Papo Vázquez and the Mighty Pirates Troubadours
Spirit Warrior (Picaro Records, 2015)
American trombonist, composer and arranger Papo Vázquez celebrates his Puerto Rican roots on Spirit Warrior by mixing high energy jazz with Puerto Rican rhythms. Papo Vázquez was one of the members of the groundbreaking band Batacumbele that fused jazz with bomba and Spirit Warrior takes these explorations even further.
On Spirit Warrior, Papo Vázquez presents various forms of cross-pollination by bringing together jazz, descarga (Latin jamming improvisation), plena, bomba, Afro-Venezuelan, Cuban danzon and even the popular Christmas-time Puerto Rican Aguinaldo.
Not all the material is high octane fusion. The album includes delightful laid back pieces, including a bittersweet tribute to the late Hilton Ruiz, a Nuyorican pianist and friend of Papo.
Although he was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Papo Vázquez grew up in Puerto Rico and later in North Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican neighborhood. He bought his first trombone from a friend for $5 bucks and joined the elementary school band. At the age of 14, he joined a salsa band and discovered jazz through trumpet player Jimmy Purvis. At 17, he relocated to New York and started playing and recording with some of the finest salsa acts like The Fania All-Stars, Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Grupo Folklorico Nuyorquino, Eddie Palmieri, Larry Harlow, and Hector La Voe. He also became a leading Latin jazz performer.
Papo Vázquez was a founding member of Jerry Gonzalez’s Fort Apache and Conjunto Libre as well as Puerto Rico influential fusion band Batacumbele, where he experimented with bomba jazz.
Papo Vázquez brought together some of the finest musicians in the Afro-Puerto Rican and Latin jazz scene and formed the Pirates Troubadours, an “Afro- Puerto Rican jazz band.”
The impressive list of musicians who participated in Spirit Warrior include Papo Vázquez on trombone and vocals; Willie Williams on tenor sax and vocals; Rick Germanson on piano; Dezron Douglas on bass; Alvester Garnett on drums; Anthony Carrillo on pandero de plena (plena frame drum), guacharo (Puerto Rican scraper similar to the güiro), bongo, cuá (bomba percussion sticks), maracas and congas; Carlos Maldonado on barril de bomba (bomba barrel drum), pandero de plena, vibraphone and vocals; Gabriel Lugo on barril de bomba and pandero de plena.
Guests include: Sherman Irby on alto saxophone and flute; Piaroa Shaman on canto de cascada; Rufino Pónare on canto de cascada; Orlando “Maraca” Valle on flute; Roberto Quintero on tambores culo de puya (Venezuelan drums) and maracas; Victor Jones on drums; and Pete Nater on trumpet.
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Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
