La Palabra (musician)
Encyclopedia
La Palabra is a well-respected bandleader, singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer, and arranger, known for his versatile approach to music, particularly his invention of the Salsa romantica
Latin music genre and his signature style of Afro-Cuban
-influenced, sensual Latin jazz
.
, Estrellas Cubanas Orquesta, Pello el Afrokan (Pedro Izquierdo), Tataguini, and Chapotin. He was exposed to all genres of Cuban music -- charanga
, son
, danzón
, cha-cha-cha
, bolero
, bolero-cha, rumba
, sipisón, el mozambique, paca
, joropo
, changui
, mozan-cha, guaguanco
, and early Afro-Cuban jazz precursors to salsa.
At the age of 11, La Palabra began taking piano lessons from his grandmother and, inspired by Neno Gonzalez's song "El Café," was soon writing his own arrangements. After winning an amateur musical competition judged by representatives from the Department of Education, he was invited to attend a state-controlled school of music in Havana
. La Palabra's grandmother turned down the opportunity down out of fear that La Palabra would be unable to leave Fidel Castro
's post-revolutionary Cuba if he became a student at the state music conservatory. The almost constant flow of music, musicians, and tourists to and from the U.S. and Cuba that had taken place since the 1930s and 1940s was quickly halted. A few years later La Palabra's family successfully obtained their official visas to leave Cuba. He moved to New York City with his sister, aunt, and uncle in 1966.
In New York La Palabra entered the music scene by joining the sextet Lalo y La New Yorkina and played piano on their first single, "Rompe Tu Pared," with Hector Casanova on vocals. La Palabra continued playing with Lalo y La New Yorkina for two more years until 1968, when his mother decided to move the family to Detroit. He witnessed the cultural upheaval taking place in American society and in music -- hippie
psychedelia, New York salsa
, anti-Vietnam War anthems, Barry Gordy's Motown artists, the closely knit Detroit jazz community, Detroit-born Chicago blues
singers (John Lee Hooker
, Sonny Boy Williamson
) even the occasional Latin artist (Joe Cuba
) on American Bandstand.
As a student of Cooley High School
in Detroit, La Palabra became involved with as many aspects of the music department as possible and, most importantly, founded the school's first integrated band, The Blazers, which beat The Sons of Soul out of first place at the 1969 Michigan State Fair (where The Jackson Five was the main act) with their compelling performance of "Son of Ice Bag." The Sons of Soul drummer at the time was Ricky Lawson
, who later moved to Los Angeles to become a studio musician and played on Michael Jackson
's Thriller. While La Palabra found regular work playing high-powered R&B cover tunes by Hugh Masakela, Chicago, Tower of Power, B.B. King and Hubert Laws, he began writing his first romantic song arrangements, lyrics and orchestrations, including his first-to-be-recorded salsa song "Amor de Juventud," which was later recorded by Ricardo Lemvo in the early 1980s.
By 1974 La Palabra had outgrown the high school music scene and began playing at El Sol Supper Club. The 18-year-old performer and arranger dazzled audiences week after week with his quick-finger piano playing and romantic Spanish ballad-style singing of English cover tunes, delivered with Palabra's own mixture of Cuban guaguanco
, salsa
, soul
, and rock and roll
. One of his sidemen at El Sol was trumpeter Marcus Belgrave
.
For the next several years, La Palabra continued playing the Detroit club circuit, alternating between Stanley Mitchell and the People's Choice, Brainstorm (featuring violinist Regina Carter
), the Five Specials, and Norma Belle and the All Stars, while sharing the circuit with Earl Klugh, Chapter 7 (with lead singer Anita Baker
,) Dennis Coffey, Lyman Woodard, and the Organization. In 1977, La Palabra went on tour with Brainstorm (who later appeared on Soul Train) and the Five Specials. The tour included Kool and the Gang, the Average White Band
, and Fat Back Band. Following the tour La Palabra joined Norma Belle's band, with whom he played until 1979.
's band members saw La Palabra performing in Norma Belle's band in Detroit, Michigan and immediately recommended him to Wonder. In September 1979 Wonder invited La Palabra to move to Los Angeles to join Phoenix Rising, the band Wonder was planning to assemble and produce. La Palabra viewed the chance to work for Stevie Wonder as a launching pad for his career and immediately headed to the West Coast, only to discover that the project was still only in the early planning stages. Without a job or record deal of his own, La Palabra began playing piano at local gigs with various Los Angeles groups.
