Ángel "Papo" Vázquez
June 2002

"I don't like to be boxed in a little corner. People start limiting you to certain categories and that’s not good."

By Javier Antonio Quiñones Ortiz

Prior to his presentation at the Heineken Jazz Fest 2002, while staying with his family in Puerto Rico for a few days after his appearance at the 22nd Anniversary Reunion Concert of Batacumbele, trombonist Ángel “Papo” Vázquez called WDNA 88.9 FM during the Friday edition of 88 Jazz Place on April 19 ‘02.

All About Jazz: With the beautiful voice of the coquí in the background, Ángel “Papo” Vázquez, one of the premiere trombone players in Latin Dance music and just jazz in general, is with us from Puerto Rico. Welcome Papo, how are you doing?

Ángel Vázquez: Javi, how are you doing man. It’s good to be with you at WDNA, in Miami, right?

AAJ: Yes, thank you for calling. It is a privilege to talk with you. Although we have not met personally, we have a whole bunch of connections in common. Eddie “Guagua” Rivera is my compadre (he was the best man in my wedding, although the notion of compadrazgo among certain extensive sectors of Hispanic families goes beyond the usual function of a “Best Man” throughout North America). Your Brother in Law, pianist Eric Figueroa and I are friends.

ÁV: That’s very good.

AAJ: Actually, do say hello to Eric when you see him. In the background, we have a tune from your release At the Point, Vol. 1, with your group Pirates and Troubadours, entitled “El coqu텔

ÁV: It is just “Coquí.”

AAJ: OK, just “Coquí.” Vázquez has one of those mile long resumes and has had the opportunity to participate and contribute in recordings and performances with an artistic “Who’s Who,” not only of Latin Jazz, but good music and jazz in general. He’s a veteran in any of these genres. His work, for example, is most recently featured in an upcoming Wayne Shorter release, as well as in previous work with Freddie Cole, Chico O’Farril, The Machito Orchestra, Manny Oquendo, Tito Puente, Jerry González, Slide Hampton and the list goes on. Therefore, it is quite a treat to have Papo Vázquez with us this afternoon. Why don’t we start things up giving us a little background of where you come from and how did you get into trombone playing and some of your experiences with music.

ÁV: I was born in North Philadelphia and come from a big family. My grandfather had many kids. I grew up with about 10 aunts and uncles. They all listened and danced to Salsa. In Philly, when I was 14 years old, one my uncles -who was a good guitar player- introduced me to the band in which he played. They went to the house to get me and played my first gig for $15. That was 1973, you know. From there, Jimmy Purvis, a guy who played trumpet in the band and was a good friend of the Grub (?) Brothers, who were nephews of John Coltrane, got me into jazz. It’s been a long time since then…

AAJ: It has been. You also had the opportunity to work with giants like Dizzy Gillespie and a whole bunch of people. Lately, thankfully, you have had the opportunity to put some of your own music out since your first release Breakout. Your group, however, is called Pirates and Troubadours. What’s up with the name?

ÁV: My first group was called Bomba Jazz, but I decided to stop using that name because people started calling me “Mr. Bomba Jazz.” I don’t like to be boxed in a little corner. People start limiting you to certain categories and that’s not good. I decided to call it Pirates and Troubadours so that you guys, the writers, can have some fun with it.

AAJ: It is a unique name, although there is something to that name Bomba Jazz as you have explored the Bomba and Plena musical traditions since the beginning of your jazz career.

ÁV: That idea came when I was living in Puerto Rico and a member of Batacumbele. We mostly played Afro-Cuban rhythms and I was curious why we were not playing more rhythms that were Puerto Rican. After the band broke up, I started Bomba Jazz. The first gig was a concert in Old San Juan and the band was, in percussion, Giovanni Hidalgo, Anthony Carrillo and Luis Cepeda, from the Cepeda family, José Gazmey on bass, my brother in law Eric Figueroa played the piano, Héctor Veneros on sax and Jimmy Rivera on drums. That’s when I got curious about experimenting a bit with Puerto Rican rhythms. Actually, I did that gig for a couple of years and then my first record Breakout. Although I always try to stay close to my roots, I like to perform a wide range of music. Going back to the Bomba Jazz, I did an installation with an artist called Lucas Dimas who got a grant for a large artistic exhibit and he asked me to write the music for it. He wanted something African but his art looked Puerto Rican. Along comes Roberto Cepeda who was living in Puerto Rico and is one of the Cepeda brothers, and we worked together on that. On the new recording, we did just last month, I got back into the Bomba stuff, playing Bomba sicá, holandés, yubá, as well as Plena. But that was because of the music for the installation work last year. It turned out so well that it became a means for implementing my concepts of Bomba and Plena.

