El Combo de Pepe, selftitle Latin Jazz, Boogaloo, Descarga
audiophile issue (180 grams), factory sealed LP

 

This 1968 recording was produced as a tribute to the great Latin music coming at the time from North America: Boogaloo and Descargas. Some of the best Peruvian studio musicians got together to record their compositions and arrangements to the latest craze in dance Latin music.

Among the original composition are two arrangements of known Peruvian waltzes, Burla and Crueldad, in Guaracha tempo (a lively and highly danceable music style with lyrics, like a medium tempo Son Montuno, which typically ends with a sensual rumba section).  The leader, Pepe Hernández, and the piano player, Alfredo Linares, one of the finest Peruvian pianists ever, contributed with two Boogaloos. The central piece is “Descarga en Menor,” an original Pepe Hernández composition that showcases members of El Combo in tasty and well executed solos. 

The leader of the group is José “Pepe” Hernández, a classically trained musician whose primary instrument was the cello. In 1968, Pepe was one of the few bassists in Peru comfortable with playing acoustic bass and able to read any music chart at first sight. Before this recording he had a 15 year career as a studio musician and as a sideman with the best orchestras in Lima. His friend, Eulogio Molina, was the musical consultant for this recording.

 El Combo de Pepe had among its members some of the best musicians in Peru: Oswaldo Diaz, a trumpet player with a long musical career playing, among others, with Mario Allison; Manuel “Cejitas” Marañon, master conga player and percussionist; Adolfo Bonariva, drummer and timbale player extraordinaire; Alfredo Linares, without any doubt the best Peruvian Latin Jazz pianist ever, besides being a composer and arranger; Nilo Espinoza, classically trained tenor sax and flute player that went to form his own jazz –bossa influenced groups: Bossa 70 and Nil’s Jazz Ensemble; finally, we have to name Charlie Palomares, a creative singer and piano player that polished his art by spending many years working and learning in North America.

The musicians on this recording are:

Oswaldo Diaz (trumpet)

Nilo Espinoza (tenor sax and flute)

Alberto Castillo (flute)

Alfredo Linares (piano)

José “Pepe” Hernández (acoustic bass)

Adolfo Bonariva (timbales)

Manuel Marañon (congas, Latin percussion)

Lalo (bongos)

Charlie Palomares (lead singer)

Claudio Martinez (lead singer in El Oraculo and Amor Guajiro )

Rolando Bernal (chorus)

Kiko Fuentes (chorus, lead voice in El Lunarcito)

By 1966 Colombia started to export the cumbia rhythm to South America. The main exponents

known to Peruvian public at the time were the orchestra of Pacho Galan, Hugo Blanco and his harp, and from Venezuela, the great orchestra of Frank "El Pavo" Hernandez. Peruvians musicians that were into Latin jazz and afro-Cuban rhythms put a strong fight against the invasion of Colombian and Venezuelan music in Peru.

Pepe Hernández, a classically trained strings musician, was a studio bass player that had a small but very well rehearsed band. He played with La Sonora de Niko Estrada and La Sonora de Lucho Macedo.

 For the recordings he integrated other musicians; that was the case of Alfredo Linares, one of the best piano players from Peru, and Manuel “Cejitas” Marañon, at the time one of the best conga player in the country. Hernandez, Diaz, Linares and Marañon were members of La Sonora de Niko Estrada.

 Nilo Espinoza, a reeds player, just came back from East Germany, where he was sent on a scholarship to study classical music. Besides studying Bach and Mozart, he developed an intense love for jazz and Latin rhythms in Germany. When he came back to Peru he was an accomplished jazz musician and started to play jazz with Alfredo Linares. It was Alfredo who recommended him to Pepe Hernández. Nilo was hired immediately because he was not only a fantastic soloist but also an arranger. A few months later, in October 1968, Nilo Espinoza, recorded his first solo LP with his group, Los Hilton’s. Pepe Hernández was the bass player in that session.

After recording their first LP, El Combo de Pepe succumbed to the popular pressure and joined the ranks of musicians that were playing cumbia rhythms. Tracks 12 to 23, recorded two months later are compositions with cumbia arrangements, a clear example that sometimes musicians can not remain true to their musical taste but also have to play popular rhythms in order to survive.

 Alfredo “Chino” Linares: He was born in Barrios Altos, in Lima. His father was a piano player and a businessman. The family owned several pianos that were rented to musicians and night clubs. He was a fast learner. By age 16 he was one of the best piano players in Lima. Two of his compositions are today classic Latin jazz tunes: Tiahuanaco and Mambo Rock. By mid 70’s, Alfredo “Chino” Linares left Peru to live in Venezuela. He never came back to Peru. For some musicians he is one of the best Latin jazz piano players from South America. Today he is a legend in Colombia and Venezuela. The fortunate ones that saw him in concert in Peru will always remember him as the “king of piano” in Peru. The orchestra he kept while he was in the country is regarded as having the best musicians of the time and also the best compositions and arrangements.

Oswaldo Diaz: Born in Huacho, a small Peruvian town north of Lima on July 12, 1936. His father, Gonzalo Diaz Barreto, played the bugle with a military band and gave young Oswaldo, his first music classes. By his 13 birthday, Oswaldo formed a band with his brother, a clarinet player. The band was so successful that the manager of Coca Cola in Peru, Mr. Panizo, took Alfredo south, to the town of Ica, to be part of the official band for the company. He remained in Ica for 8 years. When he was 21, he decided to take the entrance examination for the Peruvian Music National Conservatory located in Lima, Peru. He passed the exam and studied in the Music Conservatory for 6 years. During that period of time he worked professionally, first with a Panamanian orchestra director, Armando Bossa, and later with the orchestra of Freddy Roland, an Argentinean reeds player that came to Peru with Damaso Perez Prado. Diaz worked with Freddy Roland and piano player Carlos Huambachano for 10 years as part of the Hotel Bolivar house band. He also worked as a studio musician. It was during studio work that he met Jose Hernandez. Today, Oswaldo Diaz, music teacher at the Peruvian Music National Conservatory, is one of the most look after trumpet players in Peru. As a sideman or soloist he has a preference for jazz and afro-Cuban rhythms.  

Adolfo Bonariva:  One of the most underrated Peruvian percussionist from the 60’s and 70’s. He was contemporary with another amazing Peruvian drummer, Alex Acuña. In the early 60’s, Acuña and Bonariva were among the best drummers in Peru. Bonariva, a child prodigy, was able to read any music chart at first sight by age 14. He played the piano, drums set, timbales, and assorted Latin percussion instruments. An infrequent soloist, and possessing a metronomic timing, he quickly became a favorite for studio sessions. Classically trained and able to read music charts at first sight, he felt comfortable playing simple rhythms or the most complex polyrhythm. The few opportunities I saw him as soloist he impressed full concert halls with his swing, precision, and blinding speed. In the late 70’s Bonariva and his family traveled to Venezuela where he settled and worked as a studio musician.

Track listing

1. – Burla (Lorenzo Sotomayor)

2. – Bailando Boogaloo (Pepe Hernández)

3. – Sabor Tropical (Juvenal Ruiz)

4. – Mi China (Tito Puente)

5. - Descarga en Menor (Pepe Hernández)

6. – Cuidate (Santos Colón)

7. – Cadencioso (Alfredo Linares)

8. – El Ken…Que (Pepe Hernández)

9. – Desequilibrio (Otto de Rojas)

10. – Yo Traigo el Boogaloo (Alfredo Linares)

11. – Crueldad (Joe Di Roma – Avelardo Nuñez)

Factory sealed LP. Never played. It doesn't get better than this!

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