Several months later, in 1980, American pop singer Lionel Richie
achieved massive widespread success with his hit single "Lady," while Spanish balladeers Roberto Carlos
and Emanuel
reached the top of the Latin charts with their respective hits "Cama y Mesa" and "Todo Se Derrumbo." La Palabra, caught up in this romantic movement in music, began experimenting combining his native Cuban rhythms and American pop music. He created a new genre of Latin music that combined sexually charged romanticism with high energy salsa
, which he named Ballada en Salsa (later renamed and marketed as romantic salsa or salsa romántica
by major record labels).
In December 1979 La Palabra partnered with Jesús "El Niño" Alejandro Perez
to form Orquesta Versalles. La Palabra and "El Niño" showcased their new arrangements weekly, packing such popular nightclubs as Club Candilejas in Los Angeles, Club Riviera in Eagle Rock, and the Marina Hotel in Las Vegas. In early 1981 La Palabra (working as Fito Foster) and El Niño released a single as Orquesta Versalles (a.k.a. Orquesta Candilejas), with El Niño's arrangement of "Me Voy Pa’ Puerto Rico" on side A and La Palabra's arrangement of "Todo Se Derrumbo" on Side B. "Todo Se Derrumbo" became such a hit that Orquesta Versalles club audiences requested Versalles to play it three to four times a night.
"Todo se Derrumbo" attracted the attention of Joni Figueras, a music industry insider, frequent visitor at Club Candilejas, and fan of Versalles and La Palabra's arrangements. Figueras approached La Palabra and suggested that the two of them produce an album of La Palabra's arrangements to introduce the public to Ballada en Salsa / Salsa Romantica. La Palabra was intrigued by the idea but unable to start such a large-scale project while still contracted to work for Stevie Wonder and Phoenix Rising. Figueras forged ahead with the Salsa Romantica album without him, using musicians Louis Ramirez and Ray de la Paz to record Noche Caliente for K-Tel Records. As a result of one hastily released album, Ramirez and de la Paz were inaccurately called "the pioneers of salsa romantica."
In 1982 Stevie Wonder's team decided to abandon the Phoenix Rising project altogether. Although it was a disappointment to La Palabra, the official announcement was unsurprising. He had already been working with other bands since arriving in Los Angeles, and the following year Orquesta Versalles was deemed one of Los Angeles’ pioneering salsa bands. They released their debut self-titled album on Profono Records (then a division of CBS Records), which contained La Palabra's classic interpretation of Lionel Richie
's "Lady," which became an overnight international success in dance clubs.
La Palabra relocated his band to Miami, Florida in 1984, believing the city to be the heartbeat of the Latin music industry. He enjoyed success with Orquesta Versalles there for several months, never fully aware of the impact "Lady" was making on Latin music in the rest of the world. Believing Profono Records failed to meet his expectations, La Palabra left the label in 1984.
In 1985 La Palabra, who had been working as "Fito Foster" began to officially use his artistic name, "La Palabra," and formed a new group called Sensation 85 with former members of Versalles. That year the band released a self-titled debut album featuring Cuban jazz flautist Nestor Torres and Nicaraguan bongo player Luis Enrique
on vocals, Enrique's first outing as a salsa singer.
Sensation 85 enjoyed popularity at Miami dance clubs, filling venues such as the Riviera Lounge (later renamed Club Capri), Papa Grande (Big Daddy's), Maxim's Supper Club, the Copacabana, and Salsa 2000.
Even as more and more newcomer Salsa Romantica artists were offered lucrative recording deals with major labels in the late 1980s, including two of his own band members from Sensation 85 (Luis Enrique and Lefty Perez), the genre's creator unjustly remained unsigned. Understandably disillusioned and devastated, La Palabra left the music industry from 1988 until 1999, when he returned to Los Angeles.
With Morrow as executive producer, La Palabra and Morrow began the recording of the album On Fire in Los Angeles. The recording reached completion a year later and featured La Palabra's versions of "Todo Se Derrumbo" and "Lady." "Lady" became a major hit once again, being played throughout the United States and abroad including Europe, Asia, Israel, and Latin America, inspiring a new wave of interest among younger fans and sparking new interest in La Palabra.
