When a musician develops a reputation as a reliable sideman, a strong leader, and an exciting artistic voice, the musical world seems ripe with opportunities. They reach the first call spot for numerous top-notch bands, finding a regular stream of work in an artistically invigorating environment. Other musicians rely upon them as subs and collaborators, building upon the trust established over years of hard work. Their own projects often thrive, fueled by a strong work ethic and the passionate support of their professional associations. Most importantly, a fan base of long time listeners relate to their past work in different contexts, and they want to hear more. Long standing performance commitments may remain steady or they may disappear; but a musician with a career based upon a strong performance history will find more work ahead.

By the time that Tito Puente died in 2000, Frohman had established himself as a major player in the Latin Jazz world. Puente’s passing meant the end of an era in Frohman’s career, but the strength of his reputation left him with ample musical opportunities. The Bronx Horns existed as an established Latin Jazz group, with two albums recorded and numerous live dates. The Puente band continued to tour after El Rey’s death, with pianist Eddie Palmieri serving as a guest artist. Once the band stopped performing under Puente’s name, percussionists Jose Madera and Johnny Rodriguez formed a new Palladium style big band, The Latin Giants of Jazz, and recruited Frohman as both sax player and road manager. At the same time, pianist Oscar Hernandez recruited Frohman as an original member of The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, revisiting the 1970s Fania-era salsa sound with some of the best in the genre. As Frohman moves into the future, he continues to supply the sax sound to some of the top bands in the Latin Jazz world.

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LATIN JAZZ CORNER: After Tito died, together with Jose Madera and Johnny Rodriguez, you put together The Latin Giants of Jazz . . .

MITCH FROHMAN: Well, Johnny put that together with Joe being the musical director. And then I, being a long time member (of Puente’s band) and very close friends with Johnny and Joe, became the straw boss or the road manager of the band. But that was really something formed by Johnny and then with Joe being the musical director.

LJC: What does your role as road manager consist of?

MF: Well, I hire the guys – with Johnny and Joe’s approval, I choose the personnel. Like I said, with the approval of Johnny and Joe – if there was somebody that they wanted that I didn’t or somebody that I wanted that they didn’t, then I definitely I defer to them. I’m third in command. So I make the phone, you know, I’m kind of like the middleman, the liaison between the guys and Johnny and Joe. Kind of like the day to day stuff –telling them what time to show up, what to wear, how much we’re getting paid, that type of stuff.

And I should mention, one thing that seems to get lost in the history of all this stuff, the person that really was the leader behind the scene of the Tito Puente Orchestra was a gentleman named Jimmy Frisaura. He started the band with Tito Puente, I think back in 1948, and he died a few years before Tito. But he really kept the Tito Puente Orchestra together. He was the trumpet player and Tito’s partner in the band. He ran the band in the day to day operations; I’m kind of doing, on a much lower level, the kind of things that he did, with The Latin Giants.

LJC: Wow, that’s really interesting, I didn’t know that about Jimmy Frisaura.

MF: Yea, that gets lost in the history and that’s something. Jimmy Frisaura was in Pupi Campo’s band with Tito Puente and then they broke off and they formed The Picadilly Boys in 1948. And then a little after that, they put Tito’s name in front and it became The Tito Puente Orchestra. Without Jimmy, Tito would not been able to have a band for fifty years. He would have been one of the greatest Latin American musicians there was, and had bands, and been a featured soloists, but as far as keeping a steady, working big band together, that was because of Jimmy Frisaura.

LJC: The first album, The Latin Giants Play the Music of the Palladium, that one had a distinctly more jazz focus. I imagine as a horn player, it much have been so incredible to be playing in that big band setting.

MF: Oh, it was wonderful. And it’s always wonderful as a saxophone player to play with just a great sax section, which you don’t get a chance to do that often. Many of the bands that I play with, you know, I’m the only saxophone player in the band. They have mainly a brass section and then they’ll have one saxophone player – at the most two. But to play with an all-star five saxophone section is just wonderful. That was classic concert Latin American music.

LJC: Any favorite tracks from that album?

MF: You know, you like different things for many different reasons. There’s a track called “Sunny Ray Mambo” by Ray Santos that I have a featured solo on, so I guess I’m biased towards that. But I like all the stuff for different reasons. I don’t know . . . if you’re a rock and roll fan, what’s your favorite Beatles tune; if you’re a jazz fan, what’s your favorite Coltrane tune; I mean, there’s so much. For different reasons, you like different things. Most good musicians have diverse tastes and don’t focus on one or two things but just appreciate all good things.

LJC: One of the things that stands out to me on the second album, Trip to Mamboland, there’s one track, “Flamenco Mood,” that features one of the last recorded solos of Mario Rivera. I imagine that you spent quite a bit of time with Mario, do you have any memories of him?

MF: Yes – Mario, besides Bobby Porcelli and another wonderful musician that has passed away, Dick Mesa, Mario along with those other two, were probably my biggest influences in the Latin American music scene. Mario was probably one of the most devoted and dedicated musicians that ever existed; he lived all types of music. He was also a virtuoso doubler. He played all of the reeds, all of the flutes, trumpet, percussion – he played so many instruments. I actually used to sub for him with Tito’s Latin Jazz Ensemble, before Tito combined the Latin Jazz Ensemble and the big band. I also subbed for Mario a couple of times with Tipica ’73. Mario was first call before me, so I would sub for him in different situations. Because of his expertise, he would play tenor, soprano, flute, piccolo, and alto flute in Tito’s Latin Jazz Ensemble. So when I would sub for him, I would have to practice those other instruments that I didn’t play all the time to perform and meet the requirements of the job. So it inspired me to become a better doubler. He actually told me that he would lay all of his instruments on his couch or on his bed and he would just pick one of them up, play it for 10 minutes, put it down, and play another one for 10 minutes, put it down. He’d just get the flexibility of the embouchure and get the lips and the mouth accustomed from one instrument to the other. So that when you pick one up on a gig . . . let’s say you play saxophone for a half-hour and you have to pick up the piccolo right away, or the alto flute right away – you need that lip flexibility. So this was a good way to practice at home, switching from on to the other. So I was definitely influenced by his genius musicianship.

