One of the most talented salsa pianists to have ever recorded was the multi-talented Mark Alexander Dimond, better known as Markolino as he was baptized by his fellow musicians. Salsa music authorities Venezuelan César Miguel Rondon and John Storm Roberts once described Markolino as a virtuoso and one of the finest younger generation pianists in salsa.

Markolino was a natural when it came to music and was mostly self-taught, he had the ability listen to a record once or play a music chart once at rehearsal and he knew the tune forever. As an avid Eddie Palmieri devotee, Markolino had developed his own style that was a cross between typical Cuban and progressive jazz.

In the 60’s Markolino played piano for the band of Willie Colón, who tried hard in those days to capture the magic of Eddie Palmieri’s la Perfecta. The trombone-oriented band of Willie Colón proved to be perfect for Markolino’s style of playing. He also had written songs for Willie Colón’s albums, The Hustler and Guisando (Doing A Job) (on Fania).

Markolino started his own Band named “Conjunto Sabor” in the late 60’s, and in 1971 he made his debut as at he band leader of this outfit with the album entitled Brujería (released on the Vaya Records label, one of the many subsidiaries of Fania Records). Brujería was produced by Harvey Averne, Larry Harlow & Johnny Pacheco and is highly regarded by critics and considered an undisputed classic on all counts.
Markolino had written all the music, lyrics and arrangements for Brujería, and the album was a showcase for his piano playing.

On the album the unique, and soon to become legendary, sonero Angel Canales was introduced to the salsa scene. With this album the couple had created high expectations which, unfortunately, would never be fulfilled as they would never record together again.

After the relase of Brujería Markolino played off and on with Orquesta Dicupé in 1972 and would only record on a few albums for other artists; Ismael Quintana (on Vaya) in 1974, and Héctor Lavoe’s La Voz (on Fania) in 1975. On both these albums Markolino performed astonishing piano solos on tracks like Ismael’s Mi Debilidad and Hector’s Rompe Saragüey.

1975 was the year that Markolino walked away from his Conjunto Sabor. As a teenager Markolino had already developed a drug habit, and while was playing with Willie Colón he already was shooting up heroin. The devastating effect of drug use took a big toll on some of most creative artists of that era and, unfortunately, this would also be the case for Markolino. The drug use began to affect his performances, he had become irresponsible, untrustworthy with money and possessions, and he had begun to show up late or not at all for some shows and rehearsals. Only because of his musical greatness, (Mark is said to have “out-Palmieried” his idol and major influence, Eddie Palmieri), many band leaders still used him and put up with his behavior.

After Mark’s departure, Angel Canales took over Conjunto Sabor, (re-named it, simply, Sabor) and the Album Brujería was reissued in 1977, under the title of Mas Sabor, under Canales name, to cash in on his popularity at the time. Unfortunately, apart from Markolino’s composer credits, this reissue deleted the original personnel credits and liner notes. (in 2006 Brujería was finally re-reissued as a Limited Edition with it’s original title, credits and liners, by Emusica.

After leaving Conjunto Sabor, Markolino went on to record his masterpiece, the album entitled Beethoven’s V. For this album Markolino teamed up with Frankie Dante, who was born on September 15, 1945 in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) as Lenin Francisco Domingo Cerda.

Frankie began his music career in 1968, when he was signed to a recording contract by the Cotique Records producers George Goldner and Stan Lewis. Frankie was a big fan of Fania artist Johnny Pacheco, and also was heavily influenced by the sound of the heavy trombone inspired arrangements of Eddie Palmieri’s La Perfecta.

Ismael Quintana was Frankie’s favorite sonero, and he tried to imitate Ismael in his way of singing, the dance moves, even the way Ismael played the Maracas. Frankie was not considered a great sonero by many, but he possessed a unique approach with his nasal style of singing and his ability to create interesting and compelling improvisations often mixed with a healthy dose of humor. Dante was one of the most colorful and talented individuals in the music industry and his bohemian behavior endeared him to countless fans that followed his Orchestra Flamboyan whenever they performed.

Along with Ernie Agosto y la Conspiracion and a few other bands, Frankie Dante and The Flamboyan made up the underground New York salsa in the seventies and were considered as rebel spirits in the ‘hood. Visionary of his time, Frankie’s approach to his music can really be appreciated when listening to any of his compositions; songs that tell a story or deliver an important message. An avid protester of war, Frankie used his music for social protest, for example, in the song Paz, which appeared on the album Different Directions in which he criticizes the war in Vietnam and calls for world peace.

