player, a great Trombone solo by Jack Hitchcock and Sax solo by Walter Gene Jefferson to top it all off. “Meche” is the second instumental track (not counting the Chorus) in which he trumpet parts are replaced by vibes (played by Orlando!) and flute. The track “Quien Llorara”, a swingin Guaguancó with Elliot Romero as lead vocalist, has great percussion work and a Blazin’ Brass section; I absolutely love the break in this song! On the second killer Guaguancó” track “Tiene Saoco” Chivirico Dávila takes lead vocals. Just like the word “Duende” describes a feeling or a flavor in Flameno music, the word “Saoco” is a slang word that you can come across quite often in Salsa music.
Whenever the musicians create that incredible swing or are outdoing themselves soloing (“Cooking the Salsa”), or Soneros are on fire with their improvisations in the coro/pregón (call-and-response relationship between the lead vocal soloist), you’ll hear others shouting terms like “Como,” “Candela” or “Saoco,” meaning something outstanding is taken place right there, and in this case “Saoco tiene ya, Saoco mi Timbal” is it used for Orlando’s Timbale skills and this tune “Tiene Saoco” for sure!
This Banging Son Montuno “Casera Ten Cuida’o” is the only track that has Cheo Feliciano as lead vocalist. The track has a great strong groove but is unfortunately faded out right in the middle of the response of Sonero and Coro at a time way too short; at 2.30 it already begin to fade before ending 12 seconds later. This is the kind of track that should at least have been doubled in time, especially taking into consideration that the intro of the Orchestra and the Coro already last well over a minute of the song, before Cheo jumps in. Cheo’s signature voice glides effortlessly over the rhythm section in response to the coro and it really makes you want the song to last longer, and I can only imagine what an additional two or three minutes would have done to this incredible cooker!
On the second Son Montuno, entitled, “Que Mujer” Willie Torres is acting as lead vocalist and Paquito Pastor takes a brief, but smooth piano solo. The only Cha-Cha-Cha track “Rico Melao” also has Willie Torres as lead vocalist, and it clearly shows the Jazz influence in Latin music by featuring something that is very common in Vocal Jazz; a scat-oriented vocal soloing.
For the ones that never heard about “scat” singing; it is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.
“Que Chévere, Vol. II” really stands out from the pack of what the New York scene had to offer in the 60’s and the album is regarded by many Latin music aficionados as far ahead of its time, the original vinyl Black label pressing is now a highly sought after collector’s item. It has recently been re-mastered on re-issued on the Codigo label so I advise you to snatch up a copy of the CD, or to download from ElWatusi… I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!
Musicians:
Orlando Marin, Leader, Timbales, Vibes
Francisco “Paquito” Pastor, Piano
Lin Torres, Bass
Izzy Feliu, Bass
Nick Ramos, Conga
Louis “Chickie” Perez, Bongo
Tito “Tito J” Jiménez, Guiro
Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, Trumpet
Basilio Rivera, Trumpet
“El Negro Vivar”, Trumpet
Jack Hitchcock, Trombone
Walter Gene Jefferson, Sax, Flute
Chivirico Dávila, Vocals
Cheo Feliciano, Vocals
Elliot Romero, Vocals
Willie Torres, Vocals
Santos Colon, Coro
Celio Gonzalez, Coro
Yayo El Indio, Coro
Here is the information for the Composers and arrangers that Orlando provided for each different track:
Side A
1. Quien Llorara (Guaguanco)
Composer – Joe Quijano
Arranger – Basilio Rivera
2. Casera Ten Cuida’o (Son Montuno)
Composer- Orlando Marin
Arranger – Hector Rivera
3. El Loco (Mambo)
Composer- “Tito J” Jimenez
Arranger- Basilio Rivera
4. Que Mujer (Son Montuno)
Composer – Orlando Marin
Arranger – Hector Rivera
5. El Timbalero (Mambo)
Composer – Orlando Marin
Arranger – Orlando Marin – Basilio Rivera
Side B
1. Que Chévere (Mambo)
Composer – Orlando Marin
Arranger – Orlando Marin – Basilio Rivera
2. Rico Melao (Cha-Cha-Cha)
Composer – Jorge Mazon
Arranger – Orlando Marin
3. Meche (Mambo)
Composer – Orlando Marin
Arranger – Paquito Pastor
4. Besitos De Caramelos (Mambo)
Composer – Orlando Marin
Arranger – Orlando Marin – Basilio Rivera
5. Tiene Saoco (Guaguanco)
Composer – Chivirico Davila
Arranger – Frank Colon
6. Llegue (Latin Jazz/Mambo)
Composer – Paquito Pastor
Arranger – Paquito Pastor
After recording these two highly successful albums for Alegre Records, Orlando was invited to record with the Alegre All-Stars, performing his famous timbale solo on the moster tune “Manteca”. Orlando then returned to Fiesta Records, for whom he recorded “Está en Algo” (He’s Up To Something), which included the smash hit “Aprende a Querer”. and then recorded a boogaloo album “Out of My Mind” for the Brunswick label.
