José Claussell, bron to salsa - músico, entrevista - TT: Jose Claussell Born To Drum - TA: musician, interview - Entrevista

Latin Beat Magazine, Nov, 2000 by Rudy Mangual

A native of Brooklyn, New York, José Claussell was raised with his ten brothers and sisters in a very musically charged Puerto Rican household. His mother was his first and biggest musical influence. Raising eleven children with a husband who was a merchant marine, Mrs. Claussell worked very hard in and out of the house. Her main form of relaxation and entertainment was listening to music. Her vast collection included music from Cuba and Puerto Rico, American popular music, big bands, jazz, and anything else that was joyful and fulfilling. After a hard day at work she would return home and start spinning albums like a DJ, filling the whole house and her children's lives with incredible music. Recently I sat down with José Claussell and he expounded further on the subject.

"Besides my mom, another influence in my life was my older brother who was a popular rock drummer in Brooklyn. As he rehearsed in our home's basement, my younger brother and I would mimic playing drums on old one-gallon paint cans and refrigerator shelves for cymbals. On my seventh birthday, my brother asked me what I wanted, so I told him I wanted him to teach me how to play the drums. He took me to the basement and sat me by the drums. Before he said anything, I started to play as if I had been playing drums for years. It was in my blood, in my genes, a gift from the creator, definitely.

"By the age of nine, I was already playing with some of the top rock and funk bands in the city. Then one day my brother turned me on to the debut LP of Carlos Santana, and both of our lives immediately changed. All the Latin music that my mother played in the house every day, like Benny Moré, Casino de La Playa, Machito, Cortijo, El Gran Combo, Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez, all took on a new meaning for me spiritually. From that point on, Latin music was it for me. I learned to play the tumbadoras (conga drums) from my brother and José Bermúdez, the percussionist in his band.

"I was thirteen when I started to play professionally with the Rafael Batista orchestra, a merengue group that also had salsa in their repertoire. By the early seventies, as a teen, I started working and learning from percussionists Tommy López (La Perfecta) and Little Ray Romero (Machito/Ray Barretto). Both of these guys were like my gurus of Afro-Caribbean music and rhythms.

"Then came the music of Eddie Palmieri. His music, his message, his social values and preoccupations, all were very close to my own. Like a young baseball player's dream of playing for the Yankees, my dream was of one day being able to play with the great Eddie Palmieri. About 12 years ago, my dream became a reality. Eddie was in transition between Puerto Rico and New York with most of the band members residing on the island. He was scheduled to play in the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City and was assembling a new band for the gig. Eddie recruited percussionists Willie Villega and Monchito Muñoz, two good friends of mine, but he was still missing a bongo player. Willie put in a word for me and Eddie told him to bring me in for the event. So I did the gig on bongos throughout the lengthy parade.

"After it was all over, Eddie and the band members met at a bar on 86th Street. While there, Eddie came over to me and thanked me for playing and praised my bongo work. He then asked me if I played any other percussion instruments and I told him that I was primarily a drummer/timbalero. He smiled and said to me, 'Well, Tuesday we are at the Bottom Line, so bring the timbales,' just like that. Tuesday came and I found myself on stage with Andy González, Charlie Sepúlveda, Anthony Carrillo and Brian Lynch, playing with the Eddie Palmieri orchestra and feeling like I was in heaven. For the past eleven years, I have been Eddie's timbalero and loving every minute of it."

Clausell remarks on his plans for the future: "One is to produce my first recording as a solo artist with a project called Urban Riken Groove that I have been cultivating for the past few years. The first volume will be titled Restless Natives that will include original music plus covers of classic Cuban, jazz, doowop, funk, soul, classical, gospel, and other forms of music that influenced our migration from Borinquen to New York City. All of the urban strife that we have witnessed and endured will be expressed through a spiritual, tasty and unique approach to the music."