percussionist
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...
,
conga
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...
drummer, bandleader and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
composer. He was a leading jazz and salsa disc jockey in the US and acknowledged as at the forefront of New York's
salsa music
Salsa music is a style of Latin American music. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most songs considered as salsa are primarily based on son montu ...
explosion of the seventies and early eighties. He was the creator of the long running "Salsa Meets Jazz" concert series at New York's
Village Gate
The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structur ...
club.
Early life
At fourteen, he was influenced by the jazz and Latin music radio shows of
Gene Norman
GNP Crescendo Record Co. is an independent record label founded in 1954 by Gene Norman ''(né'' Eugene Abraham Nabatoff; 1922–2015). It started as a producer of jazz, then expanded into many other genres, including comedy, rock, and ''Star Trek' ...
over KFI and
Chico Sesma
Chico () means ''small'', ''boy'' or ''child'' in the Spanish language. It is also the nickname for Francisco in the Portuguese language ().
Chico may refer to:
Places
*Chico, California, a city
* Chico, Montana, an unincorporated community
*Chi ...
respectively on radio station KALI. Roger recalls going to Gene Norman's concerts at the
Pasadena Civic Auditorium
The Pasadena Convention Center is a convention center in Pasadena, California. It consists of three buildings.
Pasadena Civic Auditorium
The Civic Auditorium, one of the major structures in the Pasadena Civic Center District, was built in 1931 a ...
to see
Erroll Garner
Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad " Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first rec ...
,
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
with
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.
Born and rai ...
and the "
West Coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied rela ...
" sounds of
Howard Rumsey
Howard Rumsey (November 7, 1917 – July 15, 2015) was an American jazz double-bassist known for his leadership of the Lighthouse All-Stars in the 1950s.
Biography
Born in Brawley, California, United States, Rumsey first began playing the piano, ...
Shorty Rogers
Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arrang ...
and the Giants and the
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrum ...
,
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool".
Baker earned much attention and ...
Quartet. Gene Norman also owned "The Crescendo" Jazz club on the
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...
in Hollywood where on his fourteenth birthday Roger met vibraphonist
Cal Tjader
Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, even as he continued to perform music of Afro-Jazz, ...
and the great Cuban Conguero
Armando Peraza
Armando Peraza (May 30, 1924 – April 14, 2014) was a Latin jazz percussionist and a member of the rock band Santana. Peraza played congas, bongos, and timbales.
Biography
Early life
Born in Lawton Batista, Havana, Cuba in 1924 (although the ...
who so impressed Roger that he pleaded for Peraza to begin teaching him
Afro-Cuban
Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural ...
conga drum
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...
technique.
Dawson transferred to
John Muir High School
John Muir High School is a four-year comprehensive secondary school in Pasadena, California, United States and is a part of the Pasadena Unified School District. The school is named after preservationist John Muir.
History
In 1926 the Pasadena ...
Bobby Hutcherson
Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note album '' Components'', is one of his best-known compositions.Huey, Steve. "Components – Bob ...
, Bassist
Herbie Lewis
Herbie Lewis (February 17, 1941 – May 18, 2007) was an American jazz double bassist. He played or recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Stanley Turrentine, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Harold Land, Jackie McLean, Archie Shepp, Tete Mon ...
and pianist Nat Brown; with Roger on drums, together they formed a quartet called "The Jazz Monitors" and performed at venues in the Los Angeles area until they graduated from John Muir in 1958.
Early radio career
Following high school Dawson served in the U.S. Army and was an announcer for the Armed Forces radio network in Europe. On leave in Amsterdam Roger ran into Bob Whitlock, the original bassist for the
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrum ...
Quartet who had received a scholarship to the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
in Paris. Bob and Roger travelled to Paris where Bob brought Dawson into the Blue Note Jazz Club where they performed with bebop pianist
Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of mod ...
.
Leaving the service in 1961 Dawson returned to California and the La Jolla/San Diego area where he went to work for jazz radio station KFMX as a deejay and account executive. In 1963 Roger became the General Manager of San Diego radio station KJLM which he changed to a 24-hour "straight ahead" jazz format changing the call letters to KDIG and won the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Jazz Station award in June 1965.
Jazz and salsa musician
In November 1966, after a conversation with
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.
Born and rai ...
at the "It Club" in Los Angeles in 1965, Dawson gave up his General Manager radio position and went to New York to play jazz, joining his high school pals
Herbie Lewis
Herbie Lewis (February 17, 1941 – May 18, 2007) was an American jazz double bassist. He played or recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Stanley Turrentine, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Harold Land, Jackie McLean, Archie Shepp, Tete Mon ...
and
Bobby Hutcherson
Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note album '' Components'', is one of his best-known compositions.Huey, Steve. "Components – Bob ...
who had moved to New York while he had been in the service. He lived on
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harl ...
's Sugar Hill and pursued his studies of the conga drum and Afro Cuban percussion with Jose Valiente, Carlos Valdes (Patato), Jose Mangual, Frankie Malabe and Milton Cardona. He joined Frankie Dante's Orquesta Flamboyan Salsa group on congas and performed with many of the top salsa bands from
Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz ...
