New blood: Fay Roberts

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 1997 by Max Salazar

She us young, beautiful, was inspired by flutist Artie Webb to become an ambassador of the Cuban charanga, studied with the renowned flutist Richard Egües of Cuba, and hold a Bachelor's degree in music from the University of California. Her love affair with Latin music began in the eighties after hearing a local salsa orchestra at Santa Barbara. She added the saxophone and clarinet to her repertoire and began performing with a few Los Angeles groups. As a part time musical director for the Braille Institute of America, she developed a new method for teaching music to the visually impaired. Then it happened. The sound of typical Cuban music overwhelmed her. "Hearing my friend Artie Webb's unique interpretation of the charanga style during a multi-cultural music festival in Griffith Park gave me such a powerful glimpse of the magical role the flute commands in Cuban music. That was it!...this is where I had to be...I began studying with Danilo Lozano, the son of legendary Cuban flutist José Rolando Lozano. I also began sitting in with several local Los Angeles bands: Johnny Polanco, Costa Azul, Son Mayor, Orchestra Versatil and with Perico Hernández's orchestra at El Floridita Restaurant in Hollywood.

Then it was on to Havana in February, 1996, to study and analyze the typical Cuban charanga sound with maestro Richard Egües. One evening she experienced a thrill of a lifetime when a Cuban audience thunderously applauded her wooden flute solos while performing with Los Van Van during their appearance at Havana's Palacio de la Salsa. She's recently recorded for the bands of Salsa Blanca, Tribus and Ocean Eleven. Before 1996 ended, she, Perico Hernández and pianist Sergei Kasimoff rehearsed their new-found orchestra with charts supplied by Dr. Egües. The East coast is very proud of her counterparts, Connie Grosssman and Karen Joseph. The West coast proud of Fay Roberts.