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Willie Colon

Trombone player, composer, and bandleader, Willie Colon was one of the pioneers of Latin American music. Despite initial criticism, Colon's album El Malo has become known as one of the first albums to feature the "New York Sound" that sparked a renewed interest in Latin music during the 1970s. Colon has been instrumental in the careers of such Latin musicians as Ruben Blades, who first sang with Colon's band in 1975, and Celia Cruz, for whom Colon has produced such albums as Only They Could Have Done This Album in 1977 and the highly successful duet album Celia & Willie in 1981. Colon has also produced albums for Ismael Miranda, Sophy, Soledad Bravo, and the late Hector Lavoe, who sang with his band in the early '70s. Inspired by the music of various cultures, Colon has recorded with such musicians as Puerto Rican cuatro player Yomo Toro and David Byrne. Colon's composition "Che Che Cole," adapted from a Ghanaian children's song, was used by Ntozake Shange in the musical play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. In addition to 11 Grammy nominations and one Grammy award, Colon has received a CHUBB fellowship from Yale University, the most prestigious award given by the Ivy League school. Colon ran for the United States Congress, representing New York's 17th Congressional District, in 1992.

Starting to play the trumpet at the age of 12, Colon switched to the trombone two years later. Making his recording debut in 1967, for Al Santiago's Futura label, Colon became a victim of misfortune when the label folded. Colon was much more successful when he signed with Johnny Pacheco's Fania label. When his vocalist failed to make Colon's first session for the label, Pacheco suggested Hector Lavoe as a replacement. The collaboration proved fruitful when two singles from Colon's first two albums (El Malo, Guisando) -- "Jazzy" and "I Wish I Had a Watermelon" -- became hits. Lavoe remained a vital member of Colon's band until the mid-'70s when an increased drug addiction caused him to miss or show up late for several gigs. Although their partnership formally ended in 1975, Colon and Lavoe continued to work together. Lavoe's last album, Strikes Back, released in 1987, was produced by Colon.

In 1975, Colon balanced his schedule as director of the Latin Jazz All Stars with studies in music theory, composition, and orchestration. His increased knowledge paid off quickly. In 1978, Colon was named Musician, Producer, and Trombone Player of the Year in a readers poll conducted by Latin New York. Three years later, he received an award as Musician of the Year and his album Fantasmas was named Album of the Year. Colon continued to garner acclaim when his album Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos received a Grammy award in 1982.

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Multiple Reviews

Wanted: For Being Hip—Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe and the Birth of Salsa

Read "Wanted: For Being Hip—Willie Colon, Hector Lavoe and the Birth of Salsa" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


It may require some effort to imagine that there were once no Latin Grammy awards. The albums reviewed here truly appeared in a different world. Until 1970, there was, with one brief exception, no systematic attempt to compute the size of the Latino population of the United States. The first effort did not go well. The Bureau of the Census ultimately invented the term “Hispanic," to aggregate people of different nationalities and ethnicities, although calling, for example, someone from Ecuador ...

4
Album Review

Héctor Lavoe: La Voz

Read "La Voz" reviewed by Rob Garratt


Craft Recordings have been on a roll of late, following 2021's excellently presented Ornette Coleman boxset, Genesis of Genius, with 2023's Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds series and imminent Sonny Rollins set Go West!: The Contemporary Records Albums. So it is only natural that jazz-inclined audiophiles will start turning their attention to what other treasures the LA-based reissue specialists are digging out of the vaults. And so we arrive at Craft's new “special reissue" of salsa star ...

518
Album Review

Willie Colon: The Player: A Man and his Music

Read "The Player: A Man and his Music" reviewed by Norman Weinstein


This two-disc overview of the work of the trombonist, vocalist, and composer Willie Colón presents a musically convincing case that Colón was to the history of Latin music what Don Drummond was to Jamaican ska and J.J. Johnson was to jazz. If the preceding suggests a holy trinity, note that all three had a fervor frequently associated with the spiritually possessed. While many jazz fans have immersed themselves in J.J. Johnson's legacy, few know Drummond and Colón as well as ...

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