(see photo).
Machito
Machito (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music. Ginell, Richard S. ''Biography''. Allmusic, 2011/ref> He w ...
,
Típica 73
Típica 73 was an American charanga and salsa band in the 1970s and early 1980s, that was formed by musicians from Ray Barretto's band. "Típica" refers to the typical configuration of a Cuban chararanga while "73" refers to the year that group ...
, Fajardo, Orquesta Broadway, Angel Canales,
Dave Valentin
David Peter Valentin (April 29, 1952 – March 8, 2017) was an American Latin jazz flautist of Puerto Rican descent.
Life and career
Valentin was born to Puerto Rican parents in The Bronx in New York City. He attended The High School of Music ...
,
Joe Cuba
Joe Cuba (April 22, 1931 – February 15, 2009), was an American conga drummer of Puerto Rican descent widely regarded as the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".
Early years
Joe Cuba (birth name: Gilberto Miguel Calderón) was born in Harlem, New York ...
, Cortijo just to name a few. He co-composed the salsa tune "Iguales" with
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...
that was recorded by Orquesta Guarere.
Dawson continued to be active with respect to his jazz roots performing with jazz pianist
Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.
Biography Early life
Jamal was born Fr ...
,
Ray Nance
Ray Willis Nance (December 10, 1913 – January 28, 1976) was an American jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
Early years
Nance was the leader of his o ...
, the
Gil Evans
Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans ( né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role ...
Orchestra,
McCoy Tyner
Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Gr ...
,
Roy Haynes
Roy Owen Haynes (born March 13, 1925) is an American jazz drummer. He is among the most recorded drummers in jazz. In a career lasting over 80 years, he has played swing, bebop, jazz fusion, avant-garde jazz and is considered a pioneer of jazz ...
,
Hannibal Marvin Peterson
Hannibal Lokumbe (born Marvin Peterson on November 11, 1948) is an American jazz trumpeter.
Career
A native of Smithville, Texas, United States, he is sometimes known by the name "Hannibal". He attended high school in Texas City, Texas and was i ...
,
Kenny Barron
Kenny Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist, who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era.
Biography
Born in Philadel ...
,
Billy Harper
Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.Chris KelseyBilly Harper Biography ''AllMusi ...
,
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton Jr. (January 17, 1934 – August 19, 2013) was an American hard bop jazz pianist. He came to prominence as a member of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long career as a bandleader and ...
,
Herbie Lewis
Herbie Lewis (February 17, 1941 – May 18, 2007) was an American jazz double bassist. He played or recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Stanley Turrentine, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Harold Land, Jackie McLean, Archie Shepp, Tete Mon ...
,
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives f ...
,
Bobby Hutcherson
Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note album '' Components'', is one of his best-known compositions.Huey, Steve. "Components – Bob ...
Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.
Biography Early life
Patterson was born and ...
,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (born Ronald Theodore Kirk; August 7, 1935Kernfeld, Barry.Kirk, Roland" ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'', 2nd ed. Ed. Barry Kernfeld. ''Grove Music Online''. ''Oxford Music Online''. Retrieved February 1, 2009-. "The year ...
,
Hilton Ruiz
Hilton Ruiz (May 29, 1952 – June 6, 2006) was an American jazz pianist in the Afro-Cuban jazz mold, but was also a talented bebop player. He was of Puerto Rican descent.
Biography
Born in New York City, Ruiz began playing piano at the age of f ...
with
George Coleman
George Edward Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. In 2015, he was named an NEA Jazz Master.
Early life
Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was ...
and toured with jazz saxophonist
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.
Biography Early life
Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...
in several of Archie's
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
bands that featured such players as
Jimmy Garrison
James Emory Garrison (March 3, 1934 – April 7, 1976) was an American jazz double bassist. He is best remembered for his association with John Coltrane from 1961 to 1967.
Career
Garrison was raised in both Miami and Philadelphia where he l ...
,
Beaver Harris
William Godvin "Beaver" Harris (April 20, 1936 – December 22, 1991) was an American jazz drummer who worked extensively with Archie Shepp.
Early life
Harris was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Coming from an athletic family, he played basebal ...
,
Dave Burrell
Herman Davis "Dave" Burrell (born September 10, 1940) is an American jazz pianist. He has played with many jazz musicians including Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown and David Murray.
Biography
Born in Middletown, Ohio, United Sta ...
,
Grachan Moncur III
Grachan Moncur III (June 3, 1937 – June 3, 2022) was an American jazz trombonist. He was the son of jazz bassist Grachan Moncur II and the nephew of jazz saxophonist Al Cooper.
Biography
Born in New York City, United States, (his paternal gr ...
,
Walter Davis Jr.
Walter Davis Jr. (September 2, 1932 – June 2, 1990) was an American bebop and hard bop pianist.
Davis once left the music world to be a tailor, but returned. A soloist, bandleader, and accompanist, he amassed a body of work while never ...
