Andy Gonzalez, the bass player whose Bronx home was the site of many Latin jam sessions in the 1970s.The city’s current economic mess has been prompting some scary memories about the 1970s, when Fun City gave way to Done City and its dirty streets, grimy subways, abandoned buildings and free-for-alls on the street.
But there are also two little words from that era will make some hearts beat faster for all the right reasons: Grupo Folklorico.
This Saturday, the 15-piece Latin band that recorded two albums and played a few gigs in the mid-1970s before passing into fabled memory, are reuniting for a concert at the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture.
The group, whose formal name is the Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino — the New York Folkloric and Experimental Group — was the fruit of jam sessions that started out in a Bronx basement with veteran Cuban musicians and younger roots-hungry New York-bred Puerto Rican players.
“There is something really important about the fact that this group came from the Bronx right at that time,” said Rene Lopez, a co-producer of the group’s two albums. “The Bronx had become a photo-op for every politician who came to see Berlin after the blitz. But out of that came other things. Grupo Folklorico was happening when the Bronx was devastated.”
The musicians did some devastation of their own, ripping into compositions that combined classic Cuban rhythms, Puerto Rican folkloric styles and New York energy. The sound was a revelation, coming at a time when salsa, especially on the Fania label, was becoming ever more slick and commercial.
“We weren’t into slickness, ” said Andy Gonzalez, the bassist whose home in Soundview, Bronx, was the scene of many jam sessions. “We were into kicking you in the face. This had serious attitude. Fania had been copying the old Cuban records, but they would only go so far. The last thing I wanted to do was play music that sounded like that. Been there. Done that.”
Growing up in the Bronx with his brother Jerry, who would later become a noted trumpet player, Andy started playing in bands when he was 13. Soon, he was sharing the bill with heavyweights like Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez.
“There were 10 bands,” Andy said of his first concert. “And we were the 10th, a little group sounding like CalTjader.” Read more..
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