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westernartgirlOscar Hernández Looks Back on a Lifelong Friendship With Rubén Blades
Oscar Hernández, leader of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and former pianist and musical director for Rubén Blades, is a New York soul now making his home in Los Angeles. “I got divorced and I got remarried,” Hernández said. “And my wife was living here, so I was kind of at a crossroads in my life … Read more
From Costa Rica With Love: Chino Espinoza
Mirley Espinoza, known as El Chino, appears quite at home when he shows up in T-shirt and distressed, tailored jeans for his regular Friday night gig at the outlandishly posh Coco Palm Restaurant in Pomona. Patrons shake his hand, waiters pat his shoulder or wave, the club manager touches base with him before he goes … Read more
Music as Work and Life: Susie Hansen
Susie Hansen comes from musical stock. Her father, James Hansen, her first and main music teacher, was a violinist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 37 years. Hansen began taking lessons from him at age 5. So you’d think, given all that training, that Hansen would have followed in his classical steps to build a … Read more
Johnny Polanco Watches Salsa Come of Age in Los Angeles
Johnny Polanco wears the beads of several orishas, the deities of his santería religion, around his neck when he goes onstage to play salsa music with his Conjunto Amistad. There are the red and white beads of Changó, the ruler of thunder, drums and dance, but he also wears the colors of Orula, Elegguá, Obbatalá, … Read more
Salsa, Son, and Staying Power, According to Paul De Castro
Talk about salsa music in the United States and most people will recall The Buena Vista Social Club — the Ry Cooder-produced album (1997) or the Wim Wenders documentary film (1999) about almost-forgotten veteran Cuban salsa performers still singing vintage Cuban standards. But to Paul De Castro, and to any Latino with more than a … Read more
Fay Roberts’ Addiction to That Infectious Salsa Rhythm
Fay Roberts says she was on her way to becoming a conventional jazz/pop flutist in the mid-1990s when she went to a salsa music festival in Grifftih Park. She was hooked. “I saw this flutist I’d met in New York, his name is Artie Webb, a wonderful flutist,” said the leader of Orquesta Charangoa, the … Read more