,
Art Taylor
Arthur S. Taylor Jr. (April 6, 1929 – February 6, 1995) was an American jazz drummer, who "helped define the sound of modern jazz drumming".Watrous, Peter (February 7, 1995)"Art Taylor, 65, Jazz Drummer Who Inspired Young Musicians" ''The Ne ...
,
Hilton Ruiz
Hilton Ruiz (May 29, 1952 – June 6, 2006) was an American jazz pianist in the Afro-Cuban jazz mold, but was also a talented bebop player. He was of Puerto Rican descent.
Biography
Born in New York City, Ruiz began playing piano at the age of f ...
,
John Betsch
John Betsch (born October 8, 1945) is an American jazz drummer.
Biography
Betsch was born in Jacksonville, Florida. His family belonged to the African-American upper class; his grandfather was the black millionaire Abraham Lincoln Lewis and his ...
and
Santi Debriano
Santi Wilson Debriano (born 1955 in Panama) is a jazz bassist.
Debriano was raised in Brooklyn, having moved there with his family at age four. He studied composition at Union College in New York, then attended the New England Conservatory of Mus ...
; recording with
Carla Bley
Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera '' Escalator over the Hill'' ...
Don Cherry
Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...
,
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden (August 6, 1937 – July 11, 2014) was an American jazz double bass player, bandleader, composer and educator whose career spanned more than 50 years. In the late 1950s, he was an original member of the ground-breaking ...
,
Gato Barbieri
Leandro "Gato" Barbieri (November 28, 1932 – April 2, 2016) was an Argentine jazz tenor saxophonist who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and is known for his Latin jazz recordings of the 1970s. His nickname, Gato, is Spa ...
,
Paul Motian
Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties.
He first came to prominence in the ...
and many others.
Development of an original conga style
Having started his musical training as a post-bop traps player, arriving in New York in 1965, Dawson combined authentic Afro Cuban technique which he had learned from his studies with Patato Valdes,
Armando Peraza
Armando Peraza (May 30, 1924 – April 14, 2014) was a Latin jazz percussionist and a member of the rock band Santana. Peraza played congas, bongos, and timbales.
Biography
Early life
Born in Lawton Batista, Havana, Cuba in 1924 (although the ...
, Frankie Malabe, Milton Cardona, Tommy Lopez and others into the jazz idioms of the 1960s and 1970s including the Free Jazz Avant Garde movement started in early 1960s Los Angeles by
Ornette Coleman
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Col ...
.
The now defunct
Slug's
Slugs' Saloon was a jazz club at 242 East 3rd Street, between Avenue B and C in Manhattan's East Village, operating from the mid-1960s to 1972.
The location, in what was then a run-down part of New York City, first hosted a Ukrainian restaurant ...
, located on East 3rd Street, was the Mecca for these New York Avant Garde musicians and Dawson's long association with
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.
Biography Early life
Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...
's band at Slug's together with drummer
Beaver Harris
William Godvin "Beaver" Harris (April 20, 1936 – December 22, 1991) was an American jazz drummer who worked extensively with Archie Shepp.
Early life
Harris was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Coming from an athletic family, he played basebal ...
aggressive high energy percussive forays took the band into exploration of improvised non traditional "rolling" or "rubato" tempos that could surge or recede based upon interaction with the improvisation of the other players. This led Roger to pursue further experimental "free" playing with Sam Rivers, The Jazz Composers Orchestra and the Ted Danial Energy Big Band which performed weekly at
Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.
Biography Early life
Patterson was born and ...
's SoHo Jazz Club "Ali's Alley" during the late 70's.
Dawson adapted non-traditional tempos such as 7/4 and 9/4 creating patterns incorporating the elements of authentic Afro Cuban conga technique into these non-traditional rhythms. He utilized mixtures of 4/4. 6/8, 12/8, 7/4 and 9/4 in many of his own compositions with his own group with close friend
Hilton Ruiz
Hilton Ruiz (May 29, 1952 – June 6, 2006) was an American jazz pianist in the Afro-Cuban jazz mold, but was also a talented bebop player. He was of Puerto Rican descent.
Biography
Born in New York City, Ruiz began playing piano at the age of f ...
who was also interested in expanding the "typical" Jazz or Afro-Cuban rhythm structures.
New York radio years
In 1975, while continuing to perform on congas, Dawson returned to jazz broadcasting as a jazz deejay and account executive on New York's WRVR where he hosted the highest rated New York jazz radio show on the station on Saturday (Fall '75 Arbitron New York radio ratings). Because of his knowledge of Latin music, he created ''Roger Dawson's Sunday Salsa Show'' which began on May 18, 1975 and, according to the Arbitron Radio Ratings Service, became the highest rated Sunday radio show in the New York market with over one quarter of a million listeners every Sunday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. The show could be heard from one end of Central Park to the other, Brooklyn's Coney Island and Prospect Park, Orchard Beach in the Bronx, the New Jersey Shore and north to Bridgeport and Stamford, Connecticut.
