Johnny Pacheco

b. 25 March 1935, Santiago De Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. The son of band leader Rafael Azarias Pacheco, Johnny became a musician at an early age. He was 11 years old when his family emigrated to New York. While at school, he played tambora (a double-headed Dominican drum) at weekends with the meringue group of Dioris Valladares. He learnt to play the saxophone at school and formed a group called the Chuchulecos Boys with trombonist Barry Rogers, who later achieved fame with Eddie Palmieri’s band La Perfecta. Johnny later worked with artists such as Pérez Prado, Xavier Cugat and Tito Puente. In 1959 Charlie Palmieri encountered Pacheco playing flute at the Monte Carlo Ballroom in New York and recruited him to his band. Johnny initially played timbales, but when trumpeter Mario Cora departed to live in Puerto Rico, Pacheco took over on flute. He appeared on the 1960 debut album, Let’s Dance The Charanga!, by Palmieri’s flute, strings, rhythm section and voices band, Charanga ‘La Duboney’, on the United Artists Records label, which was reissued under the title Echoes Of An Era. The two musicians parted company in 1960. Most accounts have highlighted ‘musical differences’, but Latin music historian Max Salazar gives another perspective: ‘... this red-hot charanga (flute and violin) band was in great demand as its name began to appear on posters for two and three dances on the same evening. (Palmieri and Pacheco booked the gigs in different parts of town.) The dancers let Charlie know that they felt robbed and the high price of tickets entitled them to his band for an entire evening. When Palmieri decided that he alone would book the band, Pacheco left to form his own charanga band...’ (quote from article ‘Remembering Charlie Palmieri’, 1989). Pacheco debuted with his own band in 1960 on Pacheco Y Su Charanga Vol. I, which was the first album released on the Alegre label, founded by Al Santiago. The record was a bestseller and contained the smash hit ‘El Güiro De Macorina’, which shot to the top of the Farándula New York chart in February 1961. Johnny and his charanga band issued a further four volumes on Alegre. His lead singers included Elliot Romero, Rudy Calzado and Pete ‘El Conde’ Rodríguez, who joined on volume four. Pacheco’s was the most successful band during the charanga and pachanga craze from 1960-64. In 1961, Johnny played flute with the Alegre All-Stars on their first descarga (Latin jam session) album. ‘... I cut my own throat’, said Al Santiago in a 1989 interview, ‘when the album came out and I named Charlie (Palmieri) as leader of the Alegre All-Stars - Pacheco from that point down didn’t want to have anything to do with the Alegre All-Stars. That’s why he was never on any other album except the first.’ Pacheco befriended Jerry Masucci (b. 1935, Brooklyn, New York, USA, d. 20 December 1997, Buenos Aires, Argentina), an Italian-American lawyer who had dealt with his divorce. When Masucci became aware that Johnny was discontented with his record company, he proposed that they form their own label. With an initial investment of five thousand dollars, they founded Fania Records in 1964. For the first release on the label, Cañonazo, Pacheco dropped flute and violins and adopted the Cuban conjunto format of trumpets, rhythm section and voices, calling the band his Nuevo Tumbao (New Rhythm). He switched to timbales. Despite some fellow musicians’ viewpoint that the new group’s sound was a copy of Sonora Matancera, Pacheco’s ‘new’ sound was a huge success. The lead singer on Cañonazo was Pete Rodríguez, who also sang lead vocals on eight out of the 13 other titles Pacheco released between 1964 and 1973. Nuevo Tumbao’s other vocalists and accompanists included Monguito, Chivirico Dávila, and pianist/arranger Héctor Rivera. For the 1965 descarga album, Pacheco His Flute And Latin Jam, Johnny assembled a group of veteran and young musicians, including Lino Frías (piano), Carlos ‘Caito’ Diaz (vocals), Barry Rogers (trombone), Bobby Valentín (trumpet), Félix ‘Pupi’ Legarreta (violin), Orestes Vilató (timbales), Carlos ‘Patato’ Valdés (conga) and Osvaldo ‘Chi Hua Hua’ Martínez (güiro). Cuban saxophonist José ‘Chombo’ Silva, a participant on the first two Panart Cuban Jam Session volumes in 1956, was also involved. Chombo later said that the cut ‘Sugar Frost (Azucare)’ was one of his favourite recordings. Max Salazar cited this track and ‘Echate Pa’ Ila’ from Chi Hua Hua’s Descarga Cubana Vol. 1 (1966) on the Fonseca label, as two of the most notable descargas. Pacheco guested on the Tico All-Stars descarga albums recorded at New York’s Village Gate in 1966. He became the musical director of the Fania All Stars in 1968 and made his only UK appearance (to date) with them in 1976. In the early Fania days, Pacheco and Masucci made their own deliveries to the record stores. Johnny scouted for talent and acted as recording director. Jerry initially looked after administration in addition to running his law firm, but within three years, he had devoted himself full-time to the label. At the beginning of the 70s, the Fania subsidiary, Vaya Records, was launched, and by the middle of the decade, the rival labels of Inca, Cotique, Tico and Alegre had been swallowed up. Their roster included an impressive array of stars like Willie Colón, Ray Barretto, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and Rubén Blades. In 1975, Fania accounted for more than 80 per cent of all salsa record sales in the USA and as well as owning a recording studio and a Seventh Avenue headquarters in Manhattan, having a pressing plant in Puerto Rico, sponsoring shows on seven radio stations nationally and making two movies on the Latin music scene (Our Latin Thing (Nuestra Cosa) in 1972, and Salsa in 1976), Fania’s interests in magazines and nightclubs, along with production and distribution deals with Columbia Records and Atlantic Records, helped to make Fania the biggest salsa labels of all time. Johnny began a successful collaboration with Celia Cruz in 1974 on Celia & Johnny. They released a further five albums together up to 1985. In 1975, smoky-voiced, Afro-Cuban singer Héctor Casanova replaced El Conde on Pacheco’s El Maestro. He appeared on two other records with Johnny before issuing the solo albums Casanova (1980), Montuno Y Las Muchachas (1983) and Solido (1986). Previously, he recorded En Una Nota! in 1974 with Monguito Santamaría (son of Mongo Santamaría (b. Ramón Santamaría, 7 April 1922, Jesús María district, Havana, Cuba, d. 1 February 2003, Miami, Florida, USA; pianist/composer/arranger). Pacheco released a series of albums on which he teamed up with veteran Latin stars like Pupi Legarreta (violin/flute), songwriters Angel Luis Silva ‘Melón’ (b. Mexico; vocals) and Daniel Santos (b. Daniel Doroteo de los Santos Betancur, 5 February 1916, Trastalleres, Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, d. 27 November 1992, Ocala, Florida, USA; vocals), Celio González (b. 29 January 1924, Camajuanillas, Las Villas, Cuba; vocals), José Fajardo (flute) and Rolando La Serie (b. Cuba; vocals). La Serie had recorded previously with the bands of Ernesto Duarte, Bebo Valdés, Tito Puente, Porfi Jiménez and Rafael Cortijo. At the beginning of the 80s, Fania went into decline. Masucci sold the company to the Argentinian firm of Val Syn, but retained a consultancy role. During the remainder of the decade, a procession of artists departed to other labels and releases slowed to a trickle. Meanwhile, Pacheco engaged in ‘extra-curricular’ work for other labels, with artists such as Santiago Ceron, Israel ‘Kantor’ Sardiñas, Los Guaracheros De Oriente, Héctor Casanova, Lefty Pérez and Melcochita. Johnny and El Conde reunited to make four more albums between 1983 and 1989. Their 1987 release Salsobita was nominated for a Grammy Award. Pacheco appeared twice in the UK BBC 2 Arena television series in 1988: first in the film profile My Name Is Celia Cruz and then in a Rhythms Of The World programme devoted to concert footage of Celia teamed up with Tito Puente’s big band (with Pacheco as a special guest) recorded at New York’s Apollo Theatre in 1987. Pacheco can be seen conducting and performing with the Fania All Stars in Zaire in 1974 on the UK video release Salsa Madness (1991).