Our communities give us an artistic foundation, a set of important influences, and a stable support system, but the experiences that we have outside our community place the unique twist upon our identity. These new adventures always change our perspective upon the world, adding a distinctly different spice to our artistic stew. These different avenues don't necessarily need to be drastic; sometimes a simple dip into new musical genres provide a stunningly new perspective. Large leaps away from our community guarantee new sights and sounds though—when a musicians makes a move into a new location, their artistic world changes forever. They gain a fresh set of mentors that infuse their playing with exciting techniques, aesthetic approaches, and standards of excellence. These steps away from our community expand our horizons and complement our original ideas. When we return, we carry a distinct artistic identity that separates us from our peers in our first community.
Percussionist Annette Aguilar built upon the love for Latin music and solid foundation that she gained in San Francisco through new musical explorations. Born to Nicaraguan parents in San Francisco, Aguilar enjoyed the city's cross cultural mixture, spending a good deal of time in the heavily Latino Mission District. She had musical opportunities at a young age, jumping into drum kit and hand percussion before getting involved in her school music program. Carlos Santana's success with Latin Rock inspired Aguilar and a whole generation of Bay Area young musicians, including John Santos, Karl Perazzo, John Calloway, and many more. In addition, role models such as Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, and Pete Escovedo provided guidance and support, encouraging the musicians to reach for higher ground. Many of the young Bay Area musicians formed groups, such as Tipica Cienfuegos and Ritmo '74, constantly developing their knowledge of the style. Aguilar remained connected to these groups, but also found a love for orchestral percussion. This interest took her to San Francisco State University, where she dived deep into the world of classical music. After graduating, Aguilar sought new horizons, which she found in New York. The other side of the country offered world renown orchestral music studies, the ability to connect with some of the most important musicians in the Nuyorican world, and the potential for steady work. Despite her love for the Bay Area, Aguilar couldn't resist these new challenges, so she moved to the East Coast. Once she got there, she began studies at The Manhattan School Of Music, working towards her master's degree in orchestral percussion performance. At the same time, she began lessons with some of the great New York percussionists, including Louie Bauzo and Jerry Gonzalez. With a new world of possibilities ahead of her, Aguilar moved forward to expand her musical skills and evolve as an artist.
Aguilar's move to New York opened her to the history and tradition embedded in the city, letting her expand upon her experience playing Latin music on the West Coast. This dual perspective allowed her the rare opportunity of bringing together the best of these two very different Latin music worlds. In part one of our interview with Aguilar, we looked at her youth in San Francisco, the impact of the city's unique culture in the sixties and seventies, and the power of a community of young musicians passionate about Latin music. Today, we move ahead into Aguilar's love for orchestral music, her move to New York, and her connection with some of the city's legendary Latin percussionists.
LATIN JAZZ CORNER: You eventually went to San Francisco State to study classical music, right?
ANNETTE AGUILAR: Yea, that was another thing that happened through my school—it got me into orchestral music. My school took me on a trip to go see the San Francisco Symphony. Seiji Ozawa was conducting. I think Elaine Jones was playing timpani. I had already decided that I was going to be a musician after I came back from my six-month tour away from home. I said, if I wanted to be a musician, I needed to know what these people were doing up there. What does that mean? What kind of music is this? I need to know how to read music well and know how to play different instruments if I want to even try to make a living out of it.
I was trying to put some bands together at the time, which was always kind of like my thing—getting on the phone and trying to organize something to happen. I tried that a lot. But I decided that I wanted to go to school for orchestral percussion. At one point in my life, I really wanted to have a symphony job. But there's something about Latin Jazz, Brazilian music, and playing in a jazz format that pulls you into it.
LJC: At the time that you were really into becoming a symphonic player, what was that like at San Francisco State and how did that impact you?
AA: I went away when I was 13, and when I came back, some of my training got discombobulated from junior high to high school. I was listening to a lot of music later, and I got into the really heavy discipline when I was 15 or16. I started playing a lot when I was 16 or17.
I got into San Francisco State; I actually did really well on my SATs. It was a real good school—it had a good theory department, they had a lot of good music, and things like that. At the time, the person that was head of the percussion department was an older man, was a real conservative guy, his name was Richard Peterson.