Due to his multiethnic audience, salsa album sales began to soar. While Roger Dawson was on WRVR the New York salsa club scene flourished with clubs located in every borough of New York, nearby New Jersey's Latin metro areas and most of these clubs often competed by featuring multiple live 11 and 12 piece name salsa bands most nights of the week. Many critics feel he was responsible for putting salsa on the map as he was the only deejay on New York commercial FM radio playing this music at that time. (John J O'Connor and Robert Palmer, ''N.Y. Times'')
In addition to playing historical cuts of vintage Cuban (Antonio Arcano,
Benny Moré
Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré Gutiérrez (24 August 1919 – 19 February 1963), better known as Benny Moré (also spelled Beny Moré), was a Cuban singer, bandleader and songwriter. Due to his fluid tenor voice and his great expressivity, he was k ...
,
Orquesta Aragón
Orquesta Aragón is a Cuban musical band formed on 30 September 1939, by Orestes Aragón Cantero in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The band originally had the name ''Ritmica 39'', then ''Ritmica Aragón'' before settling on its final form. Though they did not ...
,
Sonora Matancera
La Sonora Matancera is a Cuban band that played Latin American urban popular dance music. Founded in 1924 and led for more than five decades by guitarist, vocalist, composer, and producer Rogelio Martínez, musicologists consider it an icon o ...
,
Cachao
Israel López Valdés (September 14, 1918 – March 22, 2008), better known as Cachao ( ), was a Cuban double bassist and composer. Cachao is widely known as the co-creator of the mambo and a master of the descarga (improvised jam sessions). ...
, Los Papines), and Puerto Rican music and Bomba and Plena rhythms ( Ramito,
Mon Rivera
Mon Rivera is the common name given to two distinct Puerto Rican musicians (both born in Mayagüez), namely Monserrate Rivera Alers (originally nicknamed Rate, later referred to as "Don Mon", or Mon The Elder, and sometimes erroneously credite ...
, and others) while explaining the evolution of modern salsa, he also broke the new albums of New York's emerging roster of Salsa performers.
* From the Bronx, The Palmieri brothers,
Willie Colón
William Anthony Colón Román (born April 28, 1950) is an American salsa musician and social activist. He began his career as a trombonist and also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in the politics of New York City. Coló ...
, Spanish Harlem's
Tito Puente
Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz ...
,
Ray Barretto
Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Lati ...
and
Joe Cuba
Joe Cuba (April 22, 1931 – February 15, 2009), was an American conga drummer of Puerto Rican descent widely regarded as the "Father of Latin Boogaloo".
Early years
Joe Cuba (birth name: Gilberto Miguel Calderón) was born in Harlem, New York ...
Fania All-Stars
The Fania All-Stars is a musical group formed in 1968 as a showcase for the musicians on Fania Records, the leading salsa music record label of the time.
History
Beginnings
In 1964, Fania Records was founded in New York City by Jerry Masucci ...
Chino Rodriguez
Chino Rodriguez (b February 2, 1954 - d November 5, 2022) is an American musician and impresario specializing in Latin music (genre), Latin music, Salsa music, salsa and Latin jazz.
Biography
Chino was born James Mui in New York City on Februa ...
, Cuban transplants
Celia Cruz
Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during ...
,
Machito
Machito (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music. Ginell, Richard S. ''Biography''. Allmusic, 2011/ref> He w ...
, José Fajardo, Miguelito Valdes,
René Touzet
René Touzet y Monte (September 8, 1916 in Havana, Cuba – June 15, 2003 in Miami, Florida) was a Cuban-born American composer, pianist and bandleader.
Career as bandleader
Living in the city of Cojimar, he learned classical piano from the ag ...
and
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez (April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga an ...
, Puerto Rican transplants
Héctor Lavoe
Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez (30 September 1946 – 29 June 1993), better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe is considered to be possibly the best and most important singer and interpreter in the history of salsa ...
,
Ismael Rivera
Ismael Rivera a.k.a. "Maelo" (October 5, 1931 – May 13, 1987), was a Puerto Rican composer and salsa singer.
Early life
Rivera was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, a sector of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was the first of five children born t ...
, Ángel Canales,
Adalberto Santiago
Adalberto Santiago (born April 23, 1937, in Pozas barrio, Ciales, Puerto Rico) is an internationally known salsa singer.
Career
Adalberto's relaxed and flawless lead vocals are among the best in the salsa genre of Latin music. His early inf ...
,
Ismael Quintana
Ismael Quintana (June 3, 1937 – April 16, 2016) was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of salsa music.
Early years
Quintana was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. His family moved to The Bronx sector of New York when he was only two weeks old; there ...
,
Tito Rodríguez
Pablo Rodríguez Lozada (January 4, 1923 – February 28, 1973), better known as Tito Rodríguez, was a Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He started his career singing under the tutelage of his brother, Johnny Rodríguez. In the 1940s, both m ...
,
Ismael Miranda
Ismael Miranda, also known as ''El Niño Bonito de la Salsa'' ("The Pretty Boy of Salsa") (born February 20, 1950) is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter.
Early years
Miranda (birth name: Ismael Miranda Carrero ) was born in Aguada, Puerto Rico ...
,
Rafael Cortijo
Rafael Antonio Cortijo (December 11, 1928 – October 3, 1982) was a Puerto Rican musician, orchestra leader, composer and percussion instrument craftsman.