Although Beethoven’s V is listed as a Dimond/Dante album, vocalist Chivirico Dávila is being credited on the Album jacket cover as guest singer. Chivirico Dávila (real name Rafael Dávila Rosario), was born on the 2nd of August 1924 in Villa Palmeras, Santurce, Puerto Rico. Chivirico was especially respected as one of the best singers of the Antillean bolero but also was one of the few singers who survived the transition from the era of the mambo to the sound of Salsa from New York.

Chivirico had a beautiful timbre in his voice and could improvise better than most other soneros, and before he was signed to record as a soloist for Cotique Records, he already stood out as a composer and singer with the orchestras of Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Orlando Marin, Richie Ray, Joey Pastrana, Francisco “Kako” Bastar and the Joe ‘El Magnifico’ Cotto Orquesta, to name just a few. Chivirico signed with the Cotique label and recorded a number of excellent albums for this label, including the self titled album Chivirico, which was produced by Johnny Pacheco and arranged by the pianist Jorge Millet in 1973. This album opened up the door for Chivirico being admitted in singing with the Fania All Stars in 1975, the same year of the recording of Beethoven’s V.

Beethoven’s V was produced by Larry Harlow and recorded in two sessions with different musicians, most of them from Harlow’s Orchestra Harlow. In the liner notes of the Fania Codigo release, Aaron Levinson closes with the following words: “It’s a shame that Markolino and Frankie did not make more records, but it also makes albums like Beethoven’s V seem all the more magical because of their rarity. In a style that was dominated by Puerto Ricans and Cubans, this pairing of a Dominican singer and an African American pianist serves as a poignant reminder of the universal and timeless magnetism of salsa music and the dizzying complexity and richness of New York City as an incubator for it’s global flowering.”

Actually we can add another interesting detail here; besides Reinardo Jorge, the whole horn section consist of non-Latino musicians, which serves as another reminder of the diversity that existed in the salsa music scene of that era.

Markolino wrote seven of the album’s jazzy arrangements, the eighth track Yo No Tengo Amigo, was arranged by Marty Sheller. Markolino also composed five of the eight songs, two other tracks Los Rumberos and Yo No Tengo Amigo are Cuban classics (for legal reasons, the names of Cuban composers on salsa albums from the 1970s were not listed and instead always simply given credit to as D.R. – Derechos Reservados, meaning All Rights Reserved). The remaining track, Por Que Adoré, is a composition by the legendary Puerto Rican composer Tite Curet Alonso (it is estimated that Curet, who was largely self-taught, might have written as many as 2,000 songs in a career that spanned nearly 40 years).

Both Frankie Dante and Chivirico take turns as lead vocalist/coristo and are backed by Yayo el Indio, Pete “Conde” Rodriguez and Ismael Quintana, truly a dream team for the call-and-response between the two soneros and the coro. Beethoven’s V brought forward a few tracks that became all time favorites with the hard core dancers: Sabrosón and Los Rumberos (which also later appeared on The legendary Frankie Dante and his Orquesta Flamboyán 1978 compilation album Best Foot Forward, the Tite Curet Alonso composition Por Que Adoré, almost became like an object of cult for Latin music lovers.

The album has the Markolino’s signature piano work all over it; the super talented pianist lays down some driving montunos and shows that he was truly one of the most creative artists of that era when he performs his amazing solos. In spirit of another great bandleader, Tito Rodriguez, Markolino also gives plenty of room to the other musicians to shine with their solos. Besides the great Timbale solos on some of the tracks I personally really like the way timbale players, Nicky Marrero and Mike Collazo, are driving the band while playing cáscara (the Spanish word for “shell” and also is the name of the rhythmic pattern common in salsa music that is played on the sides (shells) of the timbales to keep time. Back in the day, timbale players sometimes played cáscaras the entire length of the song, something that is relatively uncommon nowadays in many salsa bands, mainly due to the influence of Salsa Romantica …when some of the percussion instruments were pushed to the background, the claves being another one of those instruments.

The hight pitch sound of the cáscaras is evident on most tracks on the album and really gives it a nice driving swing that blends perfectly with the rhythm patterns and solos of the conguero and bongocero. The interaction between Markolino and bassist Eddie “Gua Gua” Rivera is just mind-blowing; these two amazing musicians truly complement each other skills on this album. This interaction between the two is especially evident on the title track El Quinto De Beethoven, the ultimate descarga with an incredibly tight horn section and blazing percussion, with Markolino playing the montuno vamp with one hand and soloing with the other. Eddie “Guagua” truly lives up to his name with his bass work that just keeps coming at you like a bus without brakes. All you can do is listen in amazement.

