Norosbaldo Morales was a Puerto Rican

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 pianist and bandleader.

Biography

Morales learned several instruments as a child. He played in Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 from 1924 to 1930, then returned to Puerto Rico to play with Rafaél Muñoz

Rafael Muñoz (musician)

Rafael Muñoz was a Puerto Rican contra bass musician and big band director .Muñoz was chosen to replace Don Rivero as the band leader of the Orquesta del Escambron Beach Club in 1934, after which it became known as the Rafael Muñoz Orchestra. Its members included among others the pianist Noro...

. He emigrated to 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...

 in 1935, and played there with Alberto Socarras

Alberto Socarras

Alberto Socarrás Estacio, , was a Cuban-American flautist who played both Cuban music and jazz....

 and Augusto Cohen. In 1939, he and brothers Humberto and Esy

Esy Morales

Esy Morales was a musician born in Puerto Rico in 1916. One of his brothers, Noro, was also a musician. Before the age of ten Morales was performing on tenor sax, clarinet and flute. In 1930 he moved to New York, and is credited on Xavier Cugat's album Cugat On Film, as well as other Cugat records...

 put together the Brothers Morales Orchestra. He released the tune "Serenata Ritmica" on Decca Records

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 in 1942, which catapulted him to fame in the mambo and 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...

 music world; his band rivaled 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...

's in popularity in New York in the 1940s.

It was during this time that his orchestra played for the Havana Madrid nightclub.

In 1960 Morales returned to Puerto Rico and played locally; he also worked with Tito Rodríguez

Tito Rodriguez

Tito Rodríguez was a popular 1950s and 1960s Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He is known by many fans as "El Inolvidable" , a moniker based on his most popular interpretation, a song written by composer Julio Gutierrez.-Early years:Rodríguez , born in Santurce, Puerto Rico,...

, José Luis Moneró

José Luis Moneró

José Luis Moneró was a Puerto Rican musician and band leader. His prominence led Governor Luis Fortuño to order flags flown at half staff for three days when informed of the musician's death....

, Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo was a percussionist, singer, dancer and composer who played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz...

, Willie Rosario

Willie Rosario

Willie Rosario a.k.a. "Mr. Afinque" is a musician, composer and bandleader of salsa music.-Early years:Rosario was born and raised in Coamo, Puerto Rico into a poor, but hard working family. His parents realized that as a child Willie was musically inclined and had him take guitar lessons at the...

 and 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"...

. Among the musicians who played in Morales' orchestra were Ray Santos

Ray Santos

Father Ray Santos is a fictional character on CBS's daytime drama Guiding Light. He has been portrayed on a recurring basis by George Alvarez since March 30, 1999. The role was portrayed from February 17th to 19th, 1999 by Jaime Passer....

, Jorge López, Rafí Carrero, Juancito Torres, Pin Madera, Ralph Kemp, Pepito Morales, Carlos Medina, Lidio Fuentes, Simón Madera, Ana Carrero, Pellin Rodriguez, and Avilés.

The height of his fame and record production was his production of rumba records with his sextet, done after he gave up the big band idea. His use of the piano as both melody and rhythm was highly innovative at the time. ["Linda Mujer"], ["Campanitas de Cristal"], ["Perfume de Gardenias"], ["Me Pica La Lengua"] and ["Silencio"], all songs composed by others, were four of his big successes in this line.

External links

• Noro Morales at Flickr Commons