|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PROFILING JOSE QUEVEDO OF ORQ. LATINO
A band of huge success in the last couple of years is Orquesta Latino. We had the chance
to interview their leader and director Jose Quevedo on this interview. He welcomes us
with such generosity and warmth as a true lover of Salsa itself.
Jose Quevedo has been playing Salsa for quite some time now, but now he had the chance to
make it on his own and with his own band. They have been playing for over two years now,
including opening for Oro Solido, Grupo Niche and playing alongside Melcochita. We have
the pleasure to introduce Jose Quevedo.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Jose Luis Quevedo, I am married and I have a really pretty wife! She is a
really nice person. I am from Caracas, Venezuela and I came to the United States about
four years ago. First I was living in Florida for about one year before I came
to Salt Lake. I am an LDS member, and I love to have fun as long as it is within
the principles.
Talking about your religion, do you have any conflicts with anyone regarding that fact?
I don't, I don't really think so. I believe that music is for everyone. All types of
people. The LDS church is okay with Latin music, and I don't think it should be for
only specific kind of people. Music is universal. I remember that I was a bishop back
in Venezuela before I came here.
What is your position in Orquesta Latino?
I am the Musical Director of the band. I am the lead for the band and I play the congas with
the band as well. I studied percussion in Venezuela, I was actually four years in the
conservatory studying percussion and playing ONLY Salsa, but when I came here to
the United States, then I started to play some Merengue, Latin Jazz, and other
styles.
At the moment, I am always learning. It's good to have an open mind when you are a
musician. You have to in this business! If you are in the music business, then you
have to always learn more rhythms and types of music.
The name of Orquesta Latino doesn't make sense in Spanish, it should be Orquesta Latina, why the name?
You know what?... hehehehe... When you say Latina or Latino, we really didn't pay too much
attention to the male or female version of the band. It really came from what the members
of the group starting to talk about the roots of the band, and I remember they were saying
that the roots of the band are from Latino descent. I really don't know how to explain
other than that... it just came up that way.
We have six members of the band from South America, we have some Central Americans, and some
from here. When we found ourselves looking for a name, Orquesta Latino just came up. In fact,
we were a band without a name for almost six months.
What are the names of the members of the band?
Oh wow, give me some time here... there are quite a few! Let's see... Alberto Mendez is
our Pianist, Ibraim Jimenez is our Vocal background and Pianist as well. Evan is
our Trumpet, he is from the U.S. Chanon is our Trombone player, D.V. Long is
our Sax player. Madris plays Bongo and Guira, Domincan Guira for Merengue... we
have Jesus who is our Timbal player. Angel and Alex are our lead singers.
How long have you been playing together?
It's very new, we are very new. Only a year and a half.
Where did you get so many people so fast?
When I first came to Salt Lake I was playing with Ritmo Caliente, with Tony. After a while
of playing with him, I got to meet some people from his band and all, and I started to
meet a lot of musicians. When you are a musician you just meet a bunch others like
you... hehehe... I really don't know how we got so many people, but we did... hehehe... I
started to talk to a lot of people, mostly from Venezuela. When I decided to start my new
band, some people decided to follow me.
Do you guys play outside the state or only Utah?
So far, we have only played in Utah. But actually, at the moment we have a couple
of contacts that we are working with to go to Vegas, San Francisco and Florida too. We
are in the talks to do a tour through those cities. They have called me several times,
and it looks like it should be coming soon.
Is one of those places your dream place to play at, your goal?
Well... my goal, my dream to play in would be New York. I would love to play
in New York. Another place that I would like to go to play in would be Florida,
but my first choice for a goal would be New York.
I know it would be hard since there is a lot of Salsa bands in New York, but I would
really like to try to go over there.
What do you prefer to play the most?
Personally, I like to play Salsa. I love to play Salsa… and you know, it is weird
here in Utah, I noticed that a lot of people love Merengue because it's easy to
dance to. But that has been changing, so we are playing a lot of Salsa and it's
growing now. I personally love to play Salsa the most.
We saw you playing with Melcochita, how did you accommodate to his style so fast?
Playing with Melcochita was quite an experience. It was really something because we had
to accommodate to his repertoire of songs one day before the concert. We had to fix the
charts and the music very, very fast. In fact, we never rehearsed with him. The first
time we played with him was right there on stage. We are very thankful that people
really liked that concert. It was great!
The team did a great work on that day. I couldn't believe that it came out that good. I
mean it was only one day of looking at the charts, and no rehearsals.
If you would have the chance to change something in Utah, what would it be?
If I could change something is to have more unity between the bands, I would love it
if all the musicians would support each other more. Not just that, I would like for
the people that love this genre to support more the scene. It is growing very fast
a very big here in Utah, we should embrace that growth.
I would love to put that on people's mind, to have them understand that we have really
good musicians here in Salt Lake City, and that good music can come out of here. I totally
believe that we have great bands here like Mambo Jumbo, Ritmo Caliente. I mean, those guys
are really good, I have tremendous respect and admiration for those guys. If at any point
they would need my help in any way, I would gladly give them a hand in whatever
they needed.
So, really the change I would like to do here is for everyone to embrace the scene more
and each other.
How long have you been playing music?
Oh... uuuuuufffa! I have been playing since I was 12 years old. Here in Utah
only 2 years now.
Have you seen any changes since you started playing in Utah?
Oh yeah... definitely, we have more people in this place now. The fact that we have more
people in this scene means that we have more people getting into new bands, and creating
new bands as well. There is certainly more competition now days, but that is good,
competition is very good to progress in this scene, and progress in itself. Competition
is what makes you better, it is necessary to grow higher and exceed your goals.