Orlando continued to break new musical ground with the release of his Latin jazz album “Saxophobia” on the short-lived Mañana Records label (also run by Al Santiago). On “Saxophobia” no use was made of trumpets, but instead featured a unequalled frontline of five saxophones, Charlie Palmieri played piano on half the album and Louie Ramírez wrote half the charts and also composed one track. The recording was hailed as a Latin jazz success, however, NYC Latin music industry politics at the time restricted airplay and undermined its commercial success. The original pressing of this album is also a highly sought after collector’s album and goes for big bucks whenever it pops up on sites like Ebay.
Throughout his performing career Orlando has maintained his roots in New York City, where he has given back to the community as an employment counselor for community-based organizations, including the National Puerto Rican Forum, his extensive employment counseling experience has helped countless job seekers of all ages prepare for the world of work. Believing that music belongs to everyone, Orlando has been spending an increasing proportion of his time bringing his music to those unable to come see him: hospital patients, inmates of correctional facilities, and nursing home residents throughout the New York area.
Although Orlando Marín has not recorded an album since the 1970s, his band continues performs regularly and pays homage to the Mambo Era.
In 1997, on behalf of Orlando’s friends and fellow musicians, renowned Latin music historiographer Max Salazar presented Orlando a plaque at New York’s prestigious club La Maganette in recognition of nearly five decades of uninterrupted contribution to Latin music. Today the Orlando Marín Orchestra remains one of the most active Latin bands on the East Coast. The Orchestra appears regularly at the Tito Puente Restaurant, at many popular New York dance venues and at open-air venues throughout the city, such as the South Street Seaport; Roberto Clemente State Park; Orchard Beach; the Ramon Velez Hunts Point Multi-Service Center; Riverbank Park; and the Battery Park Concerts. In 2006, Congressman Jose E. Serrano, U.S. Representative for New York’s 16th District, honored Orlando Marín as “The Last Mambo King,”
In closing I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to The Last Mambo King himself, for his kindness and willingness to help me in completing the information for this review/recommendation. For me personally it was an encouragement when Orlando expressed his enthusiasm and eagerness to get this info as accurate and complete as possible and even got in touch with his former band members to see what they remembered about the recording sessions and the musicians that appeared on the album “Que Chevere.”
Orlando for me you truly are a (Mambo) King in the sense that, instead of ruling up high from a Throne, you are kind to share with others whom you refer to as as Mi Familia, y por eso; Gracias desde el fondo de mi corazón.
For booking info for the Orlando Marín Orchestra, e-mail contact: lastmamboking(at)gmail.com
You can also find information on www.myspace.com/orlandomarinorchestra
DJ EricB specializes in Old Skool Mambo, Cha-Cha and Guaguanco, and has become been a regular spinning at Salsa/Mambo Socials in the Washington DC Metro area, but also keeps the dance floor hopping at many mainstream Latin venues and Cuban/Timba events.
email: ericb(at)ericb.nl
http://www.ericb.nl
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