Papo Vázquez – Songs del Yucayeke (Pícaro Records, 2024)
Papo Vázquez returns with his 11th album, Songs del Yucayeke, backed once again by his longtime crew, the Mighty Pirates Troubadours. This new release is a 14-track expedition through savory Puerto Rican genres such as salsa and bomba, as well as romantic bolero. This is all filtered through Vázquez’s signature Latin jazz lens and wonderful trombone.
Songs del Yucayeke presents fresh, elegant and sultry originals plus inventive arrangements that fuse jazz harmonics with Afro-Caribbean rhythms. In addition, the album doubles as a tribute: the swinging mambo “Dos Tito’s” nods to two icons named Tito, Tito Puente (the timbalero) and singer Tito Rodriguiez, of the same name,. Meanwhile “Light at the End of the Tunnel Blues for Buhaina” honors drummer Art Blakey.
Vázquez, a trombonist, composer, and arranger with over four decades in the game, has collaborated with Latin heavyweights like Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri, Willie Colón, Larry Harlow, Rubén Blades, and the Fania All-Stars. He also helped shape groups like Jerry Gonzalez’s Fort Apache Band, Manny Oquendo’s Conjunto Libre, and Batacumbele, contributing key compositions along the way.
For sure, his jazz résumé is equally stacked, Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra, Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis and JALC, Slide Hampton’s World of Trombones, and more. Notably, his 2008 release Marooned/Aislado earned a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album.
This latest edition of the Mighty Pirates Troubadours features: Papo Vázquez on trombone, vocals, chorus; José Mangual on vocals, chorus; Iván Renta on tenor sax; Rick Germanson on piano; Ariel Robles on bass; Alvester Garnett on drums; and Carlos Maldonado on barril de bomba, pandero, tambourine, güicharo, güiro, timbales, bongos, congas.
Guest players include Rodney Jones (guitar), Eric Figueroa (piano, synthesizer), José Clausell (bongos, bell, chequere, claves, cua, pandero), Bruce Williams (alto sax), and Raúl Rios (trumpet).
Born in Philadelphia in 1958 and raised between rural Puerto Rico and North Philly, Vázquez was gigging with salsa royalty by age 17. By 22, he’d already toured internationally and was tapped by Slide Hampton for a historic trombone summit recording. Deeply influenced by Coltrane and J.J. Johnson, Vázquez’s style is rooted in bebop but wide open to trad exploration.
Beyond the bandstand, he’s served as Musical Director for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade Orchestra (2016–2024); earned a NEA Master Artist Award from Pregones Theater; and led master classes at UCLA, the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, and the University of Arkansas. His commissioned work for Wynton Marsalis’s Jazz and Art series was released in 2019.
With Songs del Yucayeke, Vázquez continues charting new territory, part historian, part innovator, always a gran pirata.
Buy Songs del Yucayeke.
Author: Iliana Cabrera
