Wind players that travel through the Latin Jazz world gain a totally different experience than most rhythm section players. While the rhythm section players garner much of the spotlight due to the music’s percussive intensity, wind players work as the sidemen, providing the music’s stable side. The great wind players certainly turn up the heat with their improvisations, and they make substantial contributions to the Latin Jazz world. The great wind players understand clave, can often play percussion patterns, compose Latin Jazz charts, and have a firm understanding of the music’s history. The skills that these first rate Latin Jazz wind players carry allow them to base their lives around the style, working with many of the genre’s legendary musicians. Wind players may not live their lives in the spotlight of the Latin Jazz world, but the wind players that truly spend their lives immersed in the style have long and interesting careers.

Saxophonist and flautist Mitch Frohman has been one of the most prominent wind players in the Latin Jazz world for decades, adding his defined artistic voice to a variety of the genre’s great bands. Fresh from college, he discovered New York’s thriving Latin music scene, earning work as a sub with greats such as Charlie Palmieri. He gained a true education on the bandstand, learning the details of Afro-Cuban rhythms while he played alongside Tito Puente. Frohman earned a widespread reputation as a strong woodwinds player and when Puente focused on a smaller Latin Jazz Ensemble, Frohman found a spot in percussionist Mongo Santamaria’s band. He built a strong bond with the other wind players in Santamaria’s band, and when they all left the group, they formed another Latin Jazz supergroup, The Bronx Horns. Since then, Frohman has found steady work as a member of The Bronx Horns, The Latin Giants of Jazz, and The Spanish Harlem Orchestra. For the last thirty years, Frohman has been one of the top wind players in Latin Jazz, working alongside the major names in the genre.

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LATIN JAZZ CORNER: You grew up in the Bronx and started playing music in elementary school band. At the time, there were a wealth of great Latin and jazz musicians in the area – do you have any early memories of local musicians that inspired your love for music?

MITCH FROHMAN: Not in elementary school, when I was in third, fourth, fifth grade and junior high school, they had a band program in junior high school. You know, I made the band program, but at that age I think I was more into the popular artists of the day. The Beatles and the musicians that any other 10-year-old kid would listen to. I was really into sports more than music at that age.

LJC: When you decided to focus on music, what were some of your initial inspirations?

MF: After I graduated from high school, I went to the State University of New York at New Paltz. That was my first college; it was a State University about an hour and a half or two hours from New York City. I actually played junior varsity basketball and baseball; I also started taking music lessons there and playing in the band program. I got injured towards the end of my first year and then made a decision to concentrate more on music. Then I transferred to the University of Miami School of Music, where I really immersed myself in it.

LJC: Was there a Latin music scene down, or were you doing more straight ahead jazz?

MF: This had nothing to do with Latin music. When you’re learning to play your instrument, you’re just learning the instrument. I was taking regular classical saxophone lessons and also immersing myself in the jazz program – they have a wonderful jazz program down there. This was in the early seventies.

LJC: You eventually came back up to New York in 1975, what type of gigs did you jump into at first?

MF: It was just anything. As a young musician, you would try to play anything - a little rock band, sit in with a jazz rehearsal band, a wedding, a bar mitzvah, a Latin band – I mean, just whatever you can. I got very fortunate and within a year of graduating college, I started to substitute in some Latin bands. I substituted with Charlie Palmieri, I played with Kako’s band, and then I was substituting steadily in Tito Puente’s band. And then after about a year of substituting in Tito Puente’s band, one of the musicians left, and I was offered the job.

But I should say, my first experience in a real Latin band was the opportunity to sit in with Joe Cuba. When I graduated college, I was playing at a hotel for older people up in the Catskill Mountains in the summer. Joe Cuba was playing at The Pines Hotel down the road from where I was playing. When I’d be finished, I’d take a drive over there and hang out and listen to them. Joe Cuba let me sit in once in a while during that summer. That was kind of my first experience of playing with a real authentic Latin group. And then after that I started to substitute with Tito Puente, Charlie Palmieri, Kako, with many different of the Latin bands, until I started to play with Tito Puente steady.

LJC: When you first joined Puente’s band on a regular basis, was that 1977?

MF: I was subbing for a year and then I officially joined his band on October 3, 1977.

LJC: That was about the time that they recorded Homenaje a Beny Moré, Volume 1 . . .

MF: I subbed with the band when they had actually just finished recording the La Leyenda record. I subbed on the rehearsals for the recording, but I joined the band steady after they made that record. And then the first Beny Moré record -Homenaje a Beny Moré, Volume 1 – was the first record that I did. I think they recorded that about a year after I joined the band.

LJC: At the time, Puente was working pretty steady – 6 or 7 nights a week. What was the creative energy like in the band?

MF: It was a small big band; the steady working unit was three saxes (we recorded with four saxes, but the steady working unit was three saxes), and a full brass section, rhythm section, and vocals. Basically, we were playing dances; we weren’t doing as much traveling at that time. We were playing what was called the cuchifrito circuit that was going strong then, in the mid-seventies. We were playing dances every night, and doubling or tripling on the weekends. I was getting paid to learn a whole other style of music – it was like my graduate school in music. It was wonderful for me. There were other musicians who were in their fifties or sixties in the band, so the creative process was probably different for them at the time. But I was 22, 23 years old, so for me, everything was an exciting experience.

LJC: At the time, I’ve read that you played with Charlie Palmieri, Eddie Palmieri, Machito, and Larry Harlow . . .