In 2003, La Palabra recorded the album Breakthrough with Tornillo Records, which included the hit song, "El Tun Tun de Tu Corazon." It maintained the # 1 spot on Colombia radio for 12 consecutive weeks in 2006 and continued to be played on heavy rotation for most of 2007. Thanks to the song's success, La Palabra toured throughout Latin America and Europe. His hard-working, old-school showmanship reminded one of Latin jazz bandleaders like Tito Puente. Orquesta La Palabra was invited to perform at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
, China, including "I'm Going to Shenzhen" (specifically requested by the mayor of Shenzhen
) at the opening ceremonies. La Palabra also played at the Grand Millenium Hotel, China Doll Nightclub, Susie Wong Nightclub, Block 8 Nightclub, the International Salsa Festival, and the 2008 Salsa Congress.
La Palabra fully returned to his Cuban roots in 2009 with the release of Musicholic. The music he had been writing since meeting Mel Morrow was increasingly heavily influenced by the eclectic rhythms and musical styles he heard as a child and adolescent, as well as the more modern Latin jazz he heard as a teen-ager in New York and Detroit. His sophisticated style of Afro-Cuban jazz, while unmistakably his own, is in the tradition of Maraca, Mario Bauza
and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra, Bebo Valdés
, Poncho Sanchez
, Oscar D'León
, Chucho Valdés
(the founder and musical director of Irakere
, Cuba's top jazz orchestra), Jerry Gonzalez
's Fort Apache jazz group from the late 1970s, early innovator Machito
, the spirit of experimentation of Pucho and His Latin Brothers' acid-jazz from the late 1960s, Ray Barretto
, and even hints of classic Eddie Palmieri
.
"Todo Se Derrumbo" single, 1981
with Orquesta Versalles:
Orquesta Versalles, 1983
with Sensation '85:
Sensation 85, 1985
with Orquesta La Palabra:
On Fire (Morrowland Records), 2000
Breakthrough (Tornillo Records), 2003
Musicholic (Tornillo Records), 2009
Salsa romantica
Salsa Romántica, also known as Salsa Erotica, is a soft form of salsa music that emerged between the mid 1980s and early 1990s in New York City and Puerto Rico...
Latin music genre and his signature style of Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cuban
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of Sub Saharan African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community...
-influenced, sensual Latin jazz
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
.
Early years
La Palabra was born and raised in the small coastal town of Caimanera, Cuba. He loved music from an early age and grew up listening to Cuban artists like Orquesta AragónOrquesta Aragón
Orquesta Aragón was formed on 30 September 1939, by Orestes Aragón Cantero in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The band originally had the name Ritmica 39, then Ritmica Aragón before settling on its final form. Though they did not create the Cha-cha-cha, they were arguably the best charanga in Cuba during 1950s...
, Estrellas Cubanas Orquesta, Pello el Afrokan (Pedro Izquierdo), Tataguini, and Chapotin. He was exposed to all genres of Cuban music -- charanga
Charanga
Charanga is a term given to traditional ensembles of Cuban dance music. They made Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and their music consisted of heavily son-influenced material, performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Charanga orchestra....
, son
Son (music)
The Son cubano is a style of music that originated in Cuba and gained worldwide popularity in the 1930s. Son combines the structure and elements of Spanish canción and the Spanish guitar with African rhythms and percussion instruments of Bantu and Arará origin...
, danzón
Danzón
Danzón is the official dance of Cuba. It is also an active musical form in Mexico and is still beloved in Puerto Rico where Verdeluz, a modern danzón by Puerto Rican composer Antonio Cabán Vale is considered the unofficial national anthem...
, cha-cha-cha
Cha-cha-cha (music)
The Cha-cha-chá is a style of Cuban music. It is popular dance music which developed from the danzón in the early 1950s.- Origin :As a dance music genre, cha-cha-chá is unusual in that its creation can be attributed to a single composer, Enrique Jorrín, then violinist and songwriter with the...
, bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
, bolero-cha, rumba
Rumba
Rumba is a family of percussive rhythms, song and dance that originated in Cuba as a combination of the musical traditions of Africans brought to Cuba as slaves and Spanish colonizers. The name derives from the Cuban Spanish word rumbo which means "party" or "spree". It is secular, with no...