LJC: One of the tracks on the latest Latin Giants album, “Cookin’ The Mambo,” features you trading solo lines with Peter Brainin.

MF: Peter’s a fantastic jazz musician, he has his own voice. On “Cookin’ The Mambo,” we did two takes, and I actually liked the way Peter and I sounded on the other take. I think there were some mistakes in some of the background figures that the rest of the horn section had, so they chose to use that take. It’s a wonderful track on the record, but maybe one day they’ll release the other take. Like sometimes in jazz records they release the outtakes. But it was a wonderful experience. We did all that stuff live – me and Peter stood up in the recording session. We didn’t overdub any of the stuff; all the solos that you hear on the record were done on the spot within the context of the performance.

LJC: Touring with the band must set up some interesting financial and logistic challenge . . .

MF: Yea, it’s tough. At the level that we are, we don’t double up as far as rooms go. We tour between 19 and 21 people, depending on the budget. If we’re able to take a couple of extra coro singers, we do. If not, we tour with 19. So that’s 19 airfares, 19 hotels, 19 salaries . . . but when it’s worked, it’s a magical band. There’s no other band in the world today that plays that style of music – that Palladium style of big band music; the Tito Puente, the Machito, the Tito Rodriguez style of music – there’s no other band in the world today. I’m not saying this for egotistical reasons, its just because of the personnel there, there’s no other band that plays that music on the level of the Latin Giants. Because the musicians in the band played with the masters. They didn’t play in bands of the children of the masters; they played with the Tito Puentes, with the Tito Rodriguezes, with the Machitos, with the Mongo Santamarias, with the Eddie Palmieris, with the Celia Cruzes. These are the guys that created those records. And also with the vision of Johnny Rodriguez, who is basically the greatest bongo player for this style of music in the world, and the musical direction of Joe Madera, who I like to call the Quincy Jones of this music – he’s really reached the pinnacle of arranging in this music. Although we still have the greats like Ray Santos, and a few other people who are still with us, I think that Joe has reached the top of the field of arranging in that style of music. It’s really the equivalent to the Count Basie or the Duke Ellington Orchestra for the type of music that we’re doing.

LJC: You’ve played with the Spanish Harlem Orchestra quite a bit.

MF: I’m an original member of Spanish Harlem Orchestra. My good friend Oscar Hernandez is the leader. He was in my band, The Bronx Horns, and fortunately, he asked me to be a member of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. I think that I’m the last original horn player that’s still in the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Actually, I think along with one of the vocalists, Ray De La Paz, I’m one of the last original members still playing with Spanish Harlem, and fortunately, I’ve been there since the beginning. For the type of music that we play, it’s also at the top of the food chain. For what they call Salsa Dura, or the Fania All-Star style, you know, that type of seventies and eighties salsa, its as good a band out there as there is.

LJC: I see a similarity to The Latin Giants of Jazz, not musically, but what you do in terms of approach and quality.

MF: Right, it’s an all-star band, made up of predominantly musicians that came up in the New York scene during the seventies and eighties. We’ve gone through some personnel changes over the years, but that was the original concept. Where the Latin Giants represents the top of the food chain of that Palladium era type of music, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra represents the top of the food chain for the New York salsa band sound from the seventies, eighties, and the Fania All-Star period. It’s really the authentic way that the bands played it when we were coming up. I played mainly with Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaria, but there’s guys in the Spanish Harlem Orchestra that played with Ruben Blades, Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco, and many of the wonderful bands in that golden period in New York.

LJC: One last thing, what I see with the Latin Giants and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra is really keeping those traditions alive. What do you see for the future of those styles past Spanish Harlem or the Latin Giants? Do you see someone else picking up the ball?

MF: I’m sure. There’s wonderful musicians out there, wonderful bands. This music is not going to die, there’s always a love and appreciation for it. I’m sure that just like we came up with Spanish Harlem at a time when there was room for it to be heard, I’m optimistic that good things will continue.

In the same way with the Bronx Horns, I would like to continue that tradition of Latin Jazz and smaller groups. Where the Latin Giants and Spanish Harlem are a bigger level, I’d like to follow the Tito Puente Latin Jazz Ensemble, the Mongo Santamaria Latin Jazz Band – the smaller Latin Jazz groups. With the Bronx Horns, I’d like to continue that tradition. So with each of the groups that I’m playing in, we’re trying to continue the traditions and further the music of the different eras that I’ve been fortunate to be a part of.

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Thanks to Mitch Frohman for spending this time with me discussing his career, it was a fun, informative, and engaging conversation! Make sure that you check out all three parts of the interview. From here, you can jump to:

Part 1 where Frohman discusses his early career, entry into the Puente band, and his time with Mongo Santamaria

Part 2 where Frohman discusses his development of The Bronx Horns

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Latin Jazz Conversations: Jose Madera, Part 3
Album of the Week: Ven Baila Conmigo (Come Dance With Me), The Latin Giants of Jazz
Album of the Week: Live At The 1977 Monterey Jazz Festival, Tito Puente & His Orchestra
Album of the Week: United We Swing, The Spanish Harlem Orchestra

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