Just last week, I received a great surprise in the mail...a carefully packed box loaded down with 78s.
A good friend (you can check out his shellac & vinyl videos
here) sent them knowing my penchant for wax pertaining to Puerto Rico and Cuba (among others).
Y ahora, a escucharlos...
Norosbaldo Morales (January 4, 1912, Puerta de Tierra –
January 16, 1964, San Juan) was a Puerto Rican pianist and bandleader.
Morales learned several instruments as a child. He played in
Venezuela from 1924 to 1930, then returned to Puerto Rico to play with Rafaél
Muñoz. He emigrated to New York City in 1935, and played there with Alberto
Socarras and Augusto Cohen. In 1939, he and brothers Humberto and Esy put
together the Brothers Morales Orchestra. He released the tune "Serenata
Ritmica" on Decca Records in 1942, which catapulted him to fame in the
mambo and rumba music world; his band rivaled Machito's in popularity in New
York in the 1940s.
It was during this time that his orchestra played for the
Havana Madrid nightclub.
In 1960 Morales returned to Puerto Rico and played
locally; he also worked with Tito Rodríguez, José Luis Moneró, Chano Pozo,
Willie Rosario and Tito Puente. Among the musicians who played in Morales'
orchestra were Ray Santos, Jorge López, Rafí Carrero, Juancito Torres, Pin
Madera, Ralph Kemp, Pepito Morales, Carlos Medina, Lidio Fuentes, Simón Madera,
Ana Carrero, Pellin Rodriguez, and Avilés.
Armando Peraza (born ca. May 30, 1924 in Havana, Cuba) is a
Latin jazz percussionist.
Through his long associations with jazz pianist George
Shearing, vibraphonist Cal Tjader and guitarist Carlos Santana, he has been
internationally known from the 1950s through to the 1990s. Although primarily
known as a bongocero and conguero, Peraza is also an innovative and
accomplished dancer and composer. Peraza has been featured on classic
recordings by Perez Prado, Machito, George Shearing, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente,
Cal Tjader and Carlos Santana.
Armando Peraza is one of a handful of Cuban percussionists
who came to the United States in the 1940s and 50s. Other notable congueros who
came to the U.S. during that time include Mongo Santamaria, Chano Pozo,
Francisco Aguabella, Julito Collazo, Carlos Vidal Bolado and Modesto Duran.
Peraza's work with Shearing, Tjader and Santana
brought him international fame. He has been inducted into the Smithsonian
Institution's Hall of Jazz Legends and has had three official "Armando
Peraza Days" by the City of San Francisco.
Anselmo Sacasas (23 November 1912 - 22 January 1998) was a
Cuban jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger. As a pianist he took
inspiration from Cuban tres players like Arsenio Rodríguez, adapting their
techniques to his own style as a soloist in orchestras playing Cuban music.
He began to learn piano at the age of 6 from a female
cousin, and 10 years later graduated from the music conservatory in Manzanillo.
He later moved to Havana, where he composed piano pieces for silent films and
developed an interest in the danzón style. In the early 1930s he was a membor
of Tata Pereira's orchestra.
In 1936 he met the singer Miguelito Valdés, with whom he
would work in the Orquesta de los Hermanos Castro. Shortly after he would found
the Orquesta Casino de la Playa. This band, with its jazz arrangements, would
prove to be a complete revolution in the Cuban music scene, touring Central and
South America and appearing on film in both Cuba and the United States.
In 1940, Sacasas left for New York, where after some
difficulty he was able to found his own orchestra in 1941. They played in the
Colony Club in Chicago and the cabarets La Conga Club and Havana Madrid in
Manhattan.
In 1959 he became the musical director of the hotel
Fountainbleu in Miami and Club Ronde. In 1973 he became the director of the
cabaret Tropicoro for three years, after which he retired to Miami, where he
died in 1998.