MF: I never played steady with Eddie Palmieri. We would play opposite him or he would be a guest with Tito’s band. Years later, we did concerts together. At that time, I did substitute many times with Charlie Palmieri’s band and many other bands in New York that had saxophones. I did sub many times with Machito’s Orchestra during the eighties, as one of the other big bands of the area.

Once I joined Tito Puente’s band, we were working every single night, so there was not as much opportunity for me to play with other bands. It was a steady job. For a period of years after I joined Tito’s band, I really didn’t play with any other people because we were playing full time. When we started to get more into traveling and not doing the cuchifrito circuit as much, you know playing every single night at each club, I had the availability to play with many more of the different Latin and Latin Jazz bands from the New York area. People had gotten to know me more after a few years.

LJC: That would have been the early eighties, right?

MF: Well, he started his Latin Jazz Ensemble, so there were times that he would take off and play with his Latin Jazz Ensemble. And so then there would be some periods where I would be freer to play with other people. It wasn’t until the early nineties that he combined his Latin Jazz Ensemble and his big band so that it was like a large Latin Jazz Ensemble, which I was a member of. We did everything. But during the mid-eighties, he kind of still played mainly with his big band, which I was the saxophone and flute soloist; but with his Latin Jazz Ensemble, Mario Rivera was the saxophone player. Although when Mario would go play with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra, then I would sub for Mario in Tito’s Latin Jazz Ensemble. So I got a taste of that early on. I also became a member in 1988 for four years with Mongo Santamaria, while still keeping my job with Tito Puente. I did extensive traveling with Mongo Santamaria as his featured saxophone player and flute soloist.

LJC: You really played with the two giants of music. When you started with Mongo in ’88, what where the differences that you experienced between his band and Puente? They are both incredible figures in the music, but very different stylistically.

MF: Oh, of course. With Mongo, it was a small conglomeration – three horns (two saxes and a trumpet), with the saxes doubling on flute. In Mongo’s band, the horn section stood in front of the band, alongside Mongo. We played more of the jazz clubs. It was not really a dance band at that time. Mongo had dance bands earlier in his career, but at this time, it was mainly an Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz band. We did play some typical music, but it was more of a concert, Afro-Cuban band. It was more along the lines of a jazz band the way that it was set up – we were given the opportunity to take more extensive solos and be a little more part of . . . how can I say this? It was more of a total high energy show with Tito while with Mongo it probably coming from a little more of a jazz sensibility, on a different level.

The other thing with Mongo that was a little different than Tito was the way that Mongo approached 6/8 Afro-Cuban rhythms – it was really on another level. It was as authentic as you can get. While I was very, very, very well versed in all the traditional Latin rhythms from playing many, many years with Tito Puente, playing these 6/8 rhythms with Mongo on tunes like Afro-Blue, it was a different approach than the way that many of the New York Latin bands approached the 6/8 rhythm. So I would say that I got a real education on how to play 6/8 rhythms during the years with Mongo. They both – Mongo and Tito – were a school unto themselves, in different forms of Latin American music.

LJC: I noticed too, during your time with Mongo, on the album Olé Ola, you contributed a song, “Jeannie’s Tune.” Was this you first leap into composing and getting your songs recorded?

MF: I had composed since I was in college, but that was the first opportunity that I had to have a tune recorded on a professional level and put on a CD. So, yes, that was my first tune that was ever recorded. That was not my first tune that I had written, but it was my first tune that was recorded on a professional level.

JLC: Was Mongo pretty open to band members contributing things and working together?

MF: Yes, that also was probably more of a difference between Tito and Mongo’s band. With Mongo, we had a little more freedom to participate in the writing process and contributing songs to the repertoire. Whereas Tito, being such a great writer, he wrote a lot of his own stuff. But with Mongo, the guys in the band were given the opportunity to write stuff for the band, and then have it played and recorded. Mongo was definitely receptive to that.

Although, a few years after, I had a wonderful tune called “Point East Memories,” that Tito recorded on his Special Delivery album for Concord Picante. But, you know, that was after many more years of playing with Tito. I think he was more receptive to contributions from his band members as the years went on, but Mongo was definitely always open to his band members contributing to the repertoire.

LJC: Are there any memories that you share with us about Mongo as a person? What was he like?

MF: Well, when I joined the band, he was fairly quiet and fairly reserved. I had heard from other musicians that played with him in the sixties and early seventies, that at time, he was more talkative with the audience and a more outgoing person. He was an older gentleman when I joined the band. He was an incredible, deep, spiritual musician, one of the deepest percussionists that ever lived. He was nice to us; once in a while, he would open up and tell us some stories of the past and different things. But Mongo was more showing what he wanted by example. Whereas Tito might be able to talk to us more in musical terms – he was an accomplished arranger, writer, and composer. He played many, many, many different instruments. Mongo was one of the deepest percussionists that ever lived and I think demonstrated more by example. Where Tito had a much more outgoing personality, Mongo had a much more reserved personality.

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In Part 2 of our interview, we’ll be looking the formation of The Bronx Horns and discuss their two recordings. Frohman discusses some of the ideas behind the group and reflects some more upon his time with Tito Puente. Check back tomorrow, you don’t want to miss this!

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Latin Jazz Conversations: Jose Madera, Part 1
2 Legendary Latin Jazz Congueros
Revisiting Latin Jazz Classics: At The Blackhawk, Mongo Santamaria
8 Tito Puente Albums To Kickstart Your Latin Jazz Record Collection

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