When I went to audition for this school, I went to this head of the percussion department. He kind of was trying to discourage me to come study orchestral percussion. I studied it in junior high school—snare drum, marching band, and drum rudiments. That was what I liked to do. He said, “Well, this school, you know, you have to really know how to read this stuff here." I was coming in as a freshman. He said, “Well, what instrument do you play?" I said, “Well, I play snare drum, I play drum set, I don't play timpani yet. I do play Latin percussion, and I work professionally."
This guy was really trying to discourage me. I said, “I just want to come and study. I want to prepare for an audition, come in here, and see what I can do. He said, “Well, conga is not considered a percussion instrument here." I've always been a touch, stubborn person, so I said, “Do you think I would come here to study the conga drum with you? If I want to study the conga drum, I'll move to New York and study with Tito Puente. Why would I want to study conga drum with you?!?" I was like 17, and already I'm being controversial! Meanwhile, this guy's screwing with my education.
So anyways, I went to school for a little while at State, and then I started playing with a really great funk band from Oakland; that's what I did for a while. I was playing with different bands, including a Latin Jazz band that would play at these different clubs, and I was making a living. Later, after I went and did my homework, I went back to San Francisco State, and I got into the program. It was kind of late for me; I went in when I was like 21. I practiced eight hours a day; there was a lot of other stuff behind it too, but that's what I did. I was probably the first person from San Francisco State at that time that did a classical, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian recital!
LJC: You eventually headed out to New York. How did that come together?
AA: I knew that I wanted to move to New York. I didn't want to go to grad school in San Francisco. I loved orchestral music—I used to go to the symphony three times a week. I would go all the time to see the San Francisco Symphony. I love the Firebird Suite, The Rite Of Spring, and Mahler. I knew that I really needed to study that classical stuff and more Afro-Cuban music. The Brazilian stuff was already kind of there.
I wanted to go to grad school in New York and I really wanted to get my ass kicked. I love San Francisco, but I needed a challenge. San Francisco had great players, and they still have a special thing. All those guys—Rebeca Mauleón, Orquesta Batachanga, Tipica Cienfuegos—were key people for me. Later Michael Spiro moved down there. John Santos was always so giving and so supportive of my brother. My brother Jaime was a great vocalist, a great güiro player, and incredible dancer. This was all wonderful, but I just said, I need something different.
I was also playing with the group Casselberry and DuPreé. It was a contemporary reggae group that Toshi Reagon was involved with. This is a group that I toured with for about 10 years. This is where I got to play with Jefferson Airplane, we played with Susan Vega, and Bill Graham hired us to do a gig in D.C. where we got to play with Stevie Wonder—I actually got to play WITH Stevie Wonder there! It was four of us—Toshi Reagon was on bass and guitar, I played a multiple rack of percussion, acting like a drummer/percussionist, Judith Cassleberry, and Jaque DuPreé. In 1986, they put an album out. They had moved to New York, but I did the recording with them. It won the best reggae album in 1986 from the NAIRD—the National Association Of Independent Record Distributors. There were guys from the L.A. Times that selected three albums that year—Peter Gabriel's So, True Bluefrom Madonna, and City Downfrom Casselberry- DuPreé. They had moved to New York, which inspired me.
Then in my personal life, I met somebody from New York and it all kind of came together—school, the gig, and my personal life.
I was supposed to go to Brazil for the first time in the spring of 1985, but instead, I went to New York. I checked out Juilliard and The Manhattan School Of Music. Anthony Blea was doing his undergrad work at the Manhattan School Of Music at the time. Blea is like family, so we talked about Manhattan and then I went to check out Juilliard. I didn't even really want to bother auditioning for Juilliard, whether I was going to get in or not. Juilliard didn't have a contemporary scene as big as the Manhattan School Of Music. And they turned their nose up to jazz. Juilliard is a great orchestral school, and a lot of great people have gone there. If I had been able to get an orchestral training there, that would have been great. But at Juilliard, there was no jazz.
I got into the Manhattan School Of Music to study orchestral percussion. Even though I was a legit major, I did one thing with the jazz department that was really special. They celebrated Dizzy Gillespie's birthday in 1987, and the big band did a tribute to him. Even though I was a classical major, they knew that I played conga, so they dragged me into the big band to play conga. I did, and I did the whole thing for Dizzy's birthday. We did all the Gillespie/Chano Pozo charts. Tito Puente he came in to rehearse with the band. Randy Brecker was in there. That's where I met Claudio Roditi. We did it at the Hilton for a brass conference. So that's where I got to hang with Tito and play with him. I was still in grad school!