, sipisón, el mozambique, paca
Paca
The Lowland Paca , also known as the Spotted Paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from East-Central Mexico to Northern Argentina...
, joropo
Joropo
The Joropo is a musical style resembling the waltz, and an accompanying dance, having African and European influences originated in Venezuela and performed in Colombia and Venezuela. It's a fundamental genre belonging to its typical music or música criolla...
, changui
Changui
Changüí is a style of Cuban music which originated in the early 19th century in the eastern region of Guantánamo Province. It arose in the sugar cane refineries and in the rural communities populated by slaves....
, mozan-cha, guaguanco
Guaguancó
Guaguancó is a sub-genre of Cuban rumba, a complex rhythmic music and dance style. The traditional line-up consists of:* three drums, similar to conga drums: the tumba , llamador , and quinto...
, and early Afro-Cuban jazz precursors to salsa.
At the age of 11, La Palabra began taking piano lessons from his grandmother and, inspired by Neno Gonzalez's song "El Café," was soon writing his own arrangements. After winning an amateur musical competition judged by representatives from the Department of Education, he was invited to attend a state-controlled school of music in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
. La Palabra's grandmother turned down the opportunity down out of fear that La Palabra would be unable to leave Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
's post-revolutionary Cuba if he became a student at the state music conservatory. The almost constant flow of music, musicians, and tourists to and from the U.S. and Cuba that had taken place since the 1930s and 1940s was quickly halted. A few years later La Palabra's family successfully obtained their official visas to leave Cuba. He moved to New York City with his sister, aunt, and uncle in 1966.
In New York La Palabra entered the music scene by joining the sextet Lalo y La New Yorkina and played piano on their first single, "Rompe Tu Pared," with Hector Casanova on vocals. La Palabra continued playing with Lalo y La New Yorkina for two more years until 1968, when his mother decided to move the family to Detroit. He witnessed the cultural upheaval taking place in American society and in music -- hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
psychedelia, New York salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
, anti-Vietnam War anthems, Barry Gordy's Motown artists, the closely knit Detroit jazz community, Detroit-born Chicago blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singers (John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally closest to Delta blues. He developed a 'talking blues' style that was his trademark...
, Sonny Boy Williamson
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
) even the occasional Latin artist (Joe Cuba
Joe Cuba
Joe "Sonny" Cuba was a Puerto Rican musician who was considered to be the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".-Early years:...
) on American Bandstand.
As a student of Cooley High School
Cooley High School
Thomas M. Cooley High School is located at the intersection of Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street, on the northwest side of Detroit, Michigan. The three-story, Mediterranean Revival-style facility opened its doors on September 4, 1928....
in Detroit, La Palabra became involved with as many aspects of the music department as possible and, most importantly, founded the school's first integrated band, The Blazers, which beat The Sons of Soul out of first place at the 1969 Michigan State Fair (where The Jackson Five was the main act) with their compelling performance of "Son of Ice Bag." The Sons of Soul drummer at the time was Ricky Lawson
Ricky Lawson
- Overview :Ricky Lawson started playing drums at the age of 16. He would borrow is Uncle's drum set, and would carry it to his house all the way across town via the Detroit Buses that ran in the town. In high school Lawson played in his high school jazz band, which consisted of only 5 members...
, who later moved to Los Angeles to become a studio musician and played on Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's Thriller. While La Palabra found regular work playing high-powered R&B cover tunes by Hugh Masakela, Chicago, Tower of Power, B.B. King and Hubert Laws, he began writing his first romantic song arrangements, lyrics and orchestrations, including his first-to-be-recorded salsa song "Amor de Juventud," which was later recorded by Ricardo Lemvo in the early 1980s.
By 1974 La Palabra had outgrown the high school music scene and began playing at El Sol Supper Club. The 18-year-old performer and arranger dazzled audiences week after week with his quick-finger piano playing and romantic Spanish ballad-style singing of English cover tunes, delivered with Palabra's own mixture of Cuban guaguanco
Guaguancó
Guaguancó is a sub-genre of Cuban rumba, a complex rhythmic music and dance style. The traditional line-up consists of:* three drums, similar to conga drums: the tumba , llamador , and quinto...
, salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. One of his sidemen at El Sol was trumpeter Marcus Belgrave
Marcus Belgrave
Marcus Belgrave is a jazz trumpet player from Detroit, born in Chester, Pennsylvania. He has recorded with a variety of famous musicians, bandleaders, and record labels since the 1950s. Notable among them are: Ray Charles, Charles Mingus, Gunther Schuller, Motown Records, Tribe Records, Blue Note...
.
For the next several years, La Palabra continued playing the Detroit club circuit, alternating between Stanley Mitchell and the People's Choice, Brainstorm (featuring violinist Regina Carter
Regina Carter
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of famous jazz saxophonist James Carter.-Early life:...
), the Five Specials, and Norma Belle and the All Stars, while sharing the circuit with Earl Klugh, Chapter 7 (with lead singer Anita Baker
Anita Baker
Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
,) Dennis Coffey, Lyman Woodard, and the Organization. In 1977, La Palabra went on tour with Brainstorm (who later appeared on Soul Train) and the Five Specials. The tour included Kool and the Gang, the Average White Band
The Average White Band
Average White Band is a Scottish funk and R&B band, who had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million selling song, "Pick Up the Pieces". The band name was initially proposed by Bonnie Bramlett...
, and Fat Back Band. Following the tour La Palabra joined Norma Belle's band, with whom he played until 1979.
Godfather of Romantic Salsa
Stevie WonderStevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
's band members saw La Palabra performing in Norma Belle's band in Detroit, Michigan and immediately recommended him to Wonder. In September 1979 Wonder invited La Palabra to move to Los Angeles to join Phoenix Rising, the band Wonder was planning to assemble and produce. La Palabra viewed the chance to work for Stevie Wonder as a launching pad for his career and immediately headed to the West Coast, only to discover that the project was still only in the early planning stages. Without a job or record deal of his own, La Palabra began playing piano at local gigs with various Los Angeles groups.
Several months later, in 1980, American pop singer Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
achieved massive widespread success with his hit single "Lady," while Spanish balladeers Roberto Carlos
Roberto Carlos (singer)
Roberto Carlos Braga is a Grammy Award-winning Brazilian singer and composer, who has achieved a great deal of success and recognition in his 50 year career, also known as King of Latin Music....
and Emanuel
Emmanuel (singer)
Emmanuel is a Mexican singer who debuted in the 1970s.He is the son of the late Mexican-born bullfighter Raúl Acha"Rovira" and his first wife, Spanish singer Conchita Martinez....
reached the top of the Latin charts with their respective hits "Cama y Mesa" and "Todo Se Derrumbo." La Palabra, caught up in this romantic movement in music, began experimenting combining his native Cuban rhythms and American pop music. He created a new genre of Latin music that combined sexually charged romanticism with high energy salsa
Salsa music
Salsa music is a genre of music, generally defined as a modern style of playing Cuban Son, Son Montuno, and Guaracha with touches from other genres of music...
, which he named Ballada en Salsa (later renamed and marketed as romantic salsa or salsa romántica
Salsa romantica
Salsa Romántica, also known as Salsa Erotica, is a soft form of salsa music that emerged between the mid 1980s and early 1990s in New York City and Puerto Rico...
by major record labels).
In December 1979 La Palabra partnered with Jesús "El Niño" Alejandro Perez
Jesús Alejandro Pérez
Jesús Alejandro Pérez is a Cuban-Canadian bandleader based in Montreal and Los Angeles.Born in Havana, Jesús emigrated to the United States at a young age, living in New Orleans and Miami and earning the nickname of "el niňo" as he was usually the youngest member in every band he played...
to form Orquesta Versalles. La Palabra and "El Niño" showcased their new arrangements weekly, packing such popular nightclubs as Club Candilejas in Los Angeles, Club Riviera in Eagle Rock, and the Marina Hotel in Las Vegas. In early 1981 La Palabra (working as Fito Foster) and El Niño released a single as Orquesta Versalles (a.k.a. Orquesta Candilejas), with El Niño's arrangement of "Me Voy Pa’ Puerto Rico" on side A and La Palabra's arrangement of "Todo Se Derrumbo" on Side B. "Todo Se Derrumbo" became such a hit that Orquesta Versalles club audiences requested Versalles to play it three to four times a night.
