Latin Beat Magazine: Willie Rosario: que viva la Salsa Dura de Willie Rosario: how a retro-movement

¡QUE BONITO ES PUERTO RICO!

An old school salsa tune by Willie Rosario blasts out a car radio as we walk along the pier in the tiny town of Cataño, across bay from San Juan. It's dusk and streetlights are turning on and glistening across the water, ¡Que Bonito es Puerto Rico! is the chorus to the song fading away in the distance.

It's April and the colors are vibrant as shades of green blend against the blue of the Atlantic Ocean. The sun is radiant, illuminating the city's Spanish colonial past and its U.S. present. It's my first time, and visits to the beach, El Yunque, El Morro and Old San Juan are impressive imprints of the island's natural beauty.

San Juan radio provides a diverse sonic backdrop of North American pop, merengue, bachata and reggaetón, a youth-oriented music fusing reggae with rap. But the solid PR stamp on the radio is ZETA 93-WZNT, which plays a mix of salsa oldies.

Showcasing 1970s-80s artists like Hécror Lavoe, Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades and others, WZNT champions the hard-driving salsa known as "Salsa Gorda" (Fat Salsa). Founded in 1959, it has a sister station in Ponce (WZMT) that also plays retro salsa gorda or salsa dura, as it's also called La ZETA.

Right now there's a movement to regain the sound and energy of salsa's golden age as exemplified by a wavc of projects launched by Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Eddie Palmieri & La Perfecta II, Soneros del Barrio and Colombian bands such as Yuri Buenaventura, Fruko y sus Tesos and Sonora Carruseles.

Puerto Rican bandleaders who contributed heavily to the original salsa boom but somehow have been forgotten are getting a shot in the arm. Tommy Olivencia, Raphy Levitt, Roberto Roena, Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz, Ismael Miranda, Sonora Ponceña and Willie Rosario are all hitting the road again.

LIVE IN PUERTO RICO

Walk into Viera Discos in Santurce, a mnnicipality of San Juan, and it's like walking into a salsa museum. Wire racks hold thoosands of CDs, from the classics to the latest hits. In the corner next to a large picture window sits a chair with a typewriter, a straw hat and a guitar next to it. This is where the great songwriter Tite Curet Alonso, who passed in 2003, used to sit and hang out, talking with friends.

All the major salsa artists are represented in the choice stock assembled by Rafael Viera, a former distributor for Fania Records. It's a place where collectors and musicians congregate to talk business, hear the latest sounds and sign autographs. In the Willie Rosario section I found his Live in Puerto Rico CD, a raw board recording of the 64-year old timbalero/bandleader and his band performing in the town of Arroyo. The 2002 date captures a vibrant show by a seasoned ensemble fueled by the love of its fans.

"Live is live, and that's how recordings should be done," says Rosario about the recording, speaking from his home in Puerto Rico. "What you hear is what you get! I play for the dancers, and that's what bands like mine are for."

Since the early 1990s, Rosario has been an outspoken critic of "Salsa Monga" (moronic salsa), a tropical "romántico" trend that watered down the rhythm and emphasized the singers. In 1999, he recorded an album called Back to the Future, trying to recharge the present with influences from the past. Now Rosario feels that be has won the battle.

"Last Friday they had an event at the Tito Puente Amphitheater in San Juan with Luis Enrique, Eddie Santiago and Lalo Rodríguez. Nobody was there. Salsa monga doesn't fly anymore in Puerto Rico. It's fallen off."

Rosario is a dancehall warrior. Born in Coamo, he moved to New York City as a teen. Getting the bug to play timbal, he studied drums and percussion and went through several bands, before landing his first major gig with Johnny Següi's orchestra.

In 1957, Següi returned to Puerto Rico and Rosario formed his first band, utilizing members of Següi's orchestra. Both Tito Rodríguez and Tito Puente contributed charts to his band. Armed with those charts, he went to the Broadway Casino (on West 146th and Broadway) to start his career as a bandleader.

By the early 1960s, Rosario and his band were already established at nightclubs like Monte Carlo and Club Caborojeño, where they stayed for three years. He paid his dues working two jobs to support a family and playing at night. He utilized a three-trumpet section, but was searching for something else.

"One day I went down to the Blue Note, where Gerry Mulligan was playing with his quintet. While sitting there listening I heard a passage he played on baritone sax, along with the bass and piano. It was sort of like something we would play in a mambo. That was it!"

He approached Bobby Valentín, famed bassist with the Fania All Stars, about his idea. They started arranging and came up with combinations harmonizing the baritone sax with the trumpets on ensemble passages and during the mambos using it to fortify the piano and bass riffs.

In 1963, Rosario recorded for AI Santiago's Alegre Records with vocalist Frankie Figueroa. It set into motion a trajectory that now includes over 40 albums in a span of 45 years, with a band that has produced stellar talents like vocalists Gilberto Santa Rosa and Tony Vega.

¡VIVA WILLIE ROSARIO!

Rosario was slated to play in early June at Placita del Mercado de Santurce, an open-air market during the day and a hopping scene at night with salsa bars, jazz clubs and restaurants; a multi-generational mosaic of Puerto Rican culture. Like Rosario's music, it's a matrix of layers that unfolds into a wonderful experience.

Listening to classics like El Callejero, Chango Ta Beni, ¡Que Bonito Es Puerto Rico!, and other tunes from the disc Live in Puerto Rico, one becomes aware of the role played by Rosario in transitioning Latin tropical dance music from the mambo dancehall to the salsa ballroom, from big band to ensemble.

Earlier this year, El Dia de la Salsa (a national holiday in ER.) was dedicated to Willie Rosario (a great symbol of lifetime achievement). In May, the Fiestas Patronales of the city of Carolina were also dedicated to him; and in July, his hometown of Coamo named a street after him.

"I can't complain. I've received a shower of recognition over the years and still remain (alongside La Sonora Ponceña, Bobby Valentín, El Gran Combo and Roberto Roena) as one of the favorite orchestras for dancers of Salsa Dura."