Orestes Vilato: there's life after Santana

Latin Beat Magazine, Nov, 2002 by Luis Tamargo

LT: Didn't Barretto recommend you for certain jazz gigs?

OV: ¡Si, señor! Being an asthmatic, Barretto couldn't participate in any recordings scheduled before 1 p.m., so he often sent me as a substitute to record with Lionel Hampton, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis and other renowned jazz bandleaders.

LT: In 1965, you were one of the participants in one of Johnny Pacheco's most significant session (Pacheco-His Flute and Latin Jam, Fania).

OV: Yes! This was the first time that I recorded with Patato. It was a very beautiful project!

LT: After 8-1/2 years, you left Barretto's band to join Típica 73. It appears that Típica 73 took New York by storm ...

OV: That's right! I really don't know why. Típica 73 was a very simple, very organic group. We played sones and other Cuban tunes but at the same time, Típica 73's singer/trumpeter, René López, was doing English-language ballads. In addition to such an unusual level of versatility, we were very well connected throughout the Latín music scene because Johnny Rodríguez Jr. was always very good at getting work for the band. Not only did we work at nightclubs, but we also played at theatres, graduations, etc. We were booked by all kinds of people. We even played at some Mafia gigs (LAUGHTER) ... I stayed with Típica 73 until mid-1975, when I formed my own band, Los Kimbos. As employed in Afro-Cuban religion, "kimbos" means "little devils." It doesn't signify anything negative, it doesn't imply that we were brujos or witch doctors (LAUGHTER).

LT: Right around that time, you were featured in a landmark session led by Patato (Ready for Freddy, Latín Percussion, 1976).

OV: Of course! That was the first album in which Papaíto (Sonora Matancera's timbalero) demonstrated his vocal talents. The tune titled La Ambulancia (featuring Papaíto on lead vocals) was a hit in South America.

LT: In 1979, you disbanded Los Kimbos. A year later, you moved to the West Coast and joined Santana's group.

OV: I had worked with Santana four years earlier, but I wasn't ready at that time to become part of an entirely different musical world. The rock world was only about business and nothing but business (LAUGHTER). I missed the talkative and amicable nature of the backstage Cuban or Latín scene. Somehow, I managed to overcome the solitude and desolation derived from such long tours, and ended up staying with Santana for nine years.

LT: What happened after the nine-year long Santana chapter?

OV: There was a saying promulgated by my former bandmates: "There is no life after Santana." I've been able to prove that the saying is invalid. I've done a thousand different things since I left Santana's group.

LT: In recent years, you have worked extensively with John Santos Machete Ensemble and Rebecca Mauleón's Round Trip. Is it difficult to get established and gain respect in the San Francisco Bay Area?

OV: It is difficult when one is regarded as "local," a term that I dislike because it undermines one's prestige. I'm supposed to be a "local musician," although I travel throughout the entire world every year. Despite the fact that I reside in the Bay Area, I do not think of myself as a "local musician." I have worked with Machete Ensemble since it was organized 17 years ago by my workaholic godson, John Santos, who is also a very good musician and lecturer. I'm very proud of him and continue to work with his ensemble, as well as Rebecca Mauleón's Round Trip, with whom I traveled in 2001 to Finland and Alaska.