Coati Mundi
Encyclopedia
Coati Mundi is the stage name of American musician Andy Hernandez, percussionist
, notably playing the vibraphone
, and member of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
, then of Kid Creole and the Coconuts
. He scored the Top 40 UK hit "Me No Pop I" in 1981, just before the release of Tropical Gangsters
. He produced and arranged an album by "Don Armando
Second Avenue Rhumba Band", which spurred the disco hit song "Deputy of Love".
, New York City
. As a young teenager, the first band he played and recorded with was called Eddie Hernandez & his Orchestra.
, Joe Bataan
, Vernon Reid
, N'Dea Davenport
, Nona Hendryx
, Tito Puente
, Manny Oquendo
& Conjunto Libre, Hall & Oates
and Machito
.
He was known as Sugarcoated Andy while in Dr. Buzzard's band and played vibes, marimba and percussion for them. Credits Stony Browder, August Darnell and Cory Daye of Dr. Buzzard's band as major influences.
In 1979, he helped create along with Adriana Kaegi
the "Kid Creole and The Coconuts" band. Andy was the musical director and arranger for the Coconuts band until his departure in 1989.
Hernandez is a self-taught musician. His main instrument is the vibraphone
but he also plays piano, percussion, flute and is a music arranger
and composer
.
He once said in an interview, "I have never let the lack of talent stop me from doing anything". He cited an example of this regarding the "Gichy Dan and Beachwood 9" record produced by Ron Rogers
and August Darnell. He was being interviewed for the job of arranger-orchestrator by the Head of A&R at RCA records. Asked if he knew how to arrange for strings, he replied without hesitation, "Of course", and convinced them to give him the job. In actuality, he did not know a thing about string arrangements. Immediately after the interview, he bought a book on arranging for strings and woodshedded
day and night. The result was a successful arrangement job; his work was complimented by the great violinist Harry Lookofsky
who served as concertmaster on the date.
In 1983, he released a solo album titled Little Coati Mundi The Former 12 Year Old Genius. Mundi composed, produced and provided the lead vocals. It contained a version of Captain Beefheart
's "Tropical Hot Dog Night" featuring salsa singer Rubén Blades
. The album also featured former Kid Creole & The Coconut singer Lori Eastside.
Hernandez appeared as an actor in the film Who's That Girl starring Madonna
and Griffin Dunne
. He wrote and performed a song for the soundtrack album called: "El Coco Loco". Mundi has acted in several Spike Lee
films, including Mo Better Blues, He Got Game
and Girl 6
. He can also be seen in the film We Own the Night
.
He is credited as one of the music supervisors for the Miramax film 54
and as producer of several of the film's songs. Hernandez has composed music for various films, including Spike of Bensonhurst. He is also the composer and sound designer for a series of educational DVDs for children produced by Karyn Parsons
(Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).
In December 2010 he released a new solo CD Coati Mundi Is Dancing For The Cabana Code In The Land Of Boo-Hoo (Rong Music). The recording has garnished favorable reviews and praises by the New York Times, Time Out magazine, Village Voice and others.
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, notably playing the vibraphone
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, and member of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band was a big band and swing influenced disco band, formed in the Bronx, New York. They are best known for their #1 US dance hit, "Cherchez La Femme"/C'est si bon, from their self-titled debut album....
, then of Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Kid Creole and the Coconuts
Kid Creole and the Coconuts is an American musical group created and led by August Darnell. Its music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, in particular "American and Latin American, South American, Caribbean, Trinidadian, Calloway" and conceptually inspired by the big band era...
. He scored the Top 40 UK hit "Me No Pop I" in 1981, just before the release of Tropical Gangsters
Tropical Gangsters
-Personnel:* Horns, Strings - Carlos Franzetti* Assistant Engineer - Bruce Buchalter, Michael Sauvage* Chief Engineer - Bob Blank, Michael Frondelli* Executive Producer - Michael Zilkha* Lyrics By - August Darnell...
. He produced and arranged an album by "Don Armando
Don Armando
Don Armando Bonilla formed the Second Avenue Rhumba Band with vocalist Fonda Rae and scored a #1 hit on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart with "Deputy of Love" in 1979. Bonilla was also a percussionist with Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band...
Second Avenue Rhumba Band", which spurred the disco hit song "Deputy of Love".
Early life
Hernandez is a first generation Puerto Rican who grew up in Spanish HarlemSpanish Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. As a young teenager, the first band he played and recorded with was called Eddie Hernandez & his Orchestra.
Career
Andy Hernandez has worked with assorted musical groups and artists including Ralfi PaganRalfi Pagan
Ralfi Pagán was a Bronx, New York-based Latin soul and salsa singer of Puerto Rican parentage who was active from the late-1960s until his untimely death in 1978. He specialized in soul ballads sung both in Spanish and English and released five albums during the 1970s...
, Joe Bataan
Joe Bataan
Joe Bataan is a Filipino-African American Latin R&B musician from New York.- Early life and career :...
, Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...
