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

After Tito Puente died, the orchestra spent about a year together, fulfilling contractual commitments until the Puente family decided to disband it. It was around this time (2000) that Johnny Rodríguez Jr. decided to relocate to the Las Vegas area with his family. Based on his superior percussive talent derived from forty years of experience as a consummate bongó and conga player, he has recorded with every conceivable group in existence. After the Tito Puente/Eddie Palmieri recording, Masterpiece/Obra Maestra, Palmieri asked Dandy to join the band and for the last few years they have been touring throughout the United States and Europe.

In 2002, he decided to call upon many colleagues that had performed with the Puente orchestra, with the premise of forming a big band to continuo the legacy of Puente's music as well as that of Machito and Tito Rodríguez. With the aid of Stew Jackson, José Madera and Mario Rivera, among several old friends, he created the "Latin Giants of Jazz," a big band playing the fiery dance music of the Palladium and beyond.

For Johnny Rodríguez r., life after Puente has been a good one, for which he feels very blessed.

José Madera

RUDY MANGUAL: Are you a native New Yorker?

JOSE MADERA: I surely am, born in New York City of Puerto Rican ancestry.

RM: How did music come into your life?

JM: My father was the first arranger for the Machito Orchestra back in 1940s so music was the family business. I started playing timbal with Machito's group as a teenager. Soon thereafter I also worked with the Tito Puente band. Machito didn't work much during the week and Puente did, so I was able to juggle the schedule of both bands. Eventually I got more gigs with Puente so I stayed with him steadily for 30 years. The last ten years with Puente I served as the musical director.

RM: I remember seeing your credit in many of the Fania recordings of the 1970s and 1980s.

JM: Yes, I was also a staff arranger at the legendary Fania Records label for a while, and worked with many of their artists, as well as other independent artists and bands.

RM: How did you become a Latin percussionist?

JM: It all started at home with friends as we listened to the recordings of the masters of Afro-Caribbean music (Chano Pozo, Puente, Machito, Mongo Santamaría) and tried to figure out what they were doing. Then we'd go out to the clubs to see them play and realize we had it all wrong. And this is how I actually learned to play the timbal, by trial and error.

RM: But didn't you fill the conga seat of the Tito Puente Orchestra for all those years?

JM: Yes, this is what happened. Back then, playing with Puente as a teen, there was a lot of discipline in bandleader --musician relationships. For example, in Puente's orchestra we had about eight different uniforms to perform in. If a musician showed up to a gig in the wrong uniform or the wrong color shirt, Puente would send him home. If it happened more than once, he would most likely be dismissed from the band. So in this type of strict environment we produced and performed incredibly superb music, which set the band apart from most others in the business. By the same token, after playing bongó and minor percussions for a while, one day I showed up to a rehearsal and the conga player had left the band for some reason and Puente said to me, 'Joe, go to Martin Cohen (at Latin Percussions) and tell him to give you a conga drum.' And I asked him for what, and he responded, 'You are the new conguero in the band.' And I told him I didn't know how to play the conga, and he said, 'Well, I guess you will have to learn to play them now.' And that's how I became a conga player. (LAUGHTER) The same type of discipline was upheld in the Tito Rodríguez and Machito orchestras. That's why the "Big Three Palladium Orchestras" were so special and a cut above the rest.