AAJ: Although all your recorded work has different types of musical influences because you always touch on the Afro-Cuban, jazz...

ÁV: Yes, right. But, if you check my records, I lean more towards my Puerto Rican roots, at least in terms of the rhythms, I try to stay close to the culture of my little island.

AAJ: I was glad to see that you recorded your version of “Capullito de Alelí” because there is a melodic richness in the compositions of, for example, Pedro Flores and Rafael Hernández which require further exploration in jazz.

ÁV: Well, yeah, but actually, I recorded that song because my mother likes it. I recorded it as a little treat for her. But I like to keep it all wide open as I don’t like to limit myself.

AAJ: You mentioned another recording, is this going to be Volume 3 of At the Point?

ÁV: No, is not a Volume 3. It is going to be a new recording and we don’t know yet what is going to be called. We are recording enough material for two records.

AAJ: Is that coming out soon?

ÁV: We are pending negotiations, but it should be out before the end of this year, I suppose.

AAJ: Papo is in Puerto Rico getting ready for his appearance at the Heineken Jazz Fest 2002 this coming May…

ÁV: No, no Javier. I am in Puerto Rico because I was playing at the 22nd Anniversary Concert of Batacumbele. That was last Friday and I had an extra week to visit my mother in law. But, I live in New York and we are actually going back Monday morning.

AAJ: Well, I was going to get to that part of the gossip on the very successful presentation of Batacumbele and some of its characteristics “behind the scenes” stories which in some circles are legendary, particularly the stuff that can’t be aired…

ÁV: Hahahahahahaha, well I better get back to my presentation, at the Heineken Jazz Fest during the end of May. I will be performing May 31st.

AAJ: It is the most solid night of the festival, as Giovanni Hidalgo is coming with his sextet, Charlie Haden is featured with pretty much everybody that recorded in his Nocturne release and you are opening up the festivities with Pirates and Troubadours.

ÁV: I will be going with the band that did my last recording. Arturo O’Farrill on piano -the son of Chico O’Farrill-, Willie Williams -who is in Monk’s son band, the Jazz Messengers, and Art Taylor’s Wailers, among others-, Roberto Cepeda -from the Cepeda family-, Joe González who recorded and played with both Machito and Mario Bauzá, Victor Goines on drums who is an internationally known jazz drummer who has played with Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard and people like that, and John Benítez on bass.

AAJ: What material are you presenting?

ÁV: Mostly the new stuff from the At the Point records, although some other songs from the Breakout album and the last three and four years.

AAJ: For the sound of your band you have relied on the pairing of the trombone and the tenor saxophone. Tell me a little bit about that conceptual framework as you are staying away from the use of the trumpet. You do use, for example, Dave Valentín as a guest on flute in one number, although he is pretty much adding flurries to the piece…

ÁV: Yeah, just to add some color, you know… The trombone and the saxophone are tenor instruments and have similar sound and ranges. They make a good team and I like the sound. With such instrumentation, the lead can be easily traded and it is just a good combination.

AAJ: Although special guests are featured in your albums, such as one of the Brecker brothers, your band seems to gel well together. How did you put this group together? What were you looking for in terms of musicians and their musicianship?

ÁV: The new addition to the band has been Roberto Cepeda because everything worked so well during the exhibit I mentioned, when we added the Bomba drums. Although we could play Bomba with congas, we’d rather play it with the original drums because they have a different sound. The group, however, is basically a sextet. My music and my group were formed with the flow; you know, some times, I add, others I take away… I am just going with flow you know… maybe next year I will come up with a grunge record, or a straight-ahead one. My records, however, are mostly about keeping things wide open. You will find a little bit of funk, a little bit of Bomba jazz, a little bit of jazz, a bit of Plena jazz, waltz and ballads. I like to keep it all nice and wide open because I don’t like to pigeonhole myself into something, you follow?

AAJ: Since you mentioned the barriles or Bomba drums, are you using pleneras too?

ÁV: Yes, we used the pleneras. Roberto Cepeda and Joe González play them.