LJC: When you were there, you studied Latin music too at Boy's Harbor Conservatory—who did you study with there?
AA: I went directly to Boy's Harbor the first summer that I was here in 1986 and I studied with Louie Bauzo. He's a pretty incredible scholar; he's a very studious, very straight-ahead, clean person. In the early days, Louie was from that old school. But the thing is, he went to Julliard, he went to study orchestration. He was a real Nuyorican Toscanini. So he knew about music, I could converse with him on that level of education. At the time, there was not a lot of documentation that was available for Afro-Cuban stuff. He was giving me a lot of stuff to study. I've studied with him on and off since I've been in New York. Last time I was studying with him was two years ago; I go back to him. He only takes certain students and he's a tough ass, but he's brilliant.
LJC: You got to study a little bit with Jerry Gonzalez at the time too right?
AA: Jerry was very open—he's not a Nuyorican Toscanini, he's a Bohemian Nuyorican. He's like the Villa-Lobos of the Nuyoricans.
I was in my car and I was living in Washington Heights at the time. I was listening to this album, Live at the Blue Notewith Dave Valentin. I heard this conga solo and I had to pull over and it's Giovanni. I was like, “Wow!" I heard Giovanni when he was fifteen and he was out in San Francisco. It was the late seventies. He was fifteen, and he came to San Francisco. I would hear him play and I loved the way he played. I loved him; I loved his spirit and I loved who he is.
So I went to the Blue Note and I saw Dave Valentin. Then I saw Jerry playing with him. Jerry was playing the changes on the conga drum with the form. That's the difference for me. That's jazz. I think that Giovanni's there now, but that night I fell in love with Jerry Gonzalez. That was it for me. I still love Giovanni, but that night it was Jerry.
I remember when Jerry was at the Blue Note. I came over and I talked to him. I said, “I've got to study with you! I have GOT to study with you." This was like 1988, I was still in grad school—that year I was graduating and I was still studying with Louie too. He came over and gave me his number. That was it.
He lived in the South Bronx, and I lived across from the 155th Street Bridge. He was right over the bridge, so he came to my house. He came in the house, I was living in a big apartment—he saw my marimbas, my vibes, and my drums. He said, “Man, you're serious!" I studied with him a lot, as much as I could. You know what he gave me? He gave me the tape—before it was even out—he gave me the tape of Rumba Para Monkon cassette. I listened to that tape forever; I still have it.
Percussionist Annette Aguilar built upon the love for Latin music and solid foundation that she gained in San Francisco through new musical explorations. Born to Nicaraguan parents in San Francisco, Aguilar enjoyed the city's cross cultural mixture, spending a good deal of time in the heavily Latino Mission District. She had musical opportunities at a young age, jumping into drum kit and hand percussion before getting involved in her school music program. Carlos Santana's success with Latin Rock inspired Aguilar and a whole generation of Bay Area young musicians, including John Santos, Karl Perazzo, John Calloway, and many more. In addition, role models such as Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, and Pete Escovedo provided guidance and support, encouraging the musicians to reach for higher ground. Many of the young Bay Area musicians formed groups, such as Tipica Cienfuegos and Ritmo '74, constantly developing their knowledge of the style. Aguilar remained connected to these groups, but also found a love for orchestral percussion. This interest took her to San Francisco State University, where she dived deep into the world of classical music. After graduating, Aguilar sought new horizons, which she found in New York. The other side of the country offered world renown orchestral music studies, the ability to connect with some of the most important musicians in the Nuyorican world, and the potential for steady work. Despite her love for the Bay Area, Aguilar couldn't resist these new challenges, so she moved to the East Coast. Once she got there, she began studies at The Manhattan School Of Music, working towards her master's degree in orchestral percussion performance. At the same time, she began lessons with some of the great New York percussionists, including Louie Bauzo and Jerry Gonzalez. With a new world of possibilities ahead of her, Aguilar moved forward to expand her musical skills and evolve as an artist.
Aguilar's move to New York opened her to the history and tradition embedded in the city, letting her expand upon her experience playing Latin music on the West Coast. This dual perspective allowed her the rare opportunity of bringing together the best of these two very different Latin music worlds. In part one of our interview with Aguilar, we looked at her youth in San Francisco, the impact of the city's unique culture in the sixties and seventies, and the power of a community of young musicians passionate about Latin music. Today, we move ahead into Aguilar's love for orchestral music, her move to New York, and her connection with some of the city's legendary Latin percussionists.