While the coro sings (or is it blares?) Markolino, toca con corazone, I think, in fact, the entire band must have put all of their hearts and souls into this joint! These guys were jammin’ right here! The track is too fast to dance to, so I’m not spinning it in my gigs, but just to listen to it really gives me goose bumps, makes my neck hair stand up straight and gives me ear-gasms! For me this track alone embodies how salsa really should sound, and, no disrespect meant, but this track also proves how incredible bland, shallow, empty, predictable and identical most mainstream salsa songs sound nowadays.

This is essential Salsa History, class is in session; Beethoven’s V

You can download it right here on ElWatusi

Musicians:

Mark Dimond, Piano
Nicky Marrero, Bongos (2,4,5,7)
Pablo “El Indio” Rosario, Bongos (1,3,6,8)
Frank Malabe, Conga
Mike Collazo, Timbales (2,4,5,7)
Nicky Marrero, Timbales (1,3,6,8)
Eddie “Guagua” Rivera, Bass
Lewis Kahn, Trombone
Reinardo Jorge, Trombone (2,4,5,7)
Barry Rogers, Trombone (1,3,6,8)
Randy Brecker, Trumpet (2,4,5,7)
Lou Soloff, Trumpet (1,3,6,8)
Junior Vazquez, Maracas
Yayo el Indio, Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, Ismael Quintana, Coro
Frankie Dante, Lead Vocals
Chivirico Davila, Lead Vocals (1,3,6,8)

Tracklist:

01. Sabrosón
02. Los Rumberos
03. Ahora Si
04. El Quinto De Beethoven
05. Maraquero
06. Yo No Tengo Amigo
07. Camarones
08. Por Que Adoré

In 1975 Markolino also recorded the disappointing Rock/R&B project, entitled The Alexander review, which received very poor reviews. After the failure of The Alexander Review, Markolino relocated to Florida and only sessioned on a few albums in 1976; Andy Harlow’s Latin Fever (on Vaya) and on Los Salseros De Acero by Frankie Dante & His Orquesta Flamboyán (on Cotique) before vanishing from the music scene. He resurfaced only briefly, in 1985, to record on Andy and Larry Harlow’s album, Salsa Brothers: The Miami Sessions, which was released in 1988. Unfortunately 6 month after the release of this album Markolino died of causes related to his drug addiction

Markolino Dimond Discography (as solo artist)
Brujería (1971) on Vaya
Beethoven’s V: Markolino Dimond Con Frankie Dante (1975) on Cotique
The Alexander Review (1975) on Vaya

Frankie Dante and Flamboyan recorded a few other albums on Cotique that are still appreciated by listeners, dancers and aficionados of salsa dura all over the world today.
Frankie died in New York at the age of 48 on March 1 1993 after a long bout with cancer.

Frankie Dante Discografia (all albums on the Cotique label):
Los Coquetones Orquesta Flamboyan – (1968)
Different Directions Orquesta Flamboyan (1969)
Se Viste De Gala Frankie Dante Y Su Orquesta (1970)
Orquesta Flamboyan Con Larry Harlow (1972)
Beethoven’s V Markolino Dimond Con Frankie Dante – (1975)
Los Salseros De Acero Frankie Dante & His Orquesta Flamboyán (1976)
Frankie “Be Bop” Dante The Flamboyán All Star Band (1977)
Best Foot Forward Frankie Dante & His Orquesta Flamboyán (1978)
Frankie Dante Y Los Rebeldes (1979)

The popularity of Chivirico Dávila was prolonged until approximately 1977, but unfortunately he got left behind in the international success of the Fania All Stars.
Although Chivirico also recorded with the Alegre All-Stars and Joe Cuba (on the album Pirata de l Mar) in the 70’s, Guarare (Onda Tipica in 1981)) and in the 90’s with the Puerto Rican All-Stars, the last years of his live he made a living working in a factory. Just as the restart of his career as singer was in the making (in 1993 he went on tour to Colombia with Orlando Marin’s four trumpet conjunto), Chivirico died in the Bronx, New York, on October 5, 1994, of a heart attack while watching television.

Chivirico Davila discography as solo artist. (all albums on the Cotique label):
Chivirico (1971
Chivirico… de nuevo (1972)
Chivirico (1973)
Vendré por ti (1974)
Desde ayer (1975)
Chivirico para mi gente (1976)
Brillando alegría (1977)
Nuevos conceptos (1978)
Exitos de Chivirico Dávila Con La Orquesta De Joe Cotto on Salsa International

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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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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