Early Career
As a child, Cortijo became interested in Caribbean music and enjoyed th ...
, Kako, Tito Allen, Pete "El Conde" Rodríguez, from the Dominican Republic
Johnny Pacheco
Juan Pablo Knipping Pacheco (25 March 1935 – 15 February 2021), known as Johnny Pacheco, was a Dominican musician, arranger, composer, bandleader, and record producer who in the 1970s became one of the leading exponents of salsa as well in ...
and
José Alberto "El Canario"
José Alberto Justiniano (born December 22, 1959, in Villa Consuelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), better known by his stage name José Alberto "El Canario", is a salsa singer from the Dominican Republic. José Alberto moved to Puerto Ri ...
and Panama transplant
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...
joined by several non-Hispanic New York salsa stars Larry Harlow,
Barry Rogers
Barron W. "Barry" Rogers (May 22, 1935 – April 18, 1991) was an American jazz and salsa trombonist.
Career
Born in The Bronx, he descended from Polish Jews and was raised in Spanish Harlem. His family (original name: Rogenstein) possessed a ...
, Skip Farnsworth, Ronnie Cuber and Louie Kahn.
* From outside New York Puerto Rico's
El Gran Combo
El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, commonly known as El Gran Combo, is a Puerto Rican salsa orchestra based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2012, it was often considered Puerto Rico's most successful musical group. The ...
, The Puerto Rican All Stars,
Cheo Feliciano
Cheo Feliciano (3 July 1935 – 17 April 2014) was a Puerto Rican singer and composer of salsa and bolero music. Feliciano was the owner of a recording company called "Coche Records". He was the first tropical singer to perform at the "Amira de ...
,
Pellín Rodríguez
Pellín Rodríguez (December 4, 1926 – October 31, 1984), was a Salsa singer. Rodríguez was a member of the musical group El Gran Combo and toured with them all over Latin America and Europe, gaining fame and popularity as a singer. In ...
,
Lalo Rodríguez
Ubaldo Rodríguez Santos (May 16, 1958 – December 13, 2022), known professionally as Lalo Rodríguez, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer recognized as one of the pioneers of the subgenre of Romantic or Erotic Salsa.
Early life
Rodriguez was b ...
,
Andy Montañez
Andrés Montañez Rodríguez (born May 7, 1942), better known as Andy Montañez, is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter.
Early life
Montañez is a native of the ''Tras Talleres'' area of Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is known by the nic ...
,
Marvin Santiago
Marvin Santiago (December 26, 1947 – October 6, 2004) was a Puerto Rican salsa singer who became famous all across Latin America during the 1970s. He was also a part-time comedian on Puerto Rican television.Marvin Santiago El Sonero Del Puebl ...
,
Frankie Ruiz
José Antonio Torresola Ruiz better known as Frankie Ruiz (March 10, 1958 – August 9, 1998) was an American salsa singer and songwriter of Puerto Rican descent. He was a major figure in the ''salsa romántica'' subgenre that was popular in the ...
,
Willie Rosario
Willie Rosario (born May 6, 1924), is a musician, composer and bandleader of salsa music. He is also known as Mr. Afinque.
Early years
Rosario (birth name: Fernando Luis Rosario Marín) was born and raised in Coamo, Puerto Rico, into a poor, b ...
,
Bobby Valentín
Roberto "Bobby" Valentín (born June 9, 1941), is a musician and salsa bandleader. He is known as "El Rey del Bajo" (King of the Bass).
Early years
Valentín was born in Orocovis, Puerto Rico. He was taught by his father to play the guitar at ...
,
Papo Lucca
Enrique Arsenio Lucca Quiñones (born April 10, 1946) better known as Papo Lucca, is a Puerto Rican multi-instrumentalist best known for his pianist skills. His main musical genres are Salsa and Latin Jazz. He ranks with the late Charlie ...
,
Roberto Roena
Roberto Roena Vázquez (January 16, 1940 – September 23, 2021) was a Puerto Rican salsa music percussionist, orchestra leader, and dancer. Roena was one of the original members of Cortijo y su combo and later with El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. ...
,
Tito Rojas
Julio César Rojas López, better known by his stage name Tito Rojas (June 14, 1955 – December 26, 2020) and also known as "El Gallo Salsero", was a Puerto Rican salsa singer and songwriter.
Early years
Tito Rojas was born and raised in th ...
, Luigi Texidor, Venezuela's
Oscar D'León
Oscar Emilio León Somoza (born July 11, 1943), known as Oscar D'León, and affectionately called ''The Pharaoh of Salsa'', ''The Lion of Salsa'', and the ''World's Sonero'', is a Venezuelan musician best known for his work with salsa music. He ...
, Columbia's Fruko y sus Tesos, Grupo Niche, and Grupo Gale.
Dawson created a blend of Latin jazz cuts by artists such as
Cal Tjader
Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, even as he continued to perform music of Afro-Jazz, ...
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez (April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga an ...
, Mark Weinstein (who contributed one of his originals as one of Roger's themes),
Dave Valentin
David Peter Valentin (April 29, 1952 – March 8, 2017) was an American Latin jazz flautist of Puerto Rican descent.
