Drummer-percussionist, composer-arranger, educator, bandleader and WBGO FM radio host Bobby Sanabria recently led his multi-Grammy nominated Multiverse Big Band in a performance dedicated to the music of Arsenio Rodriguez. It took place at the new Bronx Music Hall (and recorded for release) where he and his wife, the noted folklorist Elena Martinez, are the artistic directors. Bobby refers to Arsenio as "The Godfather of Salsa." [Photo above of Arsenio Rodriguez]
I've known Bobby for many years. He is a leading authority on the history of Latin music and is tireless in his efforts to preserve and celebrate all its forms. His latest album is Vox Humana: Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band was recorded live at Dizzy's in New York, resulting in another Grammy nomination in 2024 (go here).
Intrigued by Arsenio, I asked Bobby to share why he is so fundamental to Salsa's sound and to suggest examples of Arsenio's music that influenced Salsa. For those unfamiliar with technical aspects of Salsa or its history, don't get bogged down. Read and absorb the music and the fascinating complications and energetic and romantic qualities. [Photo above of Bobby Sanabria]
Take it away Bobby—and a warm hug for making the time for me and all of my curious, music-loving JazzWax readers:
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"It's amazing to me that given Arsenio Rodriguez's importance and influence on Salsa, he remains nearly forgotten. Like Louis Armstrong, Arsenio was transformative. A master of the mandolin-sounding Cuban instrument called the tres, he was the first bandleader to make the conga drum a dominant part of Latin music performance.
This innovation cannot be understated. With the conga as a new tonal center of gravity, the bass and bongó could play with more intensity. He put the African-rooted conga drum front-and-center. Prior, it had been relegated only to the rumba, Afro-religious ceremonies and the Cuban carnival parades in Cuba.
In addition Arsenio was first to add the piano (played in his band by Lili Martinez) to the Son—the Cuban folk song tradition that is at the root of Salsa. Before Arsenio, Son had been played only on guitar and tres. The addition of the piano raised the Son's percussive intensity, both rhythmically and harmonically.
Arsenio also developed the multilayered mambo horn concept, utilizing multiple trumpets with written arrangements. In groups prior to Arsenio's, only a lone muted trumpet would be used playing ad libitum. Thus he created the multi-trumpet "conjunto" ensemble.
Taking pride in his Bantú Congo heritage and West Central African ancestry, Arsenio frequently wrote songs with African-rooted themes using Bantú Congo phrases. In my opinion, his greatest creation was the Son montuno, which is the rhythmic foundation of Salsa.
Born of Bantú Congo descent in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1911, Arsenio was raised with the culture's complex music and religious tradition known as Palo. Thanks to his neighbors, he was also exposed to the Yoruba—Nigerian-rooted Santeria religious and drumming traditions as practiced in Cuba.
And he also experienced the secular rumba of the streets, where the Bantú Congo-rooted conga drum meets vocalists and dancers in a celebratory way. Here, the drum intersected with the rhythms of the yambú, guaguancó and rumba colúmbia. It was this experience that shaped his musical ethos as he learned the tradition of the tres—a guitar with three sets of double strings that's the heart of the Son. Arsenio became the tres's greatest virtuoso.
He brought all of these elements together, forming the template for New York's Salsa movement that began in the early 1970s— hardcore Cuban music played with an intense Puerto Rican ("Nuyorican") attitude. For a time, Arsenio made the South Bronx his home. This is a source of pride for me. Arsenio paid homage to the New York borough's music in his composition El Elemento Del Bronx."
Here are 10 of Bobby's favorite and most important songs that Arsenio made famous, illustrating his contribution to Salsa as outlined above, complete with Bobby's notes. Arsenio died in 1970 at age 59:
Here's Tumba y Bongó. This is Arsenio's celebratory ode to the union of the conga drum, which Cubans call the tumba or tumbadora, and the bongó, which Arsenio initiated on the bandstand. Antolín "Papa Kila" Suárez is on the bongó and Félix "Chocolate" Alfonso is on the congas. The legendary Felix Chappotin is on trumpet...
Here's Bruca Manigua (Harsh Swamp). Composed by Arsenio in 1937, it was recorded and first sung by Miguelito Valdés (the first person to record Babulú before Desi Arnaz did) with the Casino De La Playa Orchestra in Cuba. It became a hit and was the beginning of Arsenio’s rise to stardom. It is in a rhythm rarely heard today called Afro-son. With its “lengua bozal” lyrics (Bantú Congolese mixed with Spanish), the song became part of the “Afrocubanismo” movement that started in Cuba in the 1920s, which acknowledged Cuba’s African heritage. It would in turn inspire the Harlem Renaissance in New York. This 1972 version is by the late NEA Jazz Master Ray Barretto, who Arsenio often invited over to his South Bronx apartment for rumbas.
Here's No Quiero (I Don't Want). Arsenio's creation—Son montuno—in its purest form is taken at a medium tempo, is hard driving and in your face. This is a classic Arsenio composition that features another innovation—the use of multiple rhythmic stop-time breaks (cierre’s) to create suspended animation, tension and release. The lyrics are about a person resisting temptation by the devil. Arsenio deftly uses Bantú-based lyrical references, tackling a subject of concern but making you move and groove at the same time. The piece is interpreted by one of Arsenio's greatest admirers—the late pianist and bandleader Larry Harlow, known as "El Judio Maravilloso" or The Jewish Marvel, a tip of the hat to Arsenio's own nickname, El Ciego Maravilloso, or The Blind Marvel. The arrangement is by Marty Sheller and is based on Arsenio's original interpretation but with a unique tres and flute soli interlude written by New Orleans trumpeter Charlie Miller, who actually played the flute part! Junior Gonzalez from Puerto Rico is on vocals.