"Todo se Derrumbo" attracted the attention of Joni Figueras, a music industry insider, frequent visitor at Club Candilejas, and fan of Versalles and La Palabra's arrangements. Figueras approached La Palabra and suggested that the two of them produce an album of La Palabra's arrangements to introduce the public to Ballada en Salsa / Salsa Romantica. La Palabra was intrigued by the idea but unable to start such a large-scale project while still contracted to work for Stevie Wonder and Phoenix Rising. Figueras forged ahead with the Salsa Romantica album without him, using musicians Louis Ramirez and Ray de la Paz to record Noche Caliente for K-Tel Records. As a result of one hastily released album, Ramirez and de la Paz were inaccurately called "the pioneers of salsa romantica."
In 1982 Stevie Wonder's team decided to abandon the Phoenix Rising project altogether. Although it was a disappointment to La Palabra, the official announcement was unsurprising. He had already been working with other bands since arriving in Los Angeles, and the following year Orquesta Versalles was deemed one of Los Angeles’ pioneering salsa bands. They released their debut self-titled album on Profono Records (then a division of CBS Records), which contained La Palabra's classic interpretation of Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
's "Lady," which became an overnight international success in dance clubs.
La Palabra relocated his band to Miami, Florida in 1984, believing the city to be the heartbeat of the Latin music industry. He enjoyed success with Orquesta Versalles there for several months, never fully aware of the impact "Lady" was making on Latin music in the rest of the world. Believing Profono Records failed to meet his expectations, La Palabra left the label in 1984.
In 1985 La Palabra, who had been working as "Fito Foster" began to officially use his artistic name, "La Palabra," and formed a new group called Sensation 85 with former members of Versalles. That year the band released a self-titled debut album featuring Cuban jazz flautist Nestor Torres and Nicaraguan bongo player Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique
Luís Enrique is a given name, and may refer to:*Luis Enrique Martínez García, Spanish football manager and former player*Luis Enrique "Neco" Martinez, Colombian football goalkeeper*Luis Enrique, Nicaraguan salsa singer...
on vocals, Enrique's first outing as a salsa singer.
Sensation 85 enjoyed popularity at Miami dance clubs, filling venues such as the Riviera Lounge (later renamed Club Capri), Papa Grande (Big Daddy's), Maxim's Supper Club, the Copacabana, and Salsa 2000.
Even as more and more newcomer Salsa Romantica artists were offered lucrative recording deals with major labels in the late 1980s, including two of his own band members from Sensation 85 (Luis Enrique and Lefty Perez), the genre's creator unjustly remained unsigned. Understandably disillusioned and devastated, La Palabra left the music industry from 1988 until 1999, when he returned to Los Angeles.
Orquesta La Palabra and Latin Jazz
In late 1999 La Palabra began recording a new album, Rap-A-Salsa, with the help of Chuck Neustein. Halfway through the recording, George Balmaseda, whom La Palabra knew from the Orquesta Versalles days, introduced Mel Morrow of Morrowland Records to Palabra. Morrow, who adored La Palabra's arrangements and his musical style, offered to finance the formation of a band with La Palabra. La Palabra abandoned the Rap-A-Salsa project and joined Morrow in the formation of the band, Orquesta La Palabra, with George "Babaloo" Balmaseda and Angelo Pagan on vocals.With Morrow as executive producer, La Palabra and Morrow began the recording of the album On Fire in Los Angeles. The recording reached completion a year later and featured La Palabra's versions of "Todo Se Derrumbo" and "Lady." "Lady" became a major hit once again, being played throughout the United States and abroad including Europe, Asia, Israel, and Latin America, inspiring a new wave of interest among younger fans and sparking new interest in La Palabra.
In 2003, La Palabra recorded the album Breakthrough with Tornillo Records, which included the hit song, "El Tun Tun de Tu Corazon." It maintained the # 1 spot on Colombia radio for 12 consecutive weeks in 2006 and continued to be played on heavy rotation for most of 2007. Thanks to the song's success, La Palabra toured throughout Latin America and Europe. His hard-working, old-school showmanship reminded one of Latin jazz bandleaders like Tito Puente. Orquesta La Palabra was invited to perform at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, China, including "I'm Going to Shenzhen" (specifically requested by the mayor of Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
) at the opening ceremonies. La Palabra also played at the Grand Millenium Hotel, China Doll Nightclub, Susie Wong Nightclub, Block 8 Nightclub, the International Salsa Festival, and the 2008 Salsa Congress.
