Latin Beat Magazine: Love, life and feeling: a conversation with Ismael Quintana

Ismael Quintana is a historical figure in the world of Latin music. Before the powerful Fania label took root in the salsa boom of the 1970s, Ismael had already left his mark on the history of Afro-Cuban music, as a result of his early association with Eddie Palmieri's Conjunto La Perfecta, a relationship that was initiated in the 1960s and remains as influential today. Quintana's voice, allied with Palmieri's creativity, caused a sensation, just in time as the golden era of the Palladium big bands was about to reach its culminating point. Their sound, rustic but revolutionary, somehow allowed them to share the stage with such giants as Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez.

Proudly Puerto Rican and affectionately known as "Pat," Ismael entered the big leagues almost immediately. Prior to his tenure with Palmieri, Quintana's musical experience was rather minimal, although his collaboration with Ángel Nater's orchestra was probably the most memorable factor. But this didn't make any difference: Eddie Palmieri and Ismael Quintana were made for each other. Their alliance--backed by such top players as Barry Rodgers, Manny Oquendo, José Rodrigues, etc.--was the unstoppable key to success that allowed La Perfecta to go down in history.

After reaping laurels with Eddie in the 1960s and '70s through such unforgettable hits as Tirándote flores, Ritmo caliente, Lo que traigo es sabroso, Bomba del Corazón, Sujétate la Lengua, Bilongo, Café, Vámonos Pa'1 Monte, Justicia, Muñeca, Adoración and Puerto Rico, among many others, Quintana initiated his successful solo career, under the protection of the Fania label, and recorded three albums for Vaya Records (a Fania subsidiary), in addition to certain collaborations with Papo Lucca and Ricardo Marrero. One must not forget, however, that Quintana had already recorded two albums as a solo artist for United Artists during his tenure with Palmieri.

Ismael Quintana also had (and continues to have) the privilege of being a member of the legendary Fania All Stars, whom he joined after their successful and historical concert at The Cheetah. According to Quintana, Jerry Masucci--one of the owners of Fania Records--asked him to write a song that he could sing with the Fania All Stars. The result was the well-known tune titled Mi Debilidad, which he has interpreted with this stellar group on innumerable occasions.

Ismael Quintana still remains an active participant of the Fania All Stars, whenever they get together nowadays. Although he suffered some health setbacks two years ago, Ismael has gradually recovered to resume his musical struggle, always interpreting a medley of Adoración and Puerto Rico, especially formulated for his vocal interventions with the Fania All Stars. It was precisely during a rehearsal of the Fania All Stars that I was able to conduct the following interview with this great singer of our beloved salsa idiom.

ERIC GONZALEZ (EG): Let's start from the beginning ...

ISMAEL QUINTANA (IQ): I was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on June 3, 1937. Ten days after, I was transported to New York, so I never resided in Puerto Rico. I have gone back on many occasions to visit my family; I have a sister there, but the test of them were born in New York, in the U.S. mainland. Nevertheless, I was born in Puerto Rico and this makes me feel very proud. It is an enchanting island, and the natives are very beautiful people, and this is why I was inspired to write the song titled Puerto Rico, which was very successful, thank God, during my tenure with Eddie Palmieri.

EG: Your Fania All Stars bandmate, Héctor Lavoe, was also from Ponce.

IQ: This is very true, let me tell you something: Ponce is the cradle of great singers and musicians; including Cheo Feliciano and Pete "El Conde" Rodríguez, as well as the ancestors of Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente and Jimmy Sabater.

EG: What about Papo Lucca?

IQ: Papo Lucca, of course! Papo is from my hometown and this is why he has always contributed to my recorded compositions and arrangements. He's a tremendous musician and arranger.

EG: What about the beginnings of your career?

