Certain moments in time signify major shifts in musical thought and they impact everything that follows them. In the moment, they might seem inconsequential, simply a musician following their interests. When a musician pursues their interests with an unparalleled passion though, the results are always special and in many cases, memorable. These moments undoubtedly mean volumes to the musicians involved, inspiring them to change their musical directions. It requires a little bit more to effect a wider spectrum of musicians though - the artists need to create something culturally relevant that breaks the norms of popular culture and relates to the social pulse of the era. When a group of musicians put these pieces together for local performances, their artistic community sits up and takes notice, often following in this new direction. If the musicians can reach a greater public through recordings and radio, people across the country and eventually the world slowly notice the message and take steps to understand the musical statement. The distance between the point of creation and the lasting influence upon the world represent important artistic milestones that define the music’s evolution. For some groups, these shining moments in time appear and then quickly fade away, leaving only the memory and influence of the artistic statement. Certain groups repeatedly make history, leaving a trail of milestones that mark the genre’s musical progression. Other artists leave an impact and then disappear, only to return with a poignant musical statement. Regardless of the pattern, these magical moments need to be cherished while they happen, respected when they’ve passed, and understood forever.

One of those important historical points arose in New York during the early seventies, when Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino left their influence upon Latin Jazz, salsa, and more. At the time, salsa sat at the forefront of the Latin music world, inspiring dancers and musicians alike. The Fania label consistently pumped out hit records, fueled by their massive rooster and the powerhouse Fania All-Stars. Cutting edge musicians like Eddie Palmieri and Ray Barretto injected the dance hall formula with modern musical ideas, creating a very different twist on the style. Salsa stood as the face of modern Latin dance music to most of the world, but a group of New York musicians sensed something more. Bassist Andy Gonzalez was one of these musicians who felt a desire to dig deeper into the music, understand its roots, and create a musical identity that touched upon history but also reflected a distinct personality. Along with his brother Jerry, Gonzalez studied the history of Cuban music and picked up ideas from musicians of the past, integrating folklore into his musical world. As their interest grew, they gathered with like-minded musicians to form Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino, a coalition of musicians young and old that wanted to find their place within the music’s history. The group turned heads across the Latin music scene by putting a new spin on something old, presenting a fresh and lively alternative to the commercial world of salsa. The group performed for a few years and created two albums, but their members moved in different directions; the group faded away far too quickly. Their influence spread far and wide across the Latin music scene though, leaving a massive impact upon the way that people perceived the music.

After that historic moment in time, Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino disappeared for a while, only to return several decades later. The group reformed in 2007 for a historic performance at a festival in Berlin. Inspired by their performance, the group returned to their home base for a concert at Hostos Cultural Center the following year. The group built momentum into 2010, with an upcoming evening of music dedicated to the great Cuban tresero Arsenio Rodriguez. In the first piece of a two-part interview with bandleader and legendary bassist Andy Gonzalez, we look at the early days of Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino and put the group in historical perspective.

LATIN JAZZ CORNER: I heard that Grupo Folklorico grew out of jam sessions at your house . . .

ANDY GONZALEZ: Well, it actually started with an offer to my brother Jerry to put together a group to play at an African music festival in Connecticut. What we put together is what turned into Grupo Folklorico. We had Chocolate on the trumpet; we had a rhythm section of Frankie Rodriguez, Milton Cardona, and Gene Golden; Virgilio Marti was singing. Rene Lopez was helping us put this thing together. He turned out to be the producer of the first record that we did. He’s also involved in this production. It was because of him that we got interested in Arsenio. He had the collection of original 78s from the beginning of Arsenio’s career in Cuba, so we got to hear all of that material up front. That was our school. We used to go up to Rene’s house all the time to listen to that music. This was in the early seventies.

LJC: I’ve heard stories of him having a massive record collection. What was that like?

AG: It was tremendous. He lucked out and happened to get to a lot of record shops that were getting rid of stock that they had of old 78s in brand new condition. They were taking up space in the basements of record shops and the record shop owners wanted to utilize the space for LPs and long play vinyl records. So they were practically giving them away.

LJC: What kind of stuff were you listening to?

AG: Well, everything Cuban - the forties and fifties in Cuba were the golden age of Cuban music. Not only was the music being recorded by good labels like RCA Victor, but if you traveled to Cuba in those days, you could also hear this music on the radio live because they used to have live radio broadcasts. In the studio! What they would do is they would play all these tunes and they would check the response from the audience on which were the best tunes. It was from that that they would choose which were the best tunes for albums or for 78s. So the cream of the crop of Cuban music was recorded and they released quite a few 78 recordings and later on albums. We’re talking about Orquesta Aragon, Arcaño Y Sus Maravillas - that was the band that Cachao played with.