Life and career
Valentin was born to Puerto Rican parents in The Bronx in New York City. He attended The High School of Music ...
,
Clare Fischer
Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorate ...
,
Poncho Sanchez
Poncho Sánchez (born Filoberto Sanchez, October 30, 1951) is an American ''conguero'' (conga player), Latin jazz band leader, and salsa singer. In 2000, he and his ensemble won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for their work on the ...
,
Grover Washington
Grover Washington Jr. (December 12, 1943 – December 17, 1999) was an American jazz-funk and soul-jazz saxophonist. Along with Wes Montgomery and George Benson, he is considered by many to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre.
He wr ...
and others mixed with the more "tipico" singer dominated Salsa bands. Often called "Rogelio" (Roger in Spanish), Chino y su Conjunto Melao wrote one of his theme songs: "Rogelio Tiene La Salsa" which became a salsa standard at the time. Dawson also pressured the record companies to produce quality product. For example, to save a few bucks some record companies had produced albums where the piano was out of tune which Dawson refused to give air play. He was also instrumental in exposing new and innovative salsa performers and projects such as "Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino", Manny Oquendo's Conjunto Libre, the sophisticated work of pianist arranger Jorge Millet, and the original bilingual approach of Angel Canales who could not get airplay on other commercial stations until his exposure on Roger's show broke his albums.
The readers of ''Latin New York Magazine'', New York's monthly magazine for salsa enthusiasts, voted Roger Dawson "The best Radio Show and Deejay" for four years in a row from 1976 to 1979. (Latin New York Music Awards) He was awarded a "Citation" by Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein for his work "in support of numerous vital community projects" such as Johnny Colon's East Harlem Music School which took Hispanic kids off the streets of Spanish Harlem and taught them how to play Salsa.
In the early sixties Symphony Sid Torin had a Latin show on late night AM radio and hosted Latin music Monday night concerts at
The Village Gate
The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structu ...
. Because of his jazz background, Dawson came up with an updated concept of having a jazz soloist sit in with a salsa band and created the name "Salsa Meets Jazz". He then took this concept to the Village Gate as host for his weekly Monday night concerts in which he often participated on congas. Roger's "Salsa Meets Jazz" concert series featured such legendary jazz figures as
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...
,
Sonny Stitt
Edward Hammond Boatner Jr. (February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982), known professionally as Sonny Stitt, was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/ hard bop idiom. Known for his warm tone, he was one of the best-documented saxophonists of hi ...
Frank Wess
Frank Wellington Wess (January 4, 1922 – October 30, 2013) was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. In addition to his extensive solo work, Wess is remembered for his time in Count Basie's band from the early 1950s into the 1960s. Critic ...
,
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of " sheets of sound", S ...
,
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugelho ...
, Dawson's high school pal
Bobby Hutcherson
Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note album '' Components'', is one of his best-known compositions.Huey, Steve. "Components – Bob ...
and at that time, the young
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...
. The weekly concert series at the "Gate" ran from the late seventies well into the eighties. Although originated by Roger Dawson, the name "Salsa Meets Jazz" can still be seen as promoters "borrow" his term to promote concerts or albums.
Dawson was often the host at Salsa Festivals and
Fania All-Stars
The Fania All-Stars is a musical group formed in 1968 as a showcase for the musicians on Fania Records, the leading salsa music record label of the time.
History
Beginnings
In 1964, Fania Records was founded in New York City by Jerry Masucci ...
concerts at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...
and in one of the concerts he was featured as a guest soloist on congas with Johnny "Dandy" Rodriguez Jr and his
Típica 73
Típica 73 was an American charanga and salsa band in the 1970s and early 1980s, that was formed by musicians from Ray Barretto's band. "Típica" refers to the typical configuration of a Cuban chararanga while "73" refers to the year that group ...
all star conga section featuring Johnny, Cachete Maldonado and Jose Grajales. He also hosted several Latin jazz concerts at the Beacon Theatre with
Cal Tjader
Callen Radcliffe Tjader Jr. ( ; July 16, 1925 – May 5, 1982) was an American Latin Jazz musician, known as the most successful non-Latino Latin musician. He explored other jazz idioms, even as he continued to perform music of Afro-Jazz, ...
that featured Cal reunited with
Willie Bobo
William Correa (February 28, 1934 – September 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Willie Bobo,Biography ''AllMusic'' was an American Latin jazz percussionist of Puerto Rican descent. Bobo rejected the stereotypical expectations of Lati ...
and
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez (April 7, 1917 – February 1, 2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga an ...
.
In 1979, Dawson was aboard a private chartered jet to
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
to participate in the historic "Havana Jam" cultural exchange concerts held at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana. He accompanied the CBS Jazz All Stars,
Dexter Gordon
Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...
,
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre o ...
,
Woody Shaw
Woody Herman Shaw Jr. (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, arranger, band leader, and educator. Shaw is widely known as one of the most important and influential jazz trumpet ...