Besides, it's good too because that way people have more choices.
Do you think Orquesta Latino has contributed anything to Utah?
Yeah I think so… The first thing that I think we have contributed to the scene, including
our American friends was to give them some work in this industry. They get paid for their
music skills.
Other type of contributions that we have done is to local functions with generous
purposes. We have played in places where maybe we didn't get all that we wanted, but
it was all in a good cause.
Another great contribution that I think we did was to teach our youth about music. We try
to put new musicians in the band so they can learn at least something new from us, we
teach them about our music. You know, keep them out of the streets and drugs.
Do you think Salsa is here to stay in Utah, or just a fad?
I truly believe that Salsa is here to stay. I think that people will start wanting more
and more Salsa, they will crave it more and more, and I see some people that are
already doing that.
I think that people will not just crave Salsa, but will also start craving better
quality, they will want it not just in quantity but quality as well. They will ask
more from the bands.
Do you have any concerns regarding the growth of so many bands?
At the moment we are one of the bands that are playing the most in Salt Lake City. I
actually believe that the fact that there are more bands is going to help others to
get more gigs, the more competition, the more you can exceed and the more they can
request you. Just like it has been happening.
What are the goals for Orquesta Latino?
Well, first of all we would like to do our own CD, our own album. We would also like
to make the best music here in Salt Lake City, and travel out of town to show what we
got here in Utah.
Personally, I would like to give my family as much as I can. Stay with them and keep
them close to me.
Personally do you admire someone in specific?
Look, look... that picture in my wall. That guy is my inspiration, he is amazing. The
master of Percussion in the World, his name is Jovani Idalgo. He is from Puerto Rico
and I had the pleasure to be a student on one of his workshops, he is very humble
and nice. His style of percussion is unmatched and just fabulous. He's just
excellent, excellent percussionist, he is my idol.
So you learned how to play from him?
I didn't really learned from him the basics of my skills, but I did learn some after I
already knew how to play. I really admire him a lot.
I had different instructors and masters, one of them is in Canada right now. His name
was Pitchey N. Einsley, he was born in Venezuela and he is one of the ones that taught
me the beginnings. Another one that taught me a lot was Orlando Poleo, he is very famous
in Europe, and I received one year of instruction from him.
What was your first experience in this scene?
I remember that when I was 12 years old I was trying and practicing with a band back
in Venezuela, I remember they told me that I wasn't cut out for it and that I wasn't
able to play. That really pushed me into wanting to learn more and better.
When I was 13 I started to play with another little group back in Venezuela, and
then kept moving from little group to little group, then at one point I got to
play with a group called "Iniciativa". They gave me a nice opportunity to play
with other musicians down there, and I got to meet some very good people in the
industry. After that I decided to do my own group, and I wanted to play
with Oscar D Leon, Los Adolecentes, Los Melodicos and such.
Was your family a good influence for you?
I really don't know anyone of my family that is a musician. The thing that I remember
is that my dad always used to play Fania All-Star in the house. I remember that by the
time I was 6, I was dancing my Salsitas! By the time I was 8 I was dancing with my aunts
and old girls that went to Salsa Parties in my family's house.
At one point I started to play Bongo because I loved the rhythm. What really called me
was the percussion, so I started to study the Conga's and Timbales.
Have you ever had any bad experiences?
Unfortunately yes, I had some bad experiences that almost stopped me from playing. Back
then Venezuela was going through some hard times, and a lot of the bands got separated,
a lot of musicians lost their jobs and it was hard to be a musician at one point.
In those hard times, that's where you have to be tougher and push forward. We invested
some money and we did create a little group called "Grupo Intencidad Latina". In fact,
next year maybe two musicians might come next year because they are receiving scholarships
to come to the University of Utah.
If you weren't a musician, what do you think you would be?
Huuuum... if I wasn't a musician... hmmm... Let's see... if I wasn't... hmmm... it's hard
to say... hehehehehe... I think that if I wasn't a musician, I would be... hmmm... I don't
now... I guess I would be another type of musician... heheehehe...
Do you have any family goals?
I would like to have a kid, actually four so I can make a percussion group... hehehehe... Just
be happy with my wife. She is always with me, next to me. I would like to have a family
like Celia Cruz, very happy.
I think that at one point, and hopefully it doesn't, but if one day music is in the way
of my family, I would leave music and be with my wife instead. I don't think anything
should come between the family.
Have you seen your website?
Oh yeah! Let me just tell you, you guys have an excellent website. I saw it for the first
time a while a go, and I noticed that you started to talk about all the bands, including
us. I think that is a great tool for the community, a great source of information on
what's happening here in Utah regarding Latin Music. I want to have a link from my
site to yours.
I would like to tell you that you guys are an amazing help for all people involved in
this scene, please don't stop doing what you are doing. You have our complete support
and admiration. We would like to thank you for all that you are doing.
Is there anything else that you would like to say?
First of all, to all the people that listens to us, and goes to events where we play, a
big THANK YOU. We are here because of you, we are really thankful for people that support
the scene.
One thing that I would like to say to people is to think of music as a way to be
united, and a way to be happy. One dream of mine is to have an event where we
could play next to all the bands in Salt Lake, shoulder to shoulder, only for
the public. I know that this is only the start, let's look forward with pride
because it's going to grow.
|
|
|
|
COPYRIGHT © - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
|
|
|
;)
;)
;)
;)