IQ: Well, it happened around the time that I graduated from high school, and I was recruited to play bongó with ah orchestra led by a kid whose nickname was Baldy (I can't remember his real name). Afterwards, I was hired to play bongó by a sax-playing bandleader named Ángel Nater, whose orchestra was enormous; we had five saxophones, four trumpets and a rhythm section, but we didn't have a singer and everything we played was instrumental. This is why I became an instantaneous singer during a dance gig at New York's Taft Hotel. I was influenced by certain singers, such as Vicentico Valdés (featured with Tito Puente's orchestra at that time), the great Puerto Rican vocalist Tito Lara, Los Panchos and other fashionable trios of that era, and my favorite--Fernando Álvarez, a Cuban singer of Conjunto Casino fame.

EG: Since you already touched on this subject, who served to inspire you, in relation to soneo patterns and more upbeat music?

IQ: To be honest with you, I prefer a thousand times to sing a bolero than to sing a salsa tune. But in those days, of course, Vicentico Valdés was singing both styles. Tito Rodríguez was also a great influence on my singing. Vitín Avilés was also around at that time. In Cuba, there was Roberto Faz.

EG: When did you perform with Ángel Nater's orchestra at the Taft Hotel?

IQ: This happened possibly in 1959. That is when I met Eddie Palmieri at an audition for Orlando Marín's orchestra. At that time, he was the featured pianist with Tito Rodríguez's orchestra. "I'm going to organize a band and I want you to be my singer, because I saw you in that audition, and I like the way you sing," Palmieri told me. We didn't know each other personally until then, although we attended the same public school (P.S. 39) in the South Bronx. We didn't have anything in common. He had already played with Johnny Següi, Vicentico Valdés, Tito Rodríguez. He was incredibly experienced, whereas I was a greenhorn. But it appears that Eddie obviously saw something in me. That's how we started to write songs. He had certain ideas. He'd say, "Look, I have this melody. Write the lyrics." The ideas were his: "This is called Puerto Rico and this is called Adoración and that one is titled No me hagas sufrir," he said to me.

EG: How were the musicians of La Perfecta selected to join the group?

IQ: Since I was new in that environment, Eddie Palmieri was the one who selected the musicians. Based on his experience with other bands, he knew great musicians. We were joined by Barry Rodgers, José Rodrigues, Joe Rivera, Chickie Pérez, and later on, by Georgie Castro and everyone else.

EG: I believe that the first album that you recorded with La Perfecta had four or five trumpets.

IQ: Yes, that first album included several conjunto-style numbers with four trumpets. And that's when the change occurred, because there are also numbers with trumpets and two trombones, as the second instrumental combination, in the third recording session of this LP, Barry Rodgers joined the group and that's when we decided to change and reduce the size of the conjunto because we wanted to have a charanga format but we didn't want to use any violins. Eddie wanted to do something different, so we added trombone (Barry Rodgers or João Donato) and flute (Georgie Castro). So there are three different instrumental combinations in the first LP that we recorded for the Alegre label.

EG: But it wasn't a real charanga, because ii didn't utilize any violins.

IQ: No, but you know what? It was a charanga sound, and I'm going to tell you how it was done: Manny Oquendo played bongó in the conjunto-style numbers, and then played timbal in the charanga-style tunes. I played maracas whenever the bongó was employed in the conjunto-style tunes, and then played güiro in the charanga-style numbers. It was a very different, very special thing. We called it a "trombanga" because that's how it was baptized by Charlie Palmieri. We had two completely different sounds. It was like having two bands at the same time.

EG: La Perfecta shared the Palladium stage with the big bands led by Machito, Tito Puente and Tito Rodríguez. How were you received by the public?

IQ: Oh, it was inexplicable! Our group was only comprised of eight cats, but we made such a racket and generated so much excitement! It had to do with the arranging methods of Eddie Palmieri, Barry Rodgers, and José Rodrigues. And I thank God for being placed next to such rhythm makers as Tommy López, Chickie Pérez, Manny Oquendo and Micky Collazo, from whom I learned a lot. This was a true musical school, as Eddie's band served as training ground for many of these musicians.

EG: What motivated you to write the lyrics of Justicia?