Willie Bobo
William Correa (February 28, 1934 – September 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Willie Bobo,Biography ''AllMusic'' was an American Latin jazz percussionist of Puerto Rican descent. Bobo rejected the stereotypical expectations of Lati ...
,
Percy Heath
Percy Heath (April 30, 1923 – April 28, 2005) was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet througho ...
,
Hubert Laws
Hubert Laws (born November 10, 1939) is an American flutist and saxophonist with a career spanning over 40 years in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Laws is one of the few classical artists who has also mastered jazz, pop, and rhyth ...
,
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton Jr. (January 17, 1934 – August 19, 2013) was an American hard bop jazz pianist. He came to prominence as a member of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long career as a bandleader and ...
,
Jimmy Heath
James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.
Biography
Heath ...
,
Arthur Blythe
Arthur Murray Blythe (May 7, 1940 – March 27, 2017) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer. He was described by critic Chris Kelsey as displaying "one of the most easily recognizable alto sax sounds in jazz, big and round, with a f ...
,
Bobby Hutcherson
Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note album '' Components'', is one of his best-known compositions.Huey, Steve. "Components – Bob ...
,
John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra
* Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter
* John McLaugh ...
,
Eric Gale
Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist.
''Early life and career''
Born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, Gale grew up in a diverse household. His paternal grandfather was from Yorks ...
,
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian virtuoso keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer and voca ...
with
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...
,
Joe Zawinul
Josef Erich Zawinul ( '; 7 July 1932 – 11 September 2007) was an Austrian jazz and jazz fusion keyboardist and composer. First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with Miles Davis and to b ...
,
Jaco Pastorius
John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. ...
and
Peter Erskine
Peter Erskine (born June 5, 1954) is an American jazz drummer who was a member of the jazz fusion groups Weather Report and Steps Ahead.
Early life and education
Erskine was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, U.S. He began playing the dr ...
, The
Fania All-Stars
The Fania All-Stars is a musical group formed in 1968 as a showcase for the musicians on Fania Records, the leading salsa music record label of the time.
History
Beginnings
In 1964, Fania Records was founded in New York City by Jerry Masucci ...
, with
Johnny Pacheco
Juan Pablo Knipping Pacheco (25 March 1935 – 15 February 2021), known as Johnny Pacheco, was a Dominican musician, arranger, composer, bandleader, and record producer who in the 1970s became one of the leading exponents of salsa as well in ...
,
Héctor Lavoe
Héctor Juan Pérez Martínez (30 September 1946 – 29 June 1993), better known as Héctor Lavoe, was a Puerto Rican salsa singer. Lavoe is considered to be possibly the best and most important singer and interpreter in the history of salsa ...
,
Rubén Blades
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...
, Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez,
Roberto Roena
Roberto Roena Vázquez (January 16, 1940 – September 23, 2021) was a Puerto Rican salsa music percussionist, orchestra leader, and dancer. Roena was one of the original members of Cortijo y su combo and later with El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico. ...
and
Papo Lucca
Enrique Arsenio Lucca Quiñones (born April 10, 1946) better known as Papo Lucca, is a Puerto Rican multi-instrumentalist best known for his pianist skills. His main musical genres are Salsa and Latin Jazz. He ranks with the late Charlie ...
, along with
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the " Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...
,
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the Ni ...
,
Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...
and
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has c ...
.
Roger and fellow conguero
Eddie Montalvo
Edwin "Eddie" Montalvo (born 25 September 1952) is an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Born and raised in the Bronx,
he best known for playing the Congas for Hector Lavoe, Rubén Blades as well as with the Fania ...
, who was with the
Fania All-Stars
The Fania All-Stars is a musical group formed in 1968 as a showcase for the musicians on Fania Records, the leading salsa music record label of the time.
History
Beginnings
In 1964, Fania Records was founded in New York City by Jerry Masucci ...
, were invited to join in during an epic conga jam hosted by the Cuban band
Irakere
Irakere (faux-Yoruba for 'forest') is a Cuban band founded by pianist Chucho Valdés (son of Bebo Valdés) in 1973. They won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1980 with their album ''Irakere''. Irakere was a seminal musical laborat ...
led by
Chucho Valdés
Jesús Valdés Rodríguez, better known as Chucho Valdés (born October 9, 1941), is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger whose career spans over 50 years. An original member of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, in 1973 he fo ...
Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban-American jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer. While living in his native Cuba, Sandoval was influenced by jazz musicians Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1977 he met Gillespie, who became hi ...
before they were eventually able to defect from Cuba and move to the United States. (D'Rivera in 1981 and Sandoval in 1990) Roger was also able to play with the Abreu brothers (Los Papines) during the trip.
The trip had to be arranged in secret under very tight security as the right-wing Cuban community in the U.S. had threatened those that would participate in cultural exchanges with the Castro government at that time. The U.S. State Department had also warned that those who traveled to Cuba did so at their own risk as there were no formal relations between the U.S. and Cuba. After arrival in Havana, Cuban authorities maintained tight surveillance and control of the Americans. Care had to be exercised in conversations with many Cuban musicians who confided that they wanted to defect to the U.S.
