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Papo Vazquez

Papo Vazquez Bio 2020

About Me

Papo Vázquez



Trombonist, composer, arranger has 40+ years of career spanning Jazz, Latin and Afro Caribbean

music. National Endowment for the Arts Latino Master.



• Musical Director for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade Orchestra, (NYC/WABC) 2016, 2017,

2018, 2019, 2022,

• Commissioned by Wynton Marsalis to compose music for Jazz and Art series, conducted and

performed with J@LC orchestra, CD release August 2019

• New York Pops Education, Board of Education certified, 2018 and 2019

• Commissioned new music for Afro Latin Jazz Alliance for “Nueva Musica” concert series

• Grammy nominated for Papo Vázquez’ Mighty Pirates, Marooned/Aíslado, 2008



Born in 1958 in Philadelphia, PA, although his young formative years were in Puerto Rico. By age

17, Vazquez headed to New York City, recorded and performed with top artists in the salsa music

scene like The Fania All-Stars, Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Eddie Palmieri, Larry Harlow, and Hector

La Voe. Vázquez became a key player in NYC’s burgeoning Latin jazz scene of the late 1970's.



Went on to perform and/or record with jazz luminaries Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations

Orchestra, Chico O’Farrill, Ray Charles, Slide Hampton’s World of Trombones, Jerry Gonzalez Fort

Apache among many others. By the age of 22, Vázquez had traveled the globe.



Vázquez was deeply moved by jazz at a young age. His appreciation and knowledge of the

indigenous music of the Caribbean provides him with a unique ability to fuse Afro- Caribbean

rhythms with freer melodic and harmonic elements of progressive jazz.



Beginnings



After spending his early years in Puerto Rico, he grew up in the heart of North Philadelphia's

Puerto Rican community. He bought his first trombone from a friend for $5 and joined the

elementary school band.



At the age of 14, an uncle recommended him to a local salsa band, where he met trumpet player

Jimmy Purvis. Purvis inspired Papo’s lifelong passion for jazz by giving him two records: J.J.

Johnson's Blue Trombone and John Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard. By 15, Vázquez was

performing with local Latin bands in Philadelphia and accompanying NY visiting artists such as

Eddie Palmieri.



He was a founding member of Jerry Gonzalez' Fort Apache and Conjunto Libre, as well as Puerto

Rico’s popular Latin fusion band Batacumbele. With Batacumbele he performed, composed,

arranged and recorded on several albums from 1981 to 1985. Upon his return to New York, he

joined Tito Puente's Latin Jazz Ensemble, traveling with them as principal trombonist, and toured

Europe with Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra.



Leader, Composer, Innovator



Vázquez has always been deeply moved by jazz, and specifically cites the music of John Coltrane

and J.J. Johnson as having most influenced him. In addition, his appreciation for and knowledge of

the indigenous music of the Caribbean peoples provides him with a unique ability to fuse Afro-

Caribbean rhythms, specifically those from Puerto Rico, with freer melodic and harmonic elements

of progressive jazz.



During his time back in Puerto Rico with Batacumbele in the 1980s, he began to experiment with

“bomba jazz,” a fusion of jazz and traditional Puerto Rican bomba. In 1993 he recorded his first

album as a leader, Breakout. He continued collaborating with a variety of Latin Jazz artists,

contributing Overtime Mambo to Hilton Ruiz’s Manhattan Mambo and Contra Viento y Mareo in

Descarga Boricua, Vol. 1. In 1999, he released a live recording featuring a number of important

New York Latin and Jazz artists, including bassist Andy Gonzalez, saxophonist Michael Brecker,

among others. The release of Pirates & Troubadours - At the Point, Vol. 1 was followed the next

year with At The Point, Vol. 2. This project evolved into the Pirates Troubadours, an “Afro- Puerto

Rican jazz band” including musicians such as Roberto Cepeda from the folklore Familia Cepeda of

Puerto Rico, Milton Cardona and Anthony Carrillo on percussion and John Benitez, among others.

The group performed at festivals around the world and released Carnival in San Juan in 2003,

followed by From The Badlands in 2007.



Interest in Vázquez as a composer grew. He was the first artist to receive a composer’s commission

(Iron Jungle) for the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, then a resident orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

His first classical composition, Palomita – Afro-Caribbean Suite, which to this date, the first time

Bomba and Plena were performed with a Chamber Orchestra, was commissioned by the Bronx Arts

Ensemble and premiered at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture in the Bronx in 2004. In

2007, in a commission from the Bronx River Arts Center, he wrote Sube el Rio (River Rising) for his

Mighty Pirate Orchestra for their 20th Anniversary “Bronx River Sounds” concert.

The same year, through a grant from The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, Vázquez was

asked to expand Pirates Troubadours, and was commissioned to compose new music for a 19-piece,

Afro-Puerto Rican Jazz Orchestra. The 2008 event was recorded live, resulting in Papo Vázquez

Mighty Pirates Marooned/Aíslado, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album.

The Mighty Pirates Orchestra continues to allow Vázquez the opportunity to blend multi-faceted

compositions and trombone style with rhythms of Afro Caribbean origins and jazz. Sometimes

joined by folk dancers that enhance the music, the orchestra has garnered rave reviews. Musical

themes such as Yuba' Jazz, Holande Pirata, Jibaro Waltz, Plena Funk and Mapeye Jazz are terms

used to help describe his music.