LJC: That must have been amazing to hear those early recordings; did that feel different than what you guys were doing with Barretto, Palmieri, and everyone at the time?

AG: Well, it was closer to the roots of what we doing. To hear that music was a revelation because it sort of put us in touch with roots - actual definitive roots of where our music came from. That was a big part of my training in playing salsa. When I played with Barretto, I used to incorporate the kind of bass lines that I heard on those records.

LJC: At the time, you were hanging out with Rene Lopez, hearing all this music, and you had put together the group for the festival - how did that evolve?

AG: After we did that concert, we felt so good about it. We got to record because Rene Lopez was involved with a recording label - Salsoul Records. That eventually became Manny Oquendo and Libre’s first recording label. They were involved in the recordings; they had a couple of labels - they had Mericana Records that recorded Machito and a few bands and they had the Salsoul salsa series. So we did the first double album of Grupo Folklorico in 1975. We called it Grupo Folklorico and then we added Experimental Nuevayorquino to describe what we were doing. We were playing folklore, but we expanding it, we were experimenting with it, and it was coming out of New York.

LJC: So was it an attempt to imitate or carry on what you were hearing on those recordings?

AG: Not imitate - play music that was inspired by anything that we thought was great in Cuban music. We wouldn’t imitate it, we would elaborate on it. It was our inspiration. This concert with Arsenio, we are also including people that used to really play with Arsenio. Chocolate Armenteros was a trumpet player with Arsenio. And another invited guest was Armendito Armenteros, who is Chocolate’s cousin, who also played trumpet with Arsenio - he’s flying in from Spain to do this concert with us.

LJC: Wow, I didn’t even know that Chocolate had a cousin that had played with Arsenio.

AG: Yea, he was a sought after studio musician in Havana. He used to play with all the bands.

LJC: Was he ever here in the States at all or did he go straight to Europe?

AG: Him and Chocolate came for the first time to New York with Jose Fajardo Y Sus Estrellas. That was a tremendous band; he brought Tata Güines with him - it was just an exceptional band. They came to New York in 1958 and they played at the Palladium.

LJG: That was right in there with Machito . . .

AG: Machito started right around 1941 or 1942. There was still a lot of contact with Cuba. Machito was performing Afro-Cuban music, but a little closer in the New York style, a little closer to a jazz sound. He really developed the big band sound of Cuban music, New York style. The arranger was really listening to Duke Ellington, Count Basie and all those bands. They were getting their inspiration there. Mario Bauza was playing with Chick Webb when Machito came from Cuba. That was his brother-in-law, and they decided to form a big band.

LJC: Around the time of Concepts in Unity, it seems like it’s got so much spontaneous energy - how much of that was pre-arranged and how much of that was descarga?

AG: That was pretty much our inspiration - we were jammers from way back. That was part of the New York thing. We grew up with the Alegre All-Stars and that kind of sound. There was a lot of improvisation and a lot of spontaneous things going on in the music. Like jazz musicians - there’s give and take, maybe some e.s.p. involved, and people reacting to other people when they’re taking a solo. That’s all part of it - jazz is very prevalent with that. That was also part of Cuban music - the best of Cuban music had quite a bit of that kind of spontaneity and feeling. It also had individuals that could elevate the music in certain ways, inspire other people to dance or play to the music.

LJC: One of the things that I think makes that album so vibrant is the spontaneity that you don’t hear in modern Latin dance music.

AG: Yea, because everything’s so arranged structured, there’s no room for that. We leave lots of room for it, we always did. If you listen to Libre, we do the same thing. We have our arrangements, but we open them up. As a consequence, we never play a tune the same way twice.

LJC: Was what you were doing with Grupo Folklorico in terms of opening things up really different than what you were doing with the salsa gigs at the time?

AG: Well, at the time, besides the regular salsa scene - the tried and true things that were going on in the music - there was the Fania scene, which I was kind of critical of, even though I did record with them. I was called as a bass player with them on occasion. Not with the Fania All-Stars, but I did a little bit of recording with them. Besides Barretto, I did albums with Palmieri, Pete “El Conde,” Pacheco, Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe, Ruben Blades, and down the line - I used to play with a lot of people. I was a session guy, I used to play on a lot of dates. I got pretty much of a chance to play with everybody. I had already gone through my school, so what I did on these recordings was my take on it, using the things that inspired me, that I learned from the music. And I would bring it with me to whatever project I was called to play on.

LJC: Were artists open to that kind of playing?

AG: Oh sure! If they didn’t like it, I’d play what they wanted. I remember Tito Puente - sometimes I’d change his bass lines and he’d look at me. He’d smile if it was something that he liked. But if it was something that strayed away from the sound that he wanted, then he would let me know with just a look.

