Puente Tribute Vid 7 feat. Eddie Palmieri.....

This is the last of the series of videos in which Tito's orchestra pays tribute to the late great Puente. Eddie and Tito had recorded a CD together in which the tune Picadillo was featured. Here Eddie recreates some of those moments with the orchestra as several members such as Mario Rivera, John Walsh, Ray Vega and Bernie Minoso are given solo spots to show their stuff. Eddie also takes a rare timbal solo to cap the evening.

Puente Tribute Vid 6

Puente Tribute Vid 5

Puente Tribute Vid 4

Puente Tribute Vid 3 9/20/00

Puente Tribute...Vid 2

Tito Puente Orch. @ South St. Seaport 9/20/00

Ricardo Lemvo, Pottery Barn, NYC 12/4/00

Ricardo Lemvo, Angola born of Congolese parentage fell in love with the Son sound of proponents such as Pacheco. This led him to form his own band here in the USA where he had come to study. Called La Makina Loca, the band has recorded 5 CDs over the last ten years and tours regularly all over the world. These videos were shot by Alfie Alvarado.

Ricardo Lemvo 12/04/00

Bobby Sanabria and Max Pollack @ the New School

Bobby Sanabria has to be Afro Caribbean musics equivalent of James Brown. He has got to be one of the hardest working men in show business. Not only does he teach full orchestra in both the prestigious New School for Social Research and the Manhattan School of Music, he has Ascension and Quarteto Ache happening as well. This is supplemented with guest appearances and lectures on our music which take him all over the world. All this from a kid out of the South Bronx! Here we see the New School student orchestra in action with the extra added attraction of Max Pollack, tap dancer extraordinaire. Max has embarked upon merging African American and Afro Cuban forms of musical expression and the results are thrilling to say the least. Check this out.....

Workshop @ the Drummer's Collective 11/15/01

These three tunes are excerpts from a workshop conducted by flautist Andrea Brachfeld at the Drummer's Collective in NYC. Andrea made her reputation playing with bands such as Charanga 76, one of the better NY style Charanga bands to emerge in that decade. The band features Ruben Rodriguez on bass, Memo Acevedo on tims, John Berdeguer on congas and Bob Quaranta on piano. I believe the drummer is Kim (?) but I'm not sure.

David Santiago's Latin Affair Orchestra on the road

Here we present one of the Latin Affairs early gigs performed in a beautiful catering hall somewhere in Virginia. The performance took place on 3/3/01. David is seen singing coro and playing guiro. The Conga chair is occupied by yours truly.

Pasion @ Wagner Park, NYC 8/12/97

Two veteran musicians from the New York scene, Connie Grossman (flute) and Betsy Hill (violin) joined forces to create their great Charanga band, Pasion. Meant to be an all women band, they were still in search of a woman bassist, timbalera and guiro player at the time. Helping them are Guillermo Edgehill, Willie Martinez and Danny Gonzalez (from Orch. B'way) respectively. You will see Wendy Ryan on piano and Debra Resto singing lead on one tune. My deepest apologies to the other ladies whose names I do not remember. More about Pasion can be found at salsacentro.com under a by-line from Eileen Torres.

Brass Convention Tribute to Chocolate

Brass Convention Tribute to Chocolate

Ray Vega conducted his Suny Purchase student orchestra at the annual Brass Convention (date ?) in a tribute to Chocolate Armenteros, trumpet player extraordinaire. Also appearing as guests were Bobby Porcelli and Manny Duran. Playing tunes by Machito gave these GIANTS a chance to show their stuff and inspire some respect from the youngsters in attendance. Chocolate had just turned 75 at this point and was really enjoying himself as were all. Check out this rendition of the classic Almendra. Chocolate blows that Cuban funk that made him a household name.

Hector Casanova and Herman Olivera @ Wagner Park 9/12/00

The great thing about this band, which has a serious groove happening, is that they are ready for either Charanga or Conjunto style music. Among the players are Willie Rodriguez on piano, Hector Zervignon on flute and Luis Rodriguez on cuartro.

The Mambo Combo rides again 7/5/01

Wendy Ryan's Mambo Combo is featured once again with the great Jimmy Sabater on the lead vocal. Please click on their name in the index for more videos of this group and personnel information.

Latin Jazz Alliance, Dyckman Farm House, 9/30/99

The Latin Jazz Alliance has assumed several different incarnations over the 15 years of its existence. This particular combination includes Victor Venegas on bass, Igor Atalita on keys, Steve Glusban on trumpet, Victor Montanez on tims and yours truly on congas. Alfie Alvarado video taped the performance for us.