Desde La Bahia: San Francisco - TT: From the Bay: San Francisco - Artículo Breve

Latin Beat Magazine, Sept, 2001 by Jesse Varela

¡RADIO LIBRE! In the late 1960s, the search for a platform of freedom of expression was found on the public radio airwaves. Leading the way were the Pacifica stations of WBAI in NYC and KPFK in Los Angeles. Many people paved the way through volunteer Latino programming that ranged from music to news. WBAI had help from Juan González, Mickey Meléndez, Aurora Flores and José Santiago, while KPFK had Tony Salazar, Edward James Olmos, Moctezuma Esparza and Víctor Vásquez, to name a few. These pioneers set the standard of how the Latino community would utilize public radio.

KPFA-Berkeley launched Latino shows in Northern California with the inauguration of Comunicación Aztlan, founded in the 1970s by Emiliano Echeverria. Through that emerged such radio personalities as Chata Gutierrez and Andrés Alegría. For close to twenty years, Alegría kept the Saturday afternoon salsa show Ahora blazing on KPFA. It was an amazing array of interviews and the latest jams artfully arranged in long, fluid sets. Luis Medina and Jake Aguirre also added to the musical stylings, along with Afro-Cuban music collector Echeverría.

In San Francisco at KPOO, the late Joe Rudolph opened the door to Latinos early on, and Chata stepped in hosting Con Clave, the longest-running salsa show in Northern California. The addition of Avotjca (La Verdad Musical) and Tomás Marrero (Fire Music) make KPOO an exceptional cultural force. The KKUP collective in Cupertino, with its long-standing cast of people including José Montes de Oca, Carlos De León, Miguel Agosto, Vicky Robledo, Louie Rocha, and Ray Baeza have also stood firm with a diverse mix of politics and música Latina, with a strong preference toward Cuban and straight-ahead salsa on El Barrio Nuevo.

I do my Latin jazz thing on Sundays on KCSM; Vinny Esparza blasts the old-school boogaloo grooves on his KUSF show Spanish Grease; and U.C. Davis jams out with KDVS deejays Steve Davis and Eddie Salas, who turn out la música latina with a mix of Cuban, salsa and raza sounds. All throughout California, there are public radio stations offering salsa and Latin jazz music well worth supporting. Remember that public radio belongs to all who pay taxes. If your local public radio station isn't serving your community, let them know!

KUDOS! Congratulations to Luis Medina who was recently given the position as Music Director at KPFA 94.1 FM in Berkeley. Part of the Pacifica Network, Medina joins the station at a delicate time for the organization, as embittered listeners, who feel that Pacifica wants to NPR-ize the alternative network, are fighting to maintain its free speech essence. Medina's genuine love of music will undoubtedly inspire a positive change to the negativity that has been lingering over KPFA for the past three years. He will continue to do his popular Saturday night Con Sabor radio show, as well as his DJ gigs at Kimball's Carnival on Friday nights and Jelly's Club Havana in San Francisco on Sundays.

¡HASTA LUEGO! Cubop and its parent Ubiquity Records have packed up and bid farewell to San Francisco, where they began over 10 years ago. Owners Jodie and Michael McFadin have set up shop in Los Angeles with an amazing catalog of Latin, funk, and house grooves that continues to grow. They have been cultivating some tremendous music from the likes of Latin jazz acid-heads Snowboy, Bobby Matos, Johnny Blas, Papo Vásquez, Francisco Aguabella, Marlon Simon, Jack Costanzo, Ray Armando, Dave Pike, Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers, Bobby Móntez, John Santos, José Rizo's Jazz on the Latin Side All Stars and so many more. Their current Bobby Matos-John Santos collaboration, Mambo Jazz (Cubop), demonstrates the ground-breaking spoken-word jazz movement underway throughout California. The word-song Cachao is a poem written by José Castellar that celebrates the great bassist and musical innovator and is set to his Cuban descarga Como Mi Ritmo No Hay Dos. Passionately delivered by actor Ismael "East" Carlo, it is a vibrant flame of new millennium Latino expression. Mambo, a pivotal composition co-written by Cachao and his brother Orestes, serves as the driving musical foundation for the sensuous flows of Los Angeles-based poet Denise Cook on I Don't Speak Spanish (But I Understand Everything When I'm Dancing). A late 1970s recording by Arturo Sandoval in Southern California, that includes Poncho Sánchez on congas and the super pianistic stylings of Hilario Duran, has been released under the title of L.A. Meetings.

The record business is a tough enterprise, and I commend the McFadins and their dedicated staff, especially Andrew Jervis and Vinny Esparza for some great music. May it never end!

¿QUÉ PASO CON RMM? This past June 25 it was announced in Santa Mónica, California, that Universal Music Group had acquired the assets of Ralph Mercado's pivotal New York City-based Latino record label. Regarded as the Fania Records of the 1990s, RMM introduced the world to the next generation of stars, La India and Marc Anthony, while maintaining tradition with Celia Cruz and Tito Puente on its roster, along with so many others. The RMM shows at Madison Square Garden are legendary. Mercado's short-lived Tropijazz subsidiary helped spark Latin jazz back into the popular fold, and he ushered in Latin House sounds with SoHo. Universal will now own the catalog of over 400 master recordings by 130 artists, as well as future recordings by artists presently signed to the label.