Desde La Bahia - breves notas musicales - TT: From the Bay Area - TA: brief music notes - Columna

Latin Beat Magazine, June, 2000 by Jesse "Chuy" Varela

LA SALSA VIVE CON CESAR! Longtime Salsa kingpin César Ascarrunz returned to throwing some of San Francisco's most wildly memorable salsa parties with El Baile Del Siglo, featuring Los Van Van, La Inida, Grupo Mania, and Sonora Show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on April 29. "There's more Latin music happening in the Bay Area at one given time than any other music," says the pianist/entrepreneur.

As the longtime owner of César's Latin Palace which began in the 1970s in North Beach on Green Street in San Francisco before relocating to its over 20-year Mission District home and the current site of Roccapulco, César was responsible for ushering modern salsa into the region, fueled by Fania Records in the late 1960s in New York City.

"The music now is first rate," continues Ascarrunz. "Back when I was getting started we just had one microphone for the whole band and usually the singer used it. That's what we had at the Copacabana where I was playing. It was a great place on Broadway right by the tunnel."

The legacy of César's Latin Palace is one of the great chapters in the musical latinization of the Mission District. The place could cram over a thousand people and was the party place for a young Latino generation getting turned on to Afro-Caribbean beats dancing alongside anglo and black aficionados learning to dance salsa. It was where stars like Eddie Palmieri, El Gran Combo, Joe Cuba, Típica 73, Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaría, Cal Tjader, Roberto Roena and César's All-Stars (with such legendary figures as Francisco Aguabella, Orestes Vilató, Jorge Santana and others) rocked ah always crowded dance floor.

Two years ago, César sold his nightclub. Now he has turned his efforts to promoting salsa dance concerts like El Baile Del Siglo. At a time when Latin music is flourishing, César Productions hopes to keep the salsa flame lit with top name entertainment. Yet for this Bolivian native and often time S.F. mayoral candidate, this is a cultural mission fate has dealt him.

"I owned César's Latin Palace for 22 years and according to the Guiness Book of World Records it was the best known nightclub in San Francisco around the world. Playing piano was just a hobby. I never saw it as a way of life. But that's what it became. Selling my place didn't bother me. I'm still throwing beautiful concerts."

JOSH JONES LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE. Rumberos are the street drummers of Afro-Cuban music. A folkloric artform created by enslaved Africans playing on crates and barrels on the docks of Havana and Matanzas represents the spirit of the drum and its importance in tribal societies. Drummer Josh Jones is a jazz drummer with a rumbero soul, as he has demonstrated on recordings with Don Cherry, Peter Apfelbaums' Hieroglyphics Ensemble and Steve Coleman. A graduate of the prestigious Berkeley High Jazz Band, Jones leads his own son revival band Conjunto Clásico as well as a Latin jazz band. Jones is a skilled and creative trap drummer who can shuffle, swing and songo. In the 1990s he held Saturday night sessions at the Up & Down Club and recently tore it up for The Jazz School in Berkeley. A sought after sideman, Jones is a talent to watch and reckon with as he matures into his thirties with the J.J. groove.

LOS PAPINES. Formed in Cuba in 1957 by the Abreu brothers - Luis, Alfredo, Jesús, and Ricardo, Los Papines are innovators in rumba, plain and simple. Blessed with extraordinary skill, they draw from the rich roots of West African tribal beats fused with Spanish flamenco. In their heyday Los Papines performed in the finest Havana cabarets and after the Cuban revolution became global ambassadors for the new government. They also were the first group to break the cultural blockade that went up after the economic embargo. They performed at the Oakland Auditorium in 1975 and wowed the packed venue. Now elders with legendary status, they returned to La Peña Cultural Center recently to help the community center celebrate its 25th silver anniversary.

JIMMY BOSCH. New York City trombone player Jimmy Bosch, who has graced the bands of Manny Oquendo & Libre, Rubén Blades, Marc Anthony and countless others, is a talented musician with an innovative and energetic style. Having paid his dues in the sweltering salsa clubs around N.Y.C., what distinguishes him is his sense of swing, reminiscent of bomba y plena traditionalist Mon Rivera and jazz cats like Bill Watrous or J.J. Johnson. Two years ago he made his recording debut as a leader with label RykoLatino and currently has a new album called Salsa Dura. Hard-hitting salsa with jazz tinges is what this talented trombonist-bandleader promises and if you caught him on Marc Anthony's HBO special or at the Grammy Awards broadcast, he's the wiry bald-headed cat who took those monster solos! Jimmy rolled through Roccapulco in the SF Mission District recently with a show that has drawn nothing but praise.

CARLOS OLIVEIRA & BRASIL NORDESTE. This talented guitarist hails from the northeast Brazilian city of Recife. Since his arrival to the San Francisco Bay area in the 1990s he has helped fuel a vibrant jazz scene with his cultural flavors, working with musical wizards like guitarist Eddie Duran and mandolinist Mike Marshall as well as with brasilieras Claudia Villela and Celia Malheiros. Carlos carne to the United States to immerse himself in jazz music and has hooked up with reed master Harvey Wainapel who opened doors for him as part of Harvey's acclaimed recording dates for Spirit Nectaur - Ambrosia and The Hang. Now Carlos is ready to fly solo with his band Brasil Nordeste. Featuring Wainapel on clarinet and sax as well as David Belove on bass and Paul Van Wageningen on trap drums, he fuses authentic regional rhythms with modern jazz melodies and harmonies.