Having never lost touch with Latin Percussion’s Latino roots in the
Bronx, New York nearly four decades after the company’s birth, LP
Founder Martin Cohen returned to the same location he photographed the
company’s top endorsers fifteen years earlier to again capture the
spirit of Latin music on film.
On September 24, 2002, nearly 100 of Latin Percussion’s top East Coast
endorsers again gathered in the heart of the Bronx at "52 People For
Progress Park"
for a photo shoot and rumba jam. Among those in attendance were past,
present, and future notables in music such as conga legends/elder statesmen Carlos
"Patato" Valdez and Candido
Camero, as well as Jose
Madera (Tito Puente Orchestra), Eddie
Montalvo (Ruben Blades), Jose
"Juicy" Jusino (La India), Eric
Velez (Marc Anthony), Bobby
Sanabria (Educator/Ascensión), Jimmy
Delgado (Harry Belafante), Bashiri
Johnson (Whitney Houston), Pucho
Brown (Pucho Brown and His Latin Soul Brothers), Pedrito
Martinez (Yerba Buena) and many others. In addition to appearing, Little
Johnny Rivero (Little Johnny and His Jazz Giants) was instrumental
in helping to orchestrate the artists’
appearance.
The park was the same site where the late Tito
Puente and his fellow LP endorsers gathered at Cohen’s request
to celebrate Puente’s 65th birthday and document it in a photograph. "The
Bronx has always been an important place for Latin Percussion since many
of the most talented percussionists reside there," says Cohen. "There
is a gritty, authentic feeling to the music that can be heard on the streets,
which is such an integral part of the Bronx. This spirit is the heart and
soul of LP, and I am honored to have been able to again capture the finest
LP endorsers and musicians on film."
During the photo and afterward, the entire group erupted into a spontaneous "rumba,” a
percussion group of conga players, claves, and other percussion instruments
whose collective jamming outdoors can be heard for blocks and is prevalent
throughout el barrio. It is common to see the neighborhood’s residents
join the rumba by dancing and celebrating the spirit of the music.
See “Behind
the Scenes of the Historic Photo Shoot”
gallery on Martin Cohen’s web site, congahead.com.
 |
| The
late Tito Puente (rear,
middle) and fellow LP artists gathered at Cohen’s request
to
celebrate Puente’s 65th birthday. April 1988 |
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|