La Palabra fully returned to his Cuban roots in 2009 with the release of Musicholic. The music he had been writing since meeting Mel Morrow was increasingly heavily influenced by the eclectic rhythms and musical styles he heard as a child and adolescent, as well as the more modern Latin jazz he heard as a teen-ager in New York and Detroit. His sophisticated style of Afro-Cuban jazz, while unmistakably his own, is in the tradition of Maraca, Mario Bauza
Mario Bauza
Mario Bauzá was an important Cuban musician. He was one of the first to introduce Latin music to the United States by bringing Cuban musical styles into the New York jazz scene...
and his Afro-Cuban Orchestra, Bebo Valdés
Bebo Valdés
Bebo Valdés is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. He was a central figure in the golden age of Cuban music, led two famous big bands, and was one of the 'house' arrangers for the Tropicana Club.Valdés started his career as a pianist in the night clubs of Havana during the 1940s...
, Poncho Sanchez
Poncho Sanchez
Poncho Sanchez , a Mexican-American, is a conguero , Latin jazz band leader, and salsa singer. In 2000, Sanchez and his ensemble won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for their work on the Concord Picante album Latin Soul...
, Oscar D'León
Oscar D'León
Oscar Emilio León Somoza, better known as Oscar D'León is a Venezuelan musician who became internationally famous for his salsa music. In Spanish, he is known as El Sonero del Mundo . His most famous song is perhaps "Llorarás," which he recorded in 1975 with his group La Dimensión Latina...
, Chucho Valdés
Chucho Valdés
Chucho Valdés is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. In 1972 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands. Together with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Valdés is revered as one of Cuba's greatest jazz pianists...
(the founder and musical director of Irakere
Irakere
Irakere is a Cuban band founded by Armando de Sequeira Romeu Music Director and composer, and by pianist Chucho Valdés in 1973...
, Cuba's top jazz orchestra), Jerry Gonzalez
Jerry Gonzalez
Jerry Gonzalez is an American-born Latino jazz trumpeter and percussionist, most noteworthy for his contributions to Latin jazz.-Biography:-Early life and career:...
's Fort Apache jazz group from the late 1970s, early innovator 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...
, the spirit of experimentation of Pucho and His Latin Brothers' acid-jazz from the late 1960s, Ray Barretto
Ray Barretto
Ray Barretto was a Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican jazz musician.-Early years:Barretto was born in New York City of Puerto Rican descent...
, and even hints of classic Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri , is a Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican pianist, bandleader and musician, best known for combining jazz piano and instrumental solos with Latin rhythms.-Early years:...
.
Discography
Earthquake (unreleased), 1974"Todo Se Derrumbo" single, 1981
with Orquesta Versalles:
Orquesta Versalles, 1983
with Sensation '85:
Sensation 85, 1985
with Orquesta La Palabra:
On Fire (Morrowland Records), 2000
Breakthrough (Tornillo Records), 2003
Musicholic (Tornillo Records), 2009
Sources
- "Orquesta Versalles", Diario Las Americas, June 6, 1984, page 9B.
- "Black Cubans: Apart in Two Worlds", The New York Times, December 2, 1987, page 13.
- "Calendar Weekend: La Vida Loca", Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1999, page 6.
- "Salsa de Hollywood para el Mundo", La Opinion, October 18, 2000, page 6B.
- "Palabra and Salsa Romantica", Latin Beat Magazine, October 2001.
- "La Palabra Turns a Concept into An Identity", Sabor Magazine, March 2001, page 30.
- "Salsa Para Apagar La Luz", Al Borde, September 25, 2003.
- "On Deck", Los Angeles WAVE, October 2, 2003.
- "Orquesta La Palabra", Billboard, January 17, 2004.
- "Palabra's Sound Goes On", Latin Beat Magazine, May 2005, page 29.
- "La Palabra: A Taste of Cuba", Estreno de Musica Y Video, December 2005, page 6.
- "Salsa De Hollywood Para El Mundo", 20 De Mayo, April 15, 2006, No. 2384.
- "La Palabra", Que Pasa Bulletin, April 2006.
- "Chango Tiene La Palabra", El Pais (Cali Colombia), August 2, 2006, page D3.
- "La Palabra por Primera Vez en Cali", Diario Occidente (Cali Colombia), July 28, 2006, page 20.
- "Sazon Cubano en Hollywood", La Voz Libre, November 23, 2006.