On Tuesday, October 28, 1980, , life changed forever – for me, for SOUNDSCAPE, and for Daniel Ponce. That was opening night of the Latin music series for the first complete season at SOUNDSCAPE – a 5th floor loft at 500 West 52nd Street at the corner of 10th Avenue.

SOUNDSCAPE had first opened its doors in the late spring, of 1979.

In the spring of 1980, Eddie Figueroa approached me to use SOUNDSCAPE in order to continue the Latin music series he had initiated in his space called NEW RICAN VILLAGE on east 6th Street because they had lost their lease.

I am eternally grateful to Eddie Figueroa for bringing that creative Latin jazz scene to SOUNDSCAPE – it was the best of years for this music, - the golden era of Latin Jazz,!

The musicians were a loosely organized group held together mostly through the efforts of the Gonzalez brothers, Andy and Jerry. The number of musicians varied weekly and it was always essential that someone would be there to play piano – sometimes the masterful Argentine pianist Jorge Dalto; or sometimes Michel Camilo; or the New York born Puerto Rican musician Hilton Ruiz who was equally at home in a non Latin musical context.; The regulars included the very great Mario Rivera, Papo Vazques, Nicky Marrero, Frankie Mahlave. Other luminaries such as Paquito d’Rivera, Steve Turre, Mauricio Smith came when they could.

That Tuesday in October there was a special buzz…..word was out that Cubans who had arrived as part of the Mariel boat lift would be coming – and they did.

In tow was Daniel Ponce who had been discovered playing congas in Harlem. Daniel was brought there by Jerry and Andy Gonzales.

The room was filled to capacity . Daniel had a slightly menacing charisma ,, a loud and boisterous laugh, with a nervous body language. But when he finally sat down to play 3 congas, his skill was devastating, and his demeanor could at times be almost angelic.

A few weeks later in November Paquito d’Rivera also arrived at SOUNDSCAPE

There Paquito met Daniel and Ignacio Berroa who would, along with Russell Blake, form his first Quartet which premiered at SOUNDSCAPE on December 3rd.

Daniel was jettisoned off the Cuban island and achieved his 15 minutes of fame like few other musicians of his generation. Since then his reputation preceeds him, exaggerated at times; often untrue ; and occasionally accurate. Daniel had the stuff that myths are made of.

Had he remained in Cuba, Daniel would never have realized what he was capable of doing.

The mainly Puerto Rican musicians who had been so welcoming and hospitable to the Cuban musicians, now found themselves in the midst of the Clave Wars!

The Cuban sense of clave was different than the more relaxed version which the musicians who lived in New York had been playing. Daniel would dart looks in the direction of those who deviated from his impeccable sense of time and those looks were truly awesome! Daniel’s physical presence was imposing and he used more than just colorful language .

Daniel’s personality was as large as his style of playing. And his personality loomed large.

He was a natural talent; a diamond in the rough, but a diamond none-the-less.

These were spectacular year in terms of the music and spectacularly difficult in terms of personalities.

Daniel was always newsworthy – He arrived at Key West May 1st – Arrived at Soundscape October 28th and in May, 1981 there was a large article about him in The New York Times, by respected music critic, Robert Palmer.

So many great musicians who had been laboring for years in NY without the recognition they deserved were passed over by the press because Daniel was Cuban and Cuba was news . Daniel lacked the perspective in those years to acknowledge those same musicians who had embraced him and offered him an immediate opportunity to do what he did best – play!

Tuesday nights tended to start later than other nights and run later so that the public would finally be gone around 2 am – and then rumba took over!

The bata drums came out; Puntilla and his crowd wailed into the early morning hours amidst a lot libations and sacraments - both sacred and profane!

SOUNDSCAPE was the happening venue during the years of 1979 through1984 when we closed – we received lots of great press and everyone performed there. SOUNDSCAPE provided an environment that encouraged experimentation and fusion, Musicians would often come on other nights when they weren’t performing to hear the musicians they would not have heard otherwise. Often they ended up trying something new tried together.

Imaginative producer Bill Laswell heard Daniel at SOUNDSCAPE and as a result Daniel got to perform as a side-man on Laurie Anderson’s lp Mister Heartbreak - *1984) He then appeared in her 1986 video- Home of the Brave (1986) and Bill also employed Daniel to play bata drums on Herbie Hancock’s grammy award-winning song ROCKIT . This marked the first time that the bata was ever heard in pop music! He also appeared on a 1985 solo Mick Jagger lp- She's the Boss - (Daniel - Percussion, Bata) as well as on the 1985 lp by Yoko Ono, Starpeace.(Daniel - Percussion).

I started to work with Daniel on career development, and began initiating musical projects that I could imagine for him. This led to his receiving a grant from the New York Foundation on the Arts for composition. I explained that there were no written compositions to submit since he worked within the aural tradition.

I offered him to Bruce Lundvall as a soloist for the LIONS OF JAZZ and solo he did in Carnegie Hall, arriving barely five minutes before he was scheduled to go on stage.

Daniel’s ability was skill learned directly from all the street carnivals he had participated in.

I encouraged Daniel to explore within a Latin jazz context, and we formed JAZZBATA, There are reels and reels of tapes of those wonderful evenings with jams lasting anywhere from 15 – 30 minutes.

In addition to the regular Tuesday night series, I produced special evenings with Daniel, Puntilla and Paquito d’Rivera. Two of the most memorable were SON DE CUBA FOREVER and NUEVA GENERATION , both in 1983.

For a period Daniel lived in one of the rooms at SOUNDSCAPE, while he was still trying to figure it all out about how to do it in NYC! As a result he heard more music than most people. He recorded on Brad Graves and Ralph Blauvelt’s C Album for their group VORTEX that explored sound, mostly devoid of any rhythmic references and Daniel found a way in – and made it sound better, even though from personal comments from Daniel what Graves and Blauvelt were doing remained a mystery to him.

NY Now represents Ponce’s pulling together all that he learned and knew instinctively from playing on the streets in Havana. Other Cubans who had been here for sometime, like “Chocolate”, performed on NY Now, as did Paquito d’Rivera, whose rendition of SIBONEY is a classic in itself. - exemplary Paquito d’Rivera. To quote Carlos Suarez, “Siboney is played with such fury and raw power that it makes you feel as if Ernesto Lecuona, its composer was taken on a musical safari to the deepest and blackest reaches of the African continent.”

Daniel had a brilliant sense of organization and impeccable taste.

ARAWE came two years later. Daniel was helped a great deal in organizing his ideas and arrangements by Steve Sandberg, a very talented pianist and arranger.

Fast forward to 2006 and an e-mail I received from Carlos Suarez informing me that “Invacion 80” (better known in Miami as “Somos Los Cubanos Que Venimo Invadiendo”) was being played on FM - 92.3 in Miami as the theme song of host Gullermo Alvarez Guedes’ show. Carlos’ e-mail and enthusiasm were the impetus for this release.

Daniel now lives in Miami and is active performing with many different groups.

In my opinion, New York Now and Arawe, presented here as RUMBA PA’ GOZAR are the most creative expression of Cuban music taking root in the United States at that time.

Verna Gillis, Kerhonkson, NY March 2006

verna@soundscapepresents.com
http://www.soundscapepresents.com
1 845 – 626 4038