Sal Cuevas
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Salvador "Sal" Cuevas (June 16, 1955 – April 9, 2017) was an American salsa bassist known for his association with the Fania All-Stars from 1978 to 1985. Although he played the upright bass, he was one of the most popular
electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...
ists in the New York salsa scene, often playing in a
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
style. "He was the first to bring the slaps and funk style that he learned from R&B, Funk, 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
music, into Salsa music." According to
Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...
, Sal Cuevas came up with the bass for “ Eyes without a face” when Billy was looking for a sound that was powerful enough to compliment the dark unromantic lyrics.


Early life

Cuevas was born in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
in 1955 and raised in
The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
by Puerto Rican parents. Aged five his father began teaching him to play chords on the guitar. The demographics of the city during the time provided Cuevas with an array of musical influences which he absorbed and later incorporated into his bass playing technique and style. At age 12 he played with his trio on Myrta Silva's show ''Una Hora Contigo'' (An Hour with You). He explained in an interview, “Being from New York you are exposed to not only the Latin part of music, you are also exposed to Rhythm and Blues, Punk, and also Jazz, so I started playing all of that stuff when I went to Junior High school. I spoke to my teacher and he said ‘why don’t you play the bass?' He doesn't know how right he was." For his high school years he attended the High School of Music & Art. At age 17, he began performing with Tony Pabon y La Protesta. After graduating high school he entered Mannes School of Music and left in his first semester when he was hired by Mongo Santamaria to join his world tour.


Career

Cuevas was a member of various notable salsa ensembles, including Los Kimbos, the Fania All-Stars and those of Johnny Pacheco, Héctor Lavoe and Willie Colón. During this time, he was also one of five bass players in New York City who recorded many of the "Jingles" for TV and radio; the others were Marcus Miller, Will Lee, Francisco Centeno and Neil Jason. Cuevas performed and recorded with many salsa artists in New York for decades, before moving to
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
in his later years. While performing and recording, Cuevas worked as a New York City Corrections Officer, New York City Police Officer, Florida State Corrections Officer and ultimately retired as a Florida Police Seargent after he relocated to southern
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. Cuevas enjoyed the title of musical director to Willie Colón's orchestra both during Willie's collaborations with famed Panamanian singer/songwriter/actor Rubén Blades and Colón's solo singing ventures. He played bass on
Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...
's hit " Eyes Without a Face" from the 1983 studio album '' Rebel Yell''.


Style

His bass slapping and string snapping technique has become common for bassists within Latin "salsa" music. On the electric upright bass, Cuevas incorporated techniques which also (until then) were rarely heard of in Latin music such as slides (''
glissandi In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a wikt:glide, glide from one pitch (music), pitch to another (). It is an Italianized Musical terminology, musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In ...
''), and utilizing the very upper ranges of the instrument, as heard on "La ceiba y la siguaraya", recorded with Celia Cruz and La Sonora Ponceña. Cuevas has performed and recorded with Ray Barretto, Joe Bataan, Willie Colon, Larry Harlow, Monguito, Johnny Pacheco, Louie Ramirez, Ralph Robles, Mongo Santamaria, Tony Pabon, Bobby Valentin, Héctor Lavoe, Adalberto Santiago, Pete "El Conde" Rodríguez, Ismael Miranda, Ray Maldonado, Ralph Marzan, Orestes Vilató, Roberto Rodriguez, Jose Rodriguez, and Barry Rogers,
Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...
,
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, Ricardo Ray, Jimmy Sabater, Celia Cruz,
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 ...
, Ismael Miranda, Ismael Quintana,
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 ...
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, The Manhattans, Angela Bofil, Mandy More, Soledad Bravo, Jose Feliciano, Jon Lucien, Los Gaitanes,
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, David Bisbal, Thalia, Los Llegales, Christian Castro, Oscar Deleon,
Eddie Palmieri Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Corsican and Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive. ...
, Charlie Palmieri, Hector El Father, Obie Bermudez, Ricardo Montaner, Don Omar, Tego Calderon,
Marc Anthony Marco Antonio Muñiz (born September 16, 1968), known professionally as Marc Anthony, is an American singer and actor. He is the top selling salsa artist of all time. A four-time Grammy Award, eight-time Latin Grammy Award and twenty-nine-tim ...
, Fernando Villalona, Papo Luca,
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 Mus ...
, Noel Pointer, Isaac Delgado, Airto & Flora Purim.


Death

Cuevas died on April 9, 2017, at Miami's Pembroke Pines Memorial Hospital. He had complications from
diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
and in previous days suffered a massive stroke and was left in a semicoma.


See also

* Salsa *
Charanga (Cuba) Charanga is a traditional ensemble that plays Cuban dance music. They made Cuban dance music popular in the 1940s and their music consisted of heavily son-influenced material, performed on European instruments such as violin and flute by a Char ...
* Afro-Cuban jazz *
Funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuevas, Sal 1955 births 2017 deaths Musicians from Manhattan American musicians of Puerto Rican descent American double-bassists Male double-bassists Fania Records artists Salsa musicians Jazz fusion musicians Avant-garde jazz musicians Musicians from the Bronx The High School of Music & Art alumni American salsa musicians Fania All-Stars members