LATIN JAZZ CORNER: You eventually went to San Francisco State to study classical music, right?
ANNETTE AGUILAR: Yea, that was another thing that happened through my school—it got me into orchestral music. My school took me on a trip to go see the San Francisco Symphony. Seiji Ozawa was conducting. I think Elaine Jones was playing timpani. I had already decided that I was going to be a musician after I came back from my six-month tour away from home. I said, if I wanted to be a musician, I needed to know what these people were doing up there. What does that mean? What kind of music is this? I need to know how to read music well and know how to play different instruments if I want to even try to make a living out of it.
I was trying to put some bands together at the time, which was always kind of like my thing—getting on the phone and trying to organize something to happen. I tried that a lot. But I decided that I wanted to go to school for orchestral percussion. At one point in my life, I really wanted to have a symphony job. But there's something about Latin Jazz, Brazilian music, and playing in a jazz format that pulls you into it.
LJC: At the time that you were really into becoming a symphonic player, what was that like at San Francisco State and how did that impact you?
AA: I went away when I was 13, and when I came back, some of my training got discombobulated from junior high to high school. I was listening to a lot of music later, and I got into the really heavy discipline when I was 15 or16. I started playing a lot when I was 16 or17.
I got into San Francisco State; I actually did really well on my SATs. It was a real good school—it had a good theory department, they had a lot of good music, and things like that. At the time, the person that was head of the percussion department was an older man, was a real conservative guy, his name was Richard Peterson.
When I went to audition for this school, I went to this head of the percussion department. He kind of was trying to discourage me to come study orchestral percussion. I studied it in junior high school—snare drum, marching band, and drum rudiments. That was what I liked to do. He said, “Well, this school, you know, you have to really know how to read this stuff here." I was coming in as a freshman. He said, “Well, what instrument do you play?" I said, “Well, I play snare drum, I play drum set, I don't play timpani yet. I do play Latin percussion, and I work professionally."
This guy was really trying to discourage me. I said, “I just want to come and study. I want to prepare for an audition, come in here, and see what I can do. He said, “Well, conga is not considered a percussion instrument here." I've always been a touch, stubborn person, so I said, “Do you think I would come here to study the conga drum with you? If I want to study the conga drum, I'll move to New York and study with Tito Puente. Why would I want to study conga drum with you?!?" I was like 17, and already I'm being controversial! Meanwhile, this guy's screwing with my education.
So anyways, I went to school for a little while at State, and then I started playing with a really great funk band from Oakland; that's what I did for a while. I was playing with different bands, including a Latin Jazz band that would play at these different clubs, and I was making a living. Later, after I went and did my homework, I went back to San Francisco State, and I got into the program. It was kind of late for me; I went in when I was like 21. I practiced eight hours a day; there was a lot of other stuff behind it too, but that's what I did. I was probably the first person from San Francisco State at that time that did a classical, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian recital!
LJC: You eventually headed out to New York. How did that come together?
AA: I knew that I wanted to move to New York. I didn't want to go to grad school in San Francisco. I loved orchestral music—I used to go to the symphony three times a week. I would go all the time to see the San Francisco Symphony. I love the Firebird Suite, The Rite Of Spring, and Mahler. I knew that I really needed to study that classical stuff and more Afro-Cuban music. The Brazilian stuff was already kind of there.
I wanted to go to grad school in New York and I really wanted to get my ass kicked. I love San Francisco, but I needed a challenge. San Francisco had great players, and they still have a special thing. All those guys—Rebeca Mauleón, Orquesta Batachanga, Tipica Cienfuegos—were key people for me. Later Michael Spiro moved down there. John Santos was always so giving and so supportive of my brother. My brother Jaime was a great vocalist, a great güiro player, and incredible dancer. This was all wonderful, but I just said, I need something different.