IQ: I was the co-author of Justicia, along with Eddie Palmieri. The idea behind the number was conceived by Eddie, and had to do with the frustration regarding the situation of the world--politically and economically--particularly in our Latin American nations. And we thought that we could send a message through our music. I tried to write the lyrics with much caution, trying not to offend anyone. I always tried to be very diplomatic in that respect. The song Vámonos pa'l monte also addressed the world's political and economic situation. It was the title track of a very beautiful album that we recorded back in the days when we were traveling throughout South America and the Caribbean, and becoming acquainted with different countries and cultures. This is why I think Eddie carne up with the idea of writing Vámonos pa'l monte.

EG: What do you remember about the LP Lo que traigo es sabroso?

IQ: I remember that we also recorded some charanga-style numbers in that album. We wrote some of them, and there were some Cuban tunes also, but our arrangements and interpretation were totally different from the Cuban originals.

EG: How about the LP Molasses?

IQ: It was a very nice, variegated album. The mozambique rhythm was in vogue at that time, so we did a couple of mozambiques. It also included, of course, the first number that I sang in English (You're Gonna Hear from Me), as arranged by the trombonist Mark Weinstein.

EG: And the album titled Mozambique?

IQ: All of the popular tunes included in that LP date back to our Palladium times, when we were playing a lot at the Palladium, the home of all the magnificent New York orchestras, as you well know--Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodríguez. The bands from Cuba were also featured when they carne to town. You had to know what you were doing if you were to climb on that stage. We wanted to do our best and surpass everyone else. It was sort of a challenge to climb on that stage. To use the lay term applied by musicians to such situations, we had to 'ponérsela en China.' *

EG: You recorded a couple of albums on your own in the early 1970s for United Artists (jointly reissued in CD format last year by WS Latino): Punto y Aparte and Dos Imágenes.

IQ: Punto y Aparte contained mostly salsa numbers, whereas Dos Imágenes had a salsa side and a second side comprised of ballads, tangos, boleros and contemporary tunes with modern arrangements, featuring violins, oboes, flutes. In other words, I covered two completely different types of music. It was my first opportunity to prove that I could sing a ballad or a tango, and I'm very proud of that effort.

EG: Of all the albums that you recorded with Palmieri, which is your favorite? I would imagine that Sentido is your favorite one.

IQ: Yes, I like that one. The LP Champagne was also very lovely and includes a bolero titled Delirio, one of the most charming songs that I have ever interpreted.

EG: Let's talk about your subsequent solo recordings for Vaya Records, a subsidiary of Jerry Masucci's powerful Fania label.

IQ: Jerry Masucci, may he rest in peace, was an eminent gentleman and he had a great influence in my own success. He had faith in me. He helped me and supported me a lot. He said, "Ismael, do whatever you want to do in your LPs. You select the musicians, you select the songs, you produce them, you have the freedom to do whatever you want."

EG: It appears that drug abuse was a major problem in the New York salsa scene. Did you ever have any problems of that nature?

IQ: Never in my life. I never touched any type of drug at any time. Drugs were around me all the time, but God gave me the willpower to remain clean. I don't even drink, except for a beer once in a while, on a social occasion.

EG: Do you think that drug abuse had a significant impact on the New York salsa scene?

IQ: I think so, as exemplified in the case of Héctor Lavoe, among many others.

EG: Of the three albums that you recorded for Vaya Records as a solo artist, which is your favorite?

IQ: I would say that the one I enjoy the most is Amor, Vida y Sentimiento (Love, Life and Feeling). It contains sume boleros that are very lovely and were penned by the Colombian composer Arturo López Viñas--Y para qué verte? and Eso que llaman amor.

EG: Is there something that you would like to accomplish in the future, musically speaking?

IQ: I would love to record an album comprised entirely of boleros, with a good orchestra, string arrangements and other beautiful things ...

* Ponérsela en China: To set forth an intricate and difficult task. (Antillean slang).

Eric González (Translated by Luis Tamargo) Photos by Julio Costoso, Lee Marshall and José Florez