, N'Dea Davenport
N'Dea Davenport
N'Dea Davenport is an American recording artist, dancer, performer and producer, best known for her work as a vocalist in the UK funk band, The Brand New Heavies, and her pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.-Biography:...
, Nona Hendryx
Nona Hendryx
Nona Hendryx is an American vocalist, producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress.Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade." Her music has ranged from soul, funk, dance, and R&B to hard rock, art...
, Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
, Manny Oquendo
Manny Oquendo
Manny Oquendo was an American percussionist. His main instrument was the timbales, and was strongly influenced by Cuban drumming.Oquendo grew up in New York, and began studying percussion in 1945...
& Conjunto Libre, Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."...
and Machito
Machito
Machito , born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music...
.
He was known as Sugarcoated Andy while in Dr. Buzzard's band and played vibes, marimba and percussion for them. Credits Stony Browder, August Darnell and Cory Daye of Dr. Buzzard's band as major influences.
In 1979, he helped create along with Adriana Kaegi
Adriana Kaegi
Adriana Kaegi and at 18 moved to New York City to learn the art of entertainment. She co-founded the band Kid Creole and the Coconuts together with August Darnell and Coati Mundi Adriana Kaegi (born in Switzerland) and at 18 moved to New York City to learn the art of entertainment. She co-founded...
the "Kid Creole and The Coconuts" band. Andy was the musical director and arranger for the Coconuts band until his departure in 1989.
Hernandez is a self-taught musician. His main instrument is the vibraphone
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
but he also plays piano, percussion, flute and is a music arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
He once said in an interview, "I have never let the lack of talent stop me from doing anything". He cited an example of this regarding the "Gichy Dan and Beachwood 9" record produced by Ron Rogers
Ron Rogers
Ronald Bruce Rogers NATIVE New York songwriter, composer, Ze / Island Records recording artist and record producer better known as Ron Rogers, a/k/a Ronnie Rogers, born November 5, 1952, in the Soundview section of the South Bronx, New York, NYC, USA is known for his songs and recordings...
and August Darnell. He was being interviewed for the job of arranger-orchestrator by the Head of A&R at RCA records. Asked if he knew how to arrange for strings, he replied without hesitation, "Of course", and convinced them to give him the job. In actuality, he did not know a thing about string arrangements. Immediately after the interview, he bought a book on arranging for strings and woodshedded
Practice (learning method)
Practice is the act of rehearsing a behavior over and over, or engaging in an activity again and again, for the purpose of improving or mastering it, as in the phrase "practice makes perfect". Sports teams practice to prepare for actual games. Playing a musical instrument well takes a lot of...
day and night. The result was a successful arrangement job; his work was complimented by the great violinist Harry Lookofsky
Harry Lookofsky
Harry Lookofsky was an American jazz violinist. He is also the father of keyboardist-songwriter Michael Brown, a member of The Left Banke.-History:...
who served as concertmaster on the date.
In 1983, he released a solo album titled Little Coati Mundi The Former 12 Year Old Genius. Mundi composed, produced and provided the lead vocals. It contained a version of Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
's "Tropical Hot Dog Night" featuring salsa singer Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres...
. The album also featured former Kid Creole & The Coconut singer Lori Eastside.
Hernandez appeared as an actor in the film Who's That Girl starring Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
and Griffin Dunne
Griffin Dunne
-Personal life:Dunne was born Thomas Griffin Dunne in New York City, New York, the son of Ellen Beatriz Dunne and Dominick Dunne. His mother founded the victims' rights organization Justice for Homicide Victims and his father was a producer, writer, and actor...
. He wrote and performed a song for the soundtrack album called: "El Coco Loco". Mundi has acted in several Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
films, including Mo Better Blues, He Got Game
He Got Game
He Got Game is a 1998 American sports-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington as Jake Shuttlesworth, a prison inmate convicted for killing his wife...
and Girl 6
Girl 6
Girl 6 may refer to:*Girl 6, a 1996 film by Spike Lee*Girl 6 , the soundtrack for the film, composed by Prince*“Girl 6” , the title song for the soundtrack...
. He can also be seen in the film We Own the Night
We Own the Night
We Own the Night is a 2007 American crime drama film written and directed by James Gray and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes and Robert Duvall. It is the third film directed by Gray, and the second film to feature Phoenix and Wahlberg together, the first being The Yards...
.
He is credited as one of the music supervisors for the Miramax film 54
54 (film)
54 is a 1998 drama film written and directed by Mark Christopher, starring Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, and Neve Campbell...
and as producer of several of the film's songs. Hernandez has composed music for various films, including Spike of Bensonhurst. He is also the composer and sound designer for a series of educational DVDs for children produced by Karyn Parsons
Karyn Parsons
Karyn Parsons is an American television and film actress and model best known for the role of Hilary Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.-Early life:...
(Fresh Prince of Bel-Air).
In December 2010 he released a new solo CD Coati Mundi Is Dancing For The Cabana Code In The Land Of Boo-Hoo (Rong Music). The recording has garnished favorable reviews and praises by the New York Times, Time Out magazine, Village Voice and others.