Latin Giants of Jazz: a conversation with Johnny Rodriguez, Mario Rivera and Jose Madera

Latin Beat Magazine, Sept, 2004 by Luis Tamargo, Silvio Alava, Rudy Mangual

Born as Ernesto Antonio Puente Jr. on April 20, 1923, and known to the world as Tito Puente, he more than earned first place among modern Latin jazz musicians, working continuously from 1937 to 2000, and recording over 100-plus albums. His demise on May 31, 2000 in New York City, due to heart failure, left his legendary all-star orchestra in limbo. After more than a year of efforts by the Puente family to keep the orchestra together, it eventually disbanded. After several weeks of phone calls between ex-members of the group and old friends, percussionist Johnny Rodríguez Jr. decided to create a new band. With the help of Stew Jackson (a professional musician and current director and CEO of the world famous Woody Herman Orchestra) he formed the Latin Giants of Jazz, comprised of the former members of the Tito Puente Orchestra. The new orchestra features the music of Tito Puente, Machito and Tito Rodríguez, paying tribute to the music of the Palladium days, in addition to a wide range of new Latin jazz concepts and forms. Having toured the world over 30 years with the late Tito Puente, many of these luminaries are well known and accepted all over the planet. Just as the music and repertoire of the late Tito Puente was, the music performed by the Latín Giants of Jazz is exciting and appealing to all audiences regardless of ethnicity nationality or age, and never fails to create a dynamic, danceable atmosphere.

The size of the big band can vary, depending on the gig, from as few as 12 members to as many as 21. Currently, the orchestra has been touring without its 4-piece trombone section, and with only one lead vocalist to accommodate many of the summer festival concerts nationwide and abroad. The Latin Giants of Jazz are also enjoying the release of their debut CD The Latin Giants Play the Music of the Palladium, featuring the entire big band plus three vocalists. As of this writing, a DVD titled The Latin Giants of Jazz (featuring Eddie Palmieri), filmed in San Sebastian, Spain on July, 2003, is also available.

The current Latín Giants of Jazz:

Lead Vocals--Ray de la Paz

Trumpets--Pete Nater, John Walsh, Kevin Bryan, Raúl Agraz and Richard Viruet

Trombones--Lewis Kahn, Reynaldo Jorge, Daniel Reagan and Noah Bless

Saxophones--Mitchell Frohman (road manager), Bobby Porcelli, Pete Miranda, Mario Rivera, Stew Jackson (CEO and director) and Enrique Fernández

Piano--Oscar Hernández, Bass--Jerry Madera

Timbal--José Madera (musical director)

Conga--George Delgado

Bongó--Johnny Rodríguez Jr. (executive director)

The following are conversations with three of the core members of the Latin Giants of Jazz.

Johnny "Dandy" Rodríguez Jr. and Life After Tito Puente

For "Dandy," as Johnny Rodríguez, Jr. is known to family and friends, the passing of Tito Puente was a shock as it was for Puente's family, friends and fans around the world. He became a member of the Puente organization at the tender age of 16 and made his recording debut as Tito's sideman on the LP Excitante Puente (1963). Johnny played with Puente off and on until the year 2000.

His first job away from the Puente band came about when he joined Tito Rodríguez on a trip to South America. At this time, Puente reduced the size of the band for economic reasons, and Dandy was urged to join Rodríguez, with whom he stayed for about two years. The next band he joined was the Ray Barretto group, and it was during this period that the idea of forming Típica 73 took hold. He was asked by a club owner to form a group for a Monday night-only job. Johnny got together some of his associates to do the job and as a result of word-of-mouth publicity, was surprised to find a line formed around the corner when he arrived. This Monday-night event continued for several weeks, and soon another offer carne to play somewhere else on another day with the same group. Finally, a decision bad to be made: Whether to stay with Barretto of leave to pursue his own career.

He left Barretto, and Típica 73 was born. It became one of the all-time hottest groups to come out of the New York City area after the era of the three giants--Machito, Tito Rodríguez and Tito Puente. The son of a very famous percussionist (Johnny "La Vaca" Rodríguez, Sr.), Dandy always sought his parent's advice when making any career-altering decisions. They gave him their blessings when he decided to form Típica 73 and he has never looked back. This great band ceased to exist soon after it returned from touring in Cuba and recording their famous album, Intercambio Cultural. Unfortunately, jobs started to become scarce because the exiled Cuban community could not separate Típica's love for Cuban music from the politics of Cuba's present government.

Johnny joined the Tito Puente organization again and was present during Puente's transition into the larger Latin jazz market, both as a musician and as road manager. With this smaller group, Puente could be booked to play at all the important jazz concerts and venues around the world, bringing him greater fame than he had ever imagined.