José Estevez Jr. (March 26, 1921 – March 7, 1988), professionally known as Joe Loco, was a

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave (rhythm), clave, and Afro-Brazil ...

and

Latin pop Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and arranger of Puerto Rican ancestry who was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Life

Loco, maybe born José Estevez Jr. but officially known as Joseph Esteves, first played with an ensemble called Montecino's Happy Boys in 1938. In the early 1940s, he served as

Machito Frank Grillo (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo; December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) known professionally as Machito (previously as Macho), was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music ...

's pianist before joining the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

from 1945 to 1947. He then freelanced with many of the top Latin ensembles of the time well into the 1950s, working with

Polito Galíndez Polito is an Italian surname that may refer to: People * Ciro Polito (born 1979), Italian footballer * Enzo Polito (born 1926), Italian water polo player who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics *Gene Polito (1918–2010), American cinematographer ...

, Marcelino Guerra,

Pupi Campo Jacinto "Pupi" Campo (May 1, 1920 – December 12, 2011) was a Cuban entertainer, dancer and bandleader who spent most of his life in the United States. As a bandleader in the 1940s and 50s, he made recordings for labels such as Seeco and Tico. ...

, and Julio Andino. He scored a hit of his own in 1952 with the tune "

Tenderly "Tenderly" is a popular song published in 1946 with music by Walter Gross and lyrics by Jack Lawrence. Written in the key of E as a waltz in time, it has since been performed in and has become a popular jazz standard. Notable versions have bee ...

". Loco also did Latin arrangements of

pop standard Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

s, and performed them with a quintet in many jazz venues that did not typically showcase Latin music.

Discography

* ''El Baión'' (Tico, 1954) * ''Loco Motion'' (Columbia 760, 1955) * ''¡Vaya! With Joe Loco'' (Columbia 827, 1956) * ''Joe Loco in the Philippines'' (Villar, 1961)

References

;Footnotes ;General references * Joe Locoat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loco, Joe 1921 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists American musicians of Puerto Rican descent Columbia Records artists Fantasy Records artists Mercury Records artists Tico Records artists

Life

Discography

See also

References