I was also playing with the group Casselberry and DuPreé. It was a contemporary reggae group that Toshi Reagon was involved with. This is a group that I toured with for about 10 years. This is where I got to play with Jefferson Airplane, we played with Susan Vega, and Bill Graham hired us to do a gig in D.C. where we got to play with Stevie Wonder—I actually got to play WITH Stevie Wonder there! It was four of us—Toshi Reagon was on bass and guitar, I played a multiple rack of percussion, acting like a drummer/percussionist, Judith Cassleberry, and Jaque DuPreé. In 1986, they put an album out. They had moved to New York, but I did the recording with them. It won the best reggae album in 1986 from the NAIRD—the National Association Of Independent Record Distributors. There were guys from the L.A. Times that selected three albums that year—Peter Gabriel's So, True Bluefrom Madonna, and City Downfrom Casselberry- DuPreé. They had moved to New York, which inspired me.
Then in my personal life, I met somebody from New York and it all kind of came together—school, the gig, and my personal life.
I was supposed to go to Brazil for the first time in the spring of 1985, but instead, I went to New York. I checked out Juilliard and The Manhattan School Of Music. Anthony Blea was doing his undergrad work at the Manhattan School Of Music at the time. Blea is like family, so we talked about Manhattan and then I went to check out Juilliard. I didn't even really want to bother auditioning for Juilliard, whether I was going to get in or not. Juilliard didn't have a contemporary scene as big as the Manhattan School Of Music. And they turned their nose up to jazz. Juilliard is a great orchestral school, and a lot of great people have gone there. If I had been able to get an orchestral training there, that would have been great. But at Juilliard, there was no jazz.
I got into the Manhattan School Of Music to study orchestral percussion. Even though I was a legit major, I did one thing with the jazz department that was really special. They celebrated Dizzy Gillespie's birthday in 1987, and the big band did a tribute to him. Even though I was a classical major, they knew that I played conga, so they dragged me into the big band to play conga. I did, and I did the whole thing for Dizzy's birthday. We did all the Gillespie/Chano Pozo charts. Tito Puente he came in to rehearse with the band. Randy Brecker was in there. That's where I met Claudio Roditi. We did it at the Hilton for a brass conference. So that's where I got to hang with Tito and play with him. I was still in grad school!
LJC: When you were there, you studied Latin music too at Boy's Harbor Conservatory—who did you study with there?
AA: I went directly to Boy's Harbor the first summer that I was here in 1986 and I studied with Louie Bauzo. He's a pretty incredible scholar; he's a very studious, very straight-ahead, clean person. In the early days, Louie was from that old school. But the thing is, he went to Julliard, he went to study orchestration. He was a real Nuyorican Toscanini. So he knew about music, I could converse with him on that level of education. At the time, there was not a lot of documentation that was available for Afro-Cuban stuff. He was giving me a lot of stuff to study. I've studied with him on and off since I've been in New York. Last time I was studying with him was two years ago; I go back to him. He only takes certain students and he's a tough ass, but he's brilliant.
LJC: You got to study a little bit with Jerry Gonzalez at the time too right?
AA: Jerry was very open—he's not a Nuyorican Toscanini, he's a Bohemian Nuyorican. He's like the Villa-Lobos of the Nuyoricans.
I was in my car and I was living in Washington Heights at the time. I was listening to this album, Live at the Blue Notewith Dave Valentin. I heard this conga solo and I had to pull over and it's Giovanni. I was like, “Wow!" I heard Giovanni when he was fifteen and he was out in San Francisco. It was the late seventies. He was fifteen, and he came to San Francisco. I would hear him play and I loved the way he played. I loved him; I loved his spirit and I loved who he is.
So I went to the Blue Note and I saw Dave Valentin. Then I saw Jerry playing with him. Jerry was playing the changes on the conga drum with the form. That's the difference for me. That's jazz. I think that Giovanni's there now, but that night I fell in love with Jerry Gonzalez. That was it for me. I still love Giovanni, but that night it was Jerry.
I remember when Jerry was at the Blue Note. I came over and I talked to him. I said, “I've got to study with you! I have GOT to study with you." This was like 1988, I was still in grad school—that year I was graduating and I was still studying with Louie too. He came over and gave me his number. That was it.
He lived in the South Bronx, and I lived across from the 155th Street Bridge. He was right over the bridge, so he came to my house. He came in the house, I was living in a big apartment—he saw my marimbas, my vibes, and my drums. He said, “Man, you're serious!" I studied with him a lot, as much as I could. You know what he gave me? He gave me the tape—before it was even out—he gave me the tape of Rumba Para Monkon cassette. I listened to that tape forever; I still have it.