LJC: After Grupo Folklorico recorded that first album, did the band perform live much?

AG: A few things, we did the Smithsonian American Folklife Festival, we did that for a few days. Then Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental played at Jimmy Carter’s Inaugural Ball. It was great! We were playing at the Union Station - they turned Union Station into a performance venue for that day. It was one of the Inaugural Balls that were happening for Jimmy Carter.

LJC: I’ve heard stories of guys like Ray Barretto getting mixed reactions because people wanted dance music when he would play jazz - did Grupo Folklorico ever experience that sort of audience reaction?

AG: At the time that we did Grupo Folklorico, it seemed like we were providing an alternative for people that just wanted a little more in the music. Anything that we played had its dancing element. If we did guaguanco and you knew how to dance guaguanco, well, that’s a dance tradition - if you know, only people that know. If you know about Cuban music, you know about this. We provided that. We also played traditional Puerto Rican forms - bomba and plena. We played all the different Cuban dance rhythms - guajira, son montuno, just about every genre, we covered a bit. Using a rhythm as a basis, then we’d come up with different ways of playing on top of it. We’d use improvisation or different ways of riffs and rhythms for the horn players. We left a lot of solo space.

LJC: That reminds me of the work that Mark Weinstein did on Cuban Roots.

AG: Yea, that album had a bit of an influence on me. Cuban Roots - I used to like that record a lot. That had an effect on us when we did The Fort Apache Band. We didn’t copy anything, that was never our intention - but we did take inspiration from it. After we heard that Cuban Roots album, we thought, one day we would like to put a big rhythm section together and have jazz playing on top of it.

LJC: Ya Yo Me Cure was a lot like that in a sense.

AG: Moments of it were. What we did there was we took all our friends up to Woodstock and we recorded at Carla Bley’s recording studio up there. We spent a few days up there; we would record all day and then go spend the night at a hotel up there. Then we’d get up and record some more. It was nice. It wasn’t rushed, there were no time problems. We just knocked it out. We had a bunch of material to play and we just did it. That’s always kind of been our Modus Operandi. We always had that spontaneity, and I thing that comes out of growing up in New York.

LJC: Did Grupo Folklorico gig regularly?

AG: We didn’t gig regularly, like an every weekend kind of thing. We would get quality concert kinds of gigs. We did Yale, we did Hartford, Connecticut, we did Washington D.C., we did Philadelphia - mostly concert venues. There were some street festivals that we played at also.

LJC: Was that the same group of people of did the group evolve?

AG: Yea, it pretty much stayed the same for a long time. Then after we did the second album, then everybody started getting involved with the various bands that they were working with. Milton Cardona was playing with Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe. Chocolate was doing his own thing. Everybody was doing something, so we just sort of drifted apart for a while. Then just a few years ago, we got invited to put the group back together again and play a festival in Berlin, Germany. So we talked about it for a while - there were people that had passed on and couldn’t be a part of this, we had to find new people. So we got the core group of people together - Oscar Hernandez on piano, myself on bass, Nelson Gonzalez on the tres . . . and then we added new faces. We had Reynaldo Jorge play the trombone, we had Pedrito Martinez, a great Cuban singer and percussionist, and we have Arsenio’s old coro and guitar player Israel Berrios. He’s like 80-something years old and his voice sounds exactly like it did when he was with Arsenio. And his rhythm guitar playing is superb. We capture the Arsenio sound like I’ve never heard before. It sounds so close, it’s not funny.

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DON’T MISS THE GRUPO FOLKLORICO Y EXPERIMENTAL NUEVAYORQUINO REUNION THIS WEEKEND!
The legendary Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino will be performing in a rare reunion this Saturday March 20th at The Hostos Center For The Arts. If you’re in the New York area, you don’t want to miss this - the group will be doing a tribute to the important Cuban tresero Arsenio Rodriguez. It should be a night of amazing music, so make a point of being there!

GRUPO FOLKLÓRICO Y EXPERIMENTAL NUEVAYORQUINO
WHEN: Saturday 3/20/10
WHERE: Hostos Center For The Arts
450 Grand Concourse
Bronx, NY
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
TICKETS: $25 - $35

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Don’t miss Part 2 of our discussion with legendary bassist Andy Gonzalez We spend some more time looking at the history of Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino, dig into the legacy of Arsenio Rodriguez, and talk about the history of the group. Check it out HERE.

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Latin Jazz Conversations: Mark Weinstein (Part 1)
Latin Jazz Conversations: Jose Madera (Part 1)
Latin Jazz Conversations: Poncho Sanchez (Part 1)
Revisiting Latin Jazz Classics: Ya Yo Me Cure, Jerry Gonzalez

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