WILLIE COLON El Malo Fania Records (FSLP-337) El Malo has arrived Willie Colon, a young man with lots of soul & plenty of talent. The boogaloo & shing-a-ling trend has brought many new orchestras on the scene. In my opinion Willies group outshines all the others. I first met Willie at a dance about a year ago when he had just started his group. I was attracted by his youth & the feeling that he & his musicians put into their music. Willies band consists if two valve trombones, piano, bass, full rhythm section & singer. He is the lead trombonist & also composes & arranges most of the material. Enough of my trying to sell you this orchestra. Just sit & relax, get into the soul mood & listen to El Malo Willie Colon. Im sure youll dig it as much as I do. Enjoy! Pete Rodriguez Original Liner Notes Willie Colon is today one of the superstars of salsa, a living legend whose career spans almost 40 years. His groundbreaking albums of the 1970s, with vocalist Hector Lavoe & Ruben Blades, still stand as some of the greatest salsa recordings of all time. Not only were they groundbreaking musically, incorporating other Latin musical styles not often featured in mainstream salsa (samba, bomba, & plena), but also non-Latin elements such as funk & disco. Their socially conscious lyrics describing the hardships of life in the barrio for ordinary Latinos, be it New York, San Juan or Caracas, made Colon & his singers the peoples musicians. But back in 1967, a very different Willie Colon was about to embark on the long musical journey that would eventually lead him to the top of his game. Just 17 years old, Colon has been playing trombone for a couple of years after starting out on the trumpet. Born in New York in 1950, he had grown up like many of his contemporaries, listening equally to the Latin music of his parents homeland, & the black rhythm & blues, jazz & doo-wop of his native city. To many of the second generation Puerto Ricans of the time, there was no contraction in this. Why couldnt you dig Tito Puente as well as Frankie Lymon, Otis Redding & Herbie Hancock?. It was as normal as speaking Spanish & English in equal measures, or eating arroz con pollo one day, burgers the next. They maintained the cultural roots of their parents but were absorbed into the American society they grew up in. El Malo showcased this cultural diversity perfectly. The album brought together Cuban guaguanco, son-montuno, & mozambique, Puerto Rican bomba, & the current craze at the time, boogaloo & shing-a-ling. The latter in particular was becoming hugely popular with Latino youth, but also crossing over into both the black & white communities. With a heavy rock/soul backbeat wedded to a slowed- down mambo rhythm & lyrics in both Spanish & English, the boogaloo was threatening to take over. Many of the young musicians & bands coming up through the boogaloo scene were dismissed at first by the established bandleaders like Tito Puente & Charlie Palmieri. It was said that they couldnt play & they broke the golden rules - they played out of clave, or mixed rhythms like bomba & guaguanco together! However very quickly, Willie & many of the younger musicians not only proved themselves musically but also in album sales, & the same bandleaders soon backtracked, employing the new breed & also adopting the boogaloo sound in their sets. Although very young, WillieColon had all the right ingredients to make his debut album special. A young & energetic band including future Fania All Star timbalero Nicky Marrero & bassist Eddie Gua Gua Rivera. He wrote some great arrangements & songs, perfectly judging the mood of the times, a desire for change, & Willies boogaloo & shing-a-ling tracks offered something new & vibrant. Finally, the Willie Colon secret weapon was one Hector Lavoe. A young teenage singer born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, raised in New York, Lavoe was the link to the Caribbean, the roots of Willie Colons music. Lavoe had a beautiful tenor voice, tuneful but gritty, & with that nasal delivery of the traditional soneros. Young & inexperienced as they were, the Willie Colon band had something special & thats why Fania Records Jerry Masucci & Johnny Pacheco signed them. They were right - the album sold well - achieving excellent figures for a totally new & unknown artist. Nearly 40 years l8ter, El Malo still sounds fresh & exciting. Salsa has undergone so many changes & become at times too sophisticated. El Malo reminds you of its purest & simplest elements - rhythm, percussive drive, blazing brass, hypnotic tumbaos/montunos & a great improvising vocalist. Opening track Jazzy is a mambo-jazz explosion, from its opening brass riff through to the blues-tinged piano solo & on to Marreros incendary timbal solo at the end. This still sends mambo & jazz dancers into ecstasy four decades l 8ter! Tradition is represented by the guaguanco Borinquen, & the son-montuno Chonqui, both highlighting Hector Lavoes majestic voice & tipico delivery. The new crossover boogaloo sound of the time is represented by Willie Baby, Skinny Papa, & Willie Whopper, a shing-a-ling featuring the lead vocals of Tony Vazquez & a funky Hammond B- 3 organ. The tracks are still fun & fill dance floors in soul & funk clubs worldwide. The final two tracks show Willie Colons desire to experiment, even at 17! El Malo blends Puerto Rican bomba & Cuban guaguanco, whilst Quimbombo merges the two Cuban rhythms of guaguanco & mozambique into a trombone maelstrom, the perfect close to the album. This truly is a classic album, & one that all Willie Colon fans should own, but also anyone interested in the history & development of Afro-Rican music in the last century. A snapshot of the first forays into recording of a musician who would go to shape the future of salsa in the 1970s & 80s. Enjoy! Side A 1. Jazzy 2. Willie Baby 3. Borinquen 4. Willie Whopper Side B 1. El Malo 2. Skinny Papa 3. Chonqui 4. Quimbombo Personnel: Willie Colon: Leader, 1st. Trombone Joe Santiago: 2nd. Trombone Nick Marrero: Timbales Mario Galagarza: Conga Pablo Rosario: Bongo, Cowbell Dwight Brewster: Acoustic Grand Piano Eddie Gua Gua Rivera: Ampeg Baby Bass James Taylor: Electric Fender Bass Lead Vocals: Hector Lavoe Tony Vasquez Coro: Yayo El Indio Elliot Romero Musical Arrangements by: Willie Colon Dwight Brewster James Taylor Produced by: Jerry Masucci Executive Producer: Jerry Masucci Recording Director: Johnny Pacheco Album Cover & Liner Photos: Irv Elkin Album Cover Design: Shelly Schreiber Recording Engineer: Irving Greenbaum Recorded @: Belltone Studios, NYC FANIA RECORDS, 1967 A FANIA RECORDS PRODUCTION
Posted on: Wed, 21 May 2014 00:30:11 +0000