In September 1980 without any notice Viacom changed the format of WRVR from jazz to country music with the famous segue of September eighth at 10:00 am of Charlie Mingus to Waylon Jennings and that was the end of Roger Dawson's successful jazz and salsa shows on WRVR-FM which had often been sold out of 15 commercial spots per hour at the highest rates on the station. Hoping to acquire some of that revenue, Dawson was hired by all Spanish-language AM radio station WJIT as the only "bilingual" program at that station with Dawson continuing to play his salsa hits. However the low quality of AM non-stereo radio music never generated the ratings of his FM show and his show was discontinued by WJIT in 1982.
Bandleader
Dawson continued to play and compose and appeared at George Wien's 1983 New York's Kool Jazz Festival with his own jazz septet playing his compositions featuring
Hilton Ruiz
Hilton Ruiz (May 29, 1952 – June 6, 2006) was an American jazz pianist in the Afro-Cuban jazz mold, but was also a talented bebop player. He was of Puerto Rican descent.
Biography
Born in New York City, Ruiz began playing piano at the age of f ...
, piano,
Claudio Roditi
Claudio Roditi (May 28, 1946 – January 17, 2020) was a Brazilian jazz trumpeter. In 1966 Claudio was named a trumpet finalist at the International Jazz Competition in Vienna, Austria.
While in Vienna, Roditi met Art Farmer, one of his idols, a ...
John Betsch
John Betsch (born October 8, 1945) is an American jazz drummer.
Biography
Betsch was born in Jacksonville, Florida. His family belonged to the African-American upper class; his grandfather was the black millionaire Abraham Lincoln Lewis and his ...
, drums and Milton Cardona on percussion. (Reviewed by Jon Pareles, ''N.Y. Times'' and Tony Sabournin, ''Latin N.Y.'') This group was featured on his album Roger Dawson Septet "New York Time" recorded by
Rudy Van Gelder
Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelon ...
at his Englewood, New Jersey studio.
Image:RogerDawsonSwingPlaza.jpg, Roger Dawson Septet at Swing Plaza, New York City 1983
Image:RogerDawsonSeptet.jpg, Roger Dawson Septet at Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs studio
Retirement
In the mid-eighties, Roger Dawson returned to the business side of broadcasting as an account executive in national radio sales with Katz Radio (now Katz Communications) for ten years. He then moved to CBS Radio Representatives as the New York office Team Manager where he was hired away by Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation to be the Director of Marketing for its two New York radio properties.
Recently, Dawson moved to Metairie, Louisiana, adjacent to
SoHo Weekly News
The ''SoHo Weekly News'' (also called the ''SoHo News'') was a weekly alternative newspaper published in New York City from 1973 to 1982. The paper was founded in 1973 by Michael Goldstein (1938–2018).
History
The first issue was published on ...
'', Thursday, November 6, 1975, "The DJ as Loner" by Pablo Guzmán
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', July 1976, "Roger Dawson" by Izzy Sanabria
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', December 1976, Annual Latin New York Music awards-Roger Dawson by
Max Salazar
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) (1 ...
* ''New York Times'', Sunday, Jan. 23, 1977; "TV-Radio Weekend", by John J. O’Connor
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', December 1977, Annual Latin New York Music Awards-Best Radio Show and DJ
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', July 1978, "Roger Dawson, Spinning Salsa into Gold" by Jose Tapia
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', December 1978, Annual Latin New York Music Awards-Best Radio Show and DJ
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', June 1979, "Jazz Marries Salsa at the Gate" by Tony Sabournin
* ''New York Times'', July 8, 1979, "The Beat That's Latinizing Disco and Pop" by Robert Palmer-
* ''Village Voice'', November 12, 1979, page 78 and 79
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', December 1979, Annual Latin New York Music Awards-Best Radio Show and DJ
* ''New York Times'', June 4, 1980, "Salsa Meets Jazz" by Robert Palmer
* ''The Village Voice'', September 17, 1980, "WRVR Pulls a Fast One" by Gary Giddins
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', September 1980, "Roger Dawson's Gone" by Izzy Sanabria
* ''The Soho News'', September 24, 1980, "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" by Enrique Fernandez
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', October 1980, "Bring Back Salsa to WRVR" by Izzy Sanabria
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', May 1983, "Roger Dawson Two Years After The Sunday Salsa Show" by Izzy Sanabria
* ''Village Voice'', June 14, 1983, page 110, "Roger Dawson Septet at Swing Plaza"
* ''New York Daily News'', June 10, 1983, "Que Pasa" by Miguel Perez
* ''New York Times'', June 15, 1983, "Concert, The McLean's and the Roger Dawson Septet" by Jon Pareles-
* ''Staten Island Advance'', Friday June 24, 1983, "Funny, he doesn’t look Latin" by Mike Hammer
* ''Latin N.Y. Magazine'', September 1983, "Dawson Swings" by Tony Sabournin
*
The Village Gate
The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structu ...
Salsa music
Salsa music is a style of Latin American music. Because most of the basic musical components predate the labeling of salsa, there have been many controversies regarding its origin. Most songs considered as salsa are primarily based on son montu ...