Here's Anabacoa. This is one of the songs most associated with Arsenio. The irony is he didn’t compose it. Written by Puerto Rican trumpeter Juanchín Ramírez, it's an up-tempo mambo set to a guaguancó dance style. This combination provides a compelling platform for his pianist, the legendary Lili Martínez, the first Salsa pianist, and explodes in full descarga (jam session) mode. Lili was from Santiago, Cuba, the birthplace of the Son, and it was Arsenio's genius as a bandleader to summon him to come to Havana, thus changing music history. Another legend, Miguelito Cuni, is on vocals...
Here's Pa' Huele. Arsenio's influence on New York Latin musicians was ubiquitous. Beside Larry Harlow and Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri also became an Arsenio devotée. This track is Eddie's cover of Arsenio's rugged Son montuno, Pa' Huele, with Eddie's older brother, Charlie, joining on organ, with Eddie playing Fender Rhodes electric piano. This is from the 1973 In Concert Live at the University of Puerto Rico double album. Check out Ronnie Cuber's funky soprano sax solo and Cuba's Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros soaring on the trumpet. The arrangement captures how bandleaders of that time featured their sidemen as soloists. The vocal is by the late master Sonero (vocal improvisor in the Son tradition) Ismael "Pat" Quintana, who was Puerto Rican, like Eddie, and grew up with him in the South Bronx.
Here's Hachero Pa' un Palo (An Axeman for the Tree). Arsenio frequently would include hidden meanings in his lyrics inspired by his Bantrú Congo heritage. This composition refers to a tree that refuses to be cut down. What type of wood or magical power does it possess to thwart the axeman? Despite 72 tries, he cannot bring it down. This track is a live version interpreted by the legendary Sonora Ponceña from Puerto Rico. Founded in 1954 by Enrique Lucca, the band was modeled after Arsenio's conjunto. The band is led by his son, pianist Papo Lucca, and here features trumpeter Ricky Zayas. It's taken from a concert in Puerto Rico in 1999 celebrating the band's 45th anniversary. Check out Sonero Wito Colón's deft improvs in the montuno (vamp section). He sets it up for guest vocalist Domingo Quiñiones and El Gran Combo's Charlie Aponte to trade four measures each in the spirit of a vocal jam session. It's 10:25 of virtuosity demonstrating the unique kinship that Puerto Rico has always had with Cuba and its music (click on Watch on YouTube)...
Here's El Elemento Del Bronx (The Bronx Element). In 1952, Arsenio returned to New York and lived for a short time in Spanish Harlem, eventually making the South Bronx his home. On the weekends, he'd have rumbas at his apartment, recreating what he experienced in his native Cuba. He would invite a select group of Puerto Rican drummers he respected, such as Ray Barretto, Little Ray Romero, Tommy Lopez and Manny Oquendo, to participate with Cuban masters such as Julito Collazo, Mongo Santamaria, Virgilio Marti and Mario “Papaito” Muñoz. He expressed his love for the Bronx in this composition with lyrics on the various rhythms that could be heard in his neighborhood—from guaguancó and Son to danzón and more. Miguelito is on vocals with Felix Chappotin on trumpet...
Here's Dile Catalina (Tell Catalina). This is one of Arsenio's classic compositions. Here, Cuban supergroup Irakere, led by pianist Chucho Valdés puts its spin on the song with Jorge Varona on trumpet and Oscar Valdés featured on vocals, with Carlos Emilio Morales on guitar rocking out...
Here's Linda Cubana (Beautiful Cuban Woman). Composed by Cuban pianist Antonio Maria Romeu, the song allows Arsenio to display his virtuosity on the tres....
And finally, here's La Vida es un Sueno (Life Is but a Dream). Although Arsenio was known for his hard-driving Son montunos, guarachas, rumbas and mambos, he was also a composer of great poetic ballads (boleros). It's no wonder that his greatest composition is this one. Its inspiration was a devastating traumatic event that would cost him his sight. At the age of seven, he was kicked in the head by a mule.
Arsenio lost one eye and the other no longer had vision. In 1947, upon the urging of his friend, Cuban vocalist Miguelito Valdés, Arsenio traveled to New York to be examined by the famed Spanish eye surgeon Ramón Castroviejo. It is said that he told Arsenio, “I’m sorry, maestro. It’s a lost cause.” Upon his return to Cuba, Arsenio wrote these words.
“After one experiences 20 disappointments, what does one more matter? After you realize what life is about, you must not cry. You have to realize that everything is a lie, that nothing is true. You have to live for the moment of happiness. You have to enjoy what you can enjoy. Because taking into account everything, life is but a dream and everything leaves.
"Reality is just birth and death. So why fill it with so much anxiety. Everything is nothing more than eternal suffering and a world with unhappiness. You have to realize that everything is a lie and nothing is real.”
This version is notable because it was done by the father of Afro-Cuban jazz, Maestro Mario Bauzá with his own Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra featuring the legendary Graciela Perez on vocals. The elegant arrangement was done by another native Nuyorican of the South Bronx, Ray Santos. I'm on the drums...