AAJ: We closed our talk by listening to “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” to the approval of Vázquez who saw it as a befitting reiteration of his desire to keep his playing and repertoire varied within its Puerto Ricanness…

If you click here, you can see a photo of a pair of Bomba drums, as well as the three hand drums called pleneras, for playing Plena.

Ubiquity/CuBop Records has a feature for Papo Vázquez at their website.

Bio:
José “Papo” Vázquez was raised among North Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican community. After buying a $5 trombone from a friend’s brother, Vázquez joined his elementary school band. Later his family introduced him to the vibrant music and popular Latin dances of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Inspired by Latin trombonists such as Barry Rogers, José Rodríguez and Willie Colón, Vázquez decided to become a professional musician at the age of 13.

By the early ‘70s, Vázquez had moved to New York and was playing with bands like Conjunto Libre and Héctor Lavoe. Before long, he was working with top names in Latin music like the Fania All Stars, Ray Barreto, Celia Cruz and Eddie Palmieri. He even appeared on Willie Colón’s landmark release Siembra, which is one of the highest selling Salsa albums ever.

Vázquez has always been deeply moved by jazz and specifically cites the music of John Coltrane and J.J. Johnson as being most influential. Studies with Slide Hampton led to arranging and performing with Hampton’s “World of Trombones.” Eventually, Vázquez toured Europe with the Ray Charles Orchestra and performed in New York with Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Foster, and Mel Lewis, among many others. His involvement with Hilton Ruiz, Dave Valentín and Jerry González, placed Vázquez as a key player in Latin Jazz.

In the ‘80s, Vázquez traveled the globe. He played with Batacumbele in Puerto Rico from 1981 to 1985. At the time, Batacumbele was one of the most innovative and popular Latin Fusion bands. Later, he traveled as principal trombonist for Tito Puente and toured Europe with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra.

Vázquez’ ability to fuse Afro-Caribbean rhythms, especially those from Cuba and Puerto Rico, with freer melodic and harmonic elements of progressive jazz has insured his popularity on many fronts. As a composer Papo Vázquez highlighted his talents on Rubén Blades Antecedentes recording, as well as Hilton Ruiz’ Manhattan Mambo, and many others. He played on the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues, The Mambo Kings, and other cinematic productions.

Recordings:
2001 Wayne Shorter (Unreleased)
2000 Manny Oquendo & Libre Los Newyorkinos (Milestone)
2000 Freddie Cole Rio de Janeiro Blue (Telarc)
2000 Chico O’Farrill Carambola (Fantasy Records)
2000 Papo Vázquez Pirates and Troubadours at the Point Vol. II (Cubop)
1999 Papo Vázquez Pirates and Troubadours at the Point Vol. I (Cubop)
1999 Milton Cardona Cambucha (American Clave)
1999 Arturo O’Farrill Bloodlines (Fantasy)
1996 Manny Oquendo & Libre On the Move! (¡Muévete!) (Milestone)
1996 Bronx Lebanon New Directions Project-Papo Vázquez, The Chucho Valdés All Stars, et al. (RMM) 1995 Jammin’ in the Bronx-Papo Vázquez, Chucho Valdés, The Machito Orchestra, et al. (RMM) 1995 Chart Busters-Dr. Lonnie Smith, Lenny White, Hiram Bullock, Craig Handy, Papo Vázquez 1995 Chico O’Farrill Pure Emotion (Fantasy)
1995 Steve Berrios First World (Fantasy) arr. “Dale”
1994 Manny Oquendo & Libre Mejor que nunca (Milestone)
1994 Descarga Boricua Descarga Boricua (Tierrazo) comp. “Contra mar y mareo”
1994 Dave Valentín Tropic Heat (GRP) comp. “Tasty Mango”
1994 Juan Luis Guerra Fogaraté! (Karen Records)
1993 Manny Oquendo & Libre Ahora (Milestone)
1992 Papo Vázquez Breakout (Timeless) comp. “Break Out,” “Bomba Voulez,” “To My Friends,” “Fiesta Sicá”
1992 Rubén Blades Amor y control (Sony)
1992 Hilton Ruiz Manhattan Mambo (Telarc) comp. “Overtime Mambo”
1992 Tito Puente Out of This World (Capitol)
1992 Tito Puente 100th (Capitol)
1991 Rubén Blades Caminando (Sony Discos) music to “Tengan fe”
1989 Jerry González and the Fort Apache Band Obatalá (ENJA)
1989 New York Latin Jazz All Stars Feliz Navidad (Capitol) arr. “Winter Wonderland”
1988 Rubén Blades Antecedentes (Elektra)
1987 Willie Colón & Celia Cruz The Winners (Fania)
1984-1985 Bobby Valentín (Bronco Records)
1982 Jerry González and the Fort Apache Band The River is Deep (ENJA)
1982 Batacumbele Con un poco de songo (Disco Hit)
1981 Batacumbele En aquellos tiempos (Disco Hit)
1981 Manny Oquendo & Conjunto Libre Increíble (Salsoul)
1980 Ray Barretto Ricanstruction (Fania)
1979 Slide Hampton The World of Trombones (1201 Music)
1979 Jerry González and the Fort Apache Band Yo ya me curé (American Clave)
1979 Fania All Stars Havana Jam (Fania)
1978 Willie Colón & Rubén Blades Siembra (Fania)
1978 Mon Rivera Forever (Fania)
1978 Héctor Lavoe De ti depende (Fania)
1977 Willie Colón & Rubén Blades Metiendo Mano (Fania)
197? Manny Oquendo & Conjunto Libre Con salsa... con ritmo (Salsoul)