In 2009, Vázquez premiered a composition “Oasis” with the Bronx Arts Ensemble at its Memorial

Day Concert. It was his seventh year writing for concerts, held annually in Van Cortland Park in the

Bronx. This work grew into the expanded Oasis Project, which had its 2010 premiere at the

Pregones Theater in the Bronx with the Pirates Troubadours performing with the Bronx Arts

Ensemble and Multicultural Music Group. Vázquez has also shared his compositions with Ruben

Blades (Tengan Fe/Antecedente), Hilton Ruiz (Manhattan Mambo) and Dave Valentin (Tropic Heat),

among others.



His song “Baila Plena” from At The Point, Vol I. is featured on the soundtrack for Free Enterprise.

Other movie credits include playing on the soundtracks for The Mambo Kings and Spike Lee’s Mo’

Better Blues.



Selected Honors and Awards



Phialdelphia Clef Club Jazz Award - Best Trombone 2015

National Endowment for the Arts Latino Master 2011

Grammy Nominated 2008 – Papo Vazquez Marooned/Aislado on his Picaro Records

Grammy: Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Wayne Shorter’s Alegria (Verve Records)

Grammy: Best Latin Jazz - Bebo Valdez – Bebo de Cuba

Grammy: Best Tropical Latin – Ruben Blades – Antecedente

Recognized by Los Pleneros de La 21 for his contributions to Puerto Rican Culture.

New York Times’ list of “Top 10 Undeservedly Obscure Recordings”

Taller de Jazz Don Pedro in Puerto Rico Award

DownBeat Magazine’s list of “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” 1980.

Best Trombone “Latin New York Magazine” 1980, 1979



Discography



Papo Vazquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours – Chapter 10: Breaking Cover, Picaro Records 2020

Papo Vazquez Quartet – GV J.S. Bach, Picaro Records 2017

Papo Vazquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours – Spirit Warrior, Picaro Records, 2015

Papo Vazquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours – Oasis, Picaro Records, 2012

Papo Vázquez The Mighty Pirates - Marooned/Aislado, Picaro Records, Grammy Nomination 2008

Papo Vázquez Pirates Troubadours - From The Badlands, Picaro Records, 2007

El Niño Josele - 2011

Tego Calderon - The Underdog/El Subestimado, Jiggiri Records, 2006

Shakira & Wyclef Jean - World Soccer Final Theme (“Bamboo”), 2006

Ray Barretto - Standards Rican-ditioned, Zoho Music,2006

Los Pleneros de la 21 Para Todos Ustedes, Smithsonian Folkways, 2005 - Grammy Nomination,

Bebo Valdez - Bebo de Cuba, Calle 54, 2005 - Grammy, Best Latin Jazz Album

Papo Vázquez Pirates Troubadours - Carnival in San Juan, Cu-Bop Records, 2003

Wayne Shorter - Alegria, Verve, 2003 – Grammy, Best Jazz Instrumental Album

Jack Bruce - Shadows In The Air, Sanctuary Records Group, 2001

Freddie Cole Rio de Janeiro Blues, Telarc

Chico O'Farrill “Carambola” Fantasy

Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues movie soundtrack

Papo Vázquez “Pirates & Troubadours - At the Point Vol. I” Cubop

Papo Vázquez “Pirates & Troubadours - At the Point Vol. 2” Cubop

Milton Cardona “Cambucha” American Clave

Arturo O'Farrill “Bloodlines” Fantasy

Chucho Valdes “All Stars Bronx Lebanon New Directions Project” RMM

“Jammin' in the Bronx” Papo Vázquez Band, Chucho Valdes & The Machito Orq RMM

Chart Busters with Dr. Lonnie Smith, Lenny White, Hiram Bullock, Craig Handy, Papo Vázquez, et.al.

Chico O'Farrill “Pure Emotion” Fantasy

Steve Berrios “First World” Fantasy

Descarga Boricua “Descarga Boricua” Tierrazo

Dave Valentin “Tropic Heat” GRP

Juan Luis Guerra 440 “Fogarate” 440

Papo Vázquez “Breakout” Timeless

Ruben Blades “Amor y Control” “Antecedente” & “Caminando” Sony

Hilton Ruiz “Mannhatan Mambo” Telarc & “Hands on Percusion”

RMM Tito Puente “Out of this World” Tito Puente “100th” RMM

Jerry Gonzalez Fort Apache Band “Obatala” “Live in Berlin” Enja & “Ya Yo Me Cure” American Clave

New York Latin Jazz All Stars “Feliz Navidad”

Bobby Valentin “Presenta al Cano Estremera” – Bronco Records

Batacumbele “Con Un Poco de Songo” & “En Aquellos Tiempos” Tierrazo

Ray Barretto “Ricanstruction” Fania

Slide Hampton “World of Trombones” WEST54

Chico O'Farrill “Calle 54”

Fania All Stars “Habana Jam” Fania

Willie Colon & Ruben Blades “Siembra” Fania

Willie Colon & Celia Cruz Fania

Hector La Voe “De Ti Depende” – Feliz Navidad, Fania

Mon Rivera “Vuelvo a Vivir” Fania

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