For musicians, many things in the world that may be abstractions or that seem remote to others’ personal experience feel much closer. Venezuela and its people, especially the musicians, are very close to me. Many of my most valued colleagues come from that country’s rich musical soil, and the contributions of Venezuelan musicians to la música Latina, jazz, “classical” music, and other idioms are irreplaceable. The sounds coming from that land itself, whether folkloric, popular, or art, are a shining jewel in the crown of music of the Americas and of the Afro-Atlantic diaspora. Venezuelan musicians are erudite, supremely skilled, eloquently expressive, and possess both refinement and fire. Audiences there are discerning, cultivated, and "down home” in equal measure. I have had uniformly rewarding musical experiences there over the years, dating back to the early 1980s.
One of my first trips out of the States was to Caracas with the orchestra of Angel Canales in 1982, playing a large stadium concert and a TV appearance. Angel Canales’s band was a great organization, very progressive in a lot of ways, and prepared me well for later and more extensive work with Hector LaVoe and then to the decades-long collaboration with Eddie Palmieri.
This YouTube from the TV show has proof that I once had a little bit of hair, and exhibits my ability to “fake it ‘till you make it”, playing slightly more bop lines than needed and still getting my bearings in the clave (Hector, along with Milton Cardona and Pablo “El Indio” Rosario, straightened out my priorities there!).
I was back a number of times with Eddie in the nineties through the teens. I’ll treasure forever the pair of handmade “Pan y Queso” maracas that I received at a visit to that artisan’s atelier during my visit to Caracas with Eddie in 1991:
Our concert in 2012 with “La Perfecta II” was a good one, and up in its entirety on YT. It was quite an audience that spurred us on:
As mentioned above, I’ve had the pleasure and good fortune to play together and record with many Venezuelan musicians, on the scene in NYC and on the international bandstand. A partial roll-call, some who I just saw last night at Andy Gonzales’s memorial at St.Peter’s, and some who I haven’t seen for too long - you all are in my thoughts at this fraught time.
Trumpet: Raul Agraz, Michael Simon, Linda Briceño
Sax: Rolando Briceño, Pablo Gil, Ed Calle
Trombone: Angel Subero
Piano: Luis Perdomo, Ed Simon, Silvano Monasterios
Bass: Rodner Padilla
Drums: Marlon Simon
Percussion: Roberto Quintero, Luis Quintero
Bandleader: Andy Duran
Luis Perdomo and I have played and recorded together for the last 25 years. He’s on my latest album, “7X7by7”, and will be on a couple of upcoming projects coming out this year as well. Here he is on two albums of mine recorded almost twenty years apart:
“La Mulata Rumbera”, the Cuban classic in my arrangement (an update of Peruchin’s version from “Piano Con Moña”), from “ConClave” on the CrissCross label from 2003, also featuring Roberto Quintero:
(cued up to the piano solo; listen to the whole long track if you like!)
“Academy Blues” from “7x7by7” (Hollistic MusicWorks), recorded in 2021 and released in 2024:
(piano takes first solo)
Let’s all wish for the best for this great country and its people - peace, prosperity, justice, and sovereignty.
B.L.