Performances:
Olympic Jazz Summit-Wynton Marsalis
Dizzy Gillespie United Nation Band
Charles Mingus Dynasty
Irakere & Jesús “Chucho” Valdés
Grupo Folklórico New Yorquino
Jorge Dalto
Eddie Palmieri
Los Pleneros de la 21
Ray Charles
Frank Foster Big Band
Mel Lewis Big Band
Walter Bishop, Jr.
Don Pullen
Ritmo Oriental de Cuba
Fort Apache Band with McCoy Tyner
Village Vanguard Orchestra

Tours:
2002 Papo Vázquez Pirates & Troubadours, Heineken Jazzfest, PR
2001 Papo Vázquez Pirates & Troubadours, North Sea Jazz Festival-Europe
2001 Papo Vázquez Pirates & Troubadours, San Jose Jazz Festival, CA
2001 Chico O’Farrill, Italy
2000 Papo Vázquez Pirates & Troubadours, North Sea Jazz Festival-South Africa
2000 Papo Vázquez Pirates & Troubadours, Atlanta Jazz Festival, GA
2000 Chico O’Farrill, Mexico
2000 Papo Vázquez Pirates & Troubadours, Heineken Jazzfest, PR
1996 Wynton Marsalis Olympic Summit Jazz All Star Orchestra, Atlanta, GA
1996 Chico O’Farrill, San Francisco
1996 Manny Oquendo & Libre, Europe
1995 Manny Oquendo & Libre, USA
1992 Rubén Blades, Europe and South America
1990-’91-’88 Tito Puente, Europe, Japan & USA
1990 Dizzy Gillespie, Europe
1989 Rubén Blades, Europe & Japan
1988-‘82 Jerry González & The Fort Apache Band, Europe
1988 The Warrior Ant musical play, USA
1985-’86 Eddie Palmieri, Europe
1984 Bobby Valentín, USA
1983 Cab Calloway, Virgin Islands
1981 Batacumbele, Cuba
1980 Ray Charles, Europe
1979 Fania All Stars, Cuba
1978 Celia Cruz & Tito Puente, Venezuela
1977 Willie Colón & Rubén Blades, South and Central America
1976 Héctor Lavoe, PR & USA
1976 Manny Oquendo & Libre, Africa
1975 Larry Harlow, Venezuela

TV and Cinema Soundtracks: Cinema: Piñeiro-2001
Cinema: Free Enterprise-2001 (“Baila plena” was used in the soundtrack)
HBO: New Yorican Dreams-1999 (“Baila plena” & “Coquí” were used in the soundtrack)
Cinema: Thomas Crowne Affair-1999
Cinema: Chico O’Farrill Documentary-1999
Cinema: The Perez Family-1995
Jingle: Chico O’Farrill for AT&T-1995
Cinema: Mambo Kings-1994
Cinema: Mo’ Better Blues-1990
Cinema: Q&A-1990
TV: Bill Cosby & Tito Puente-1989
HBO: Carlos Santana, Rubén Blades & Tito Puente-1989