Roberto Roena

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=120 BGCOLOR="#FFCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0443f781egdyul.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#009900" FACE="Arial" ><B>Musica Salsa - Real Salsa and Latin Music</B></FONT> <B> </B><B>|    </B><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Musica Salsa Real Salsa and Latin Music"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Salsa Discography"><U>Salsa Discography</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="068a5a50.jpg" border=0 width="165" height="165" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=360 BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Roberto Roena</div> <bR> <div> <B>Biography</B></div> <div> b. 16 January c.1940, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; his last name is occasionally spelt as Rohena. A salsa bandleader for over 20 years, Roena began his musical career as a dancer with various bands in Puerto Rico - he later became known as 'El Gran Bailar'n' (The Great Dancer). While performing as a dancer and chorus singer with Cortijo y su Combo, the band's leader <U>Rafael Cortijo</U> gave Roena his first percussion lessons. He settled for the bongo and became a member of Cortijo's band between 1957 and 1962. Roberto was amongst the seven accompanists, led by pianist Rafael Ithier, who defected from Cortijo's Combo in May 1962 to become the basis of <U>El Gran Combo</U>. During his tenure with Gran Combo he appeared on <U>Kako</U> 's classic Latin jam outing <I>Puerto Rican All-Stars Featuring Kako</I>, recorded in 1963, and 1967's <I>Los Mejores Mujsicos de Puerto Rico</I>, directed and arranged by Ray Santos. In 1966, Roena made his recording debut as leader with a band called Megatones on <I>Se Pone Bueno/It Gets Better</I> on Alegre Records. Panamanian <U>Camilo Azuquita</U> provided the lead vocals and El Gran Combo's lead vocalists at the time, Andy Montanez and Pell'n Rodr'guez, sang in the chorus. Roena left Gran Combo in mid-1969. He signed with Fania International (later called just International), a division of Jerry Masucci and <U>Johnny Pacheco</U> 's Fania Records, and debuted with his band Apollo Sound on <I>Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound</I>. The great Puerto Rican composer, Catalino Curet Alonso, was the album's 'creative musical director' and wrote the smash hit track 'Tu Loco Loco, Y Yo Tranquilo'. From the outset, Apollo Sound featured a line-up of two trumpets, trombone, tenor saxophone (doubling on flute), rhythm section (bongo, conga, timbales, bass, piano) and voices (lead and chorus). A third trumpet was added in the mid-70s and the resultant front-line combination was retained into the 90s. While preserving their rhythmic integrity, Roena and Apollo Sound developed into one of salsa's more progressive and sophisticated outfits with their own highly distinctive style. To help achieve this, Roena hired some of Puerto Rico's most creative arrangers over the years, including Bobby Valent'n, El'as Lopes, Luis 'Perico' Ortiz, Julio 'Gunda' Merced, <U>Papo Lucca</U>, Louis Garc'a, Tito Rivera and Humberto Ram'rez.</div> <div> The first three Apollo Sound albums all featured the same trio of vocalists, namely, Piro Mantilla, Dino Guy Casiano and Frankie Calderon. Trumpeter El'as Lopes acted as musical director on Apollo Sound's second and third releases. Tito Cruz replaced Mantilla on 1972's <I>Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound 4</I>. Casiano was succeeded by Sammy Gonzelez, a former <U>Tommy Olivencia</U> band member, on Apollo Sound's fifth release in 1973, which marked the recording debut of virtuoso trombonist/arranger Julio 'Gunda' Merced with the band. Luis 'Perico' Ortiz arranged the hits 'Traicion' and 'Parece Mentira' from 1974's <I>Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound 6.</I> In 1974 Roena participated in the reunion of original members of Cortijo's Combo on <I>Juntos Otra Vez</I>. Calderon and Cruz departed after Apollo Sound's sixth album and Jose 'Papo' Senchez joined Gonzelez as co-lead vocalist on <I>Lucky 7</I> in 1976. This record contained another of Roena's greatest hits, 'Mi Desengano', which was co-written and subtly arranged by Merced. Ruben Blades contributed his compositions 'Para Ser Rumbero' and 'Amistad Barata' to <I>La 8va. Maravilla</I> in 1977. Sammy Gonzelez left and recorded as a leader on <I>Sammy Gonzelez y Los Torbellinos con Samuel Serrano</I> (1978). Tito Cruz returned to replace Gonzelez on <I>Roberto Roena y su Apollo Sound 9</I> in 1977. In mid-1978, Merced split from Apollo Sound taking five band members with him, including singer Papo Senchez, to found Salsa Fever. In the late 80s, Merced became the house producer and musical director for Tony Moreno's Musical Productions label. Roena carried on to produce <I>El Progreso</I> in 1978, which was one of his strongest albums. It contained the Catalino Curet Alonso composition 'Lamento De Concepcion' with a wonderful multi-layered arrangement by Papo Lucca, who played piano on the track and four other tracks. Tito Cruz was joined on lead vocals by Carlos Santos, who performed previously with Kako and Vilato y Los Kimbos (see T'pica 73 ). Also in 1978, Roena produced <I>La Practica Hace La Perfeccion</I> for Apollo Sound founder member, trumpeter/vocalist Mickey Cora (Mario Alvarez Cora), leading his own band called Orquesta Cabala.</div> <div> Roena switched to Fania and released four albums (including a compilation) on the label between 1980 and 1982. 1981's <I>Looking Out For 'Numero Uno'</I> contained the dark bitter-sweet 'Se Esconde Porque Me Debe', superbly arranged by Louis Garc'a, and three interpretations of songs written by Cuban composer/bandleader <U>Adalberto Alvarez</U>. Carlos Santos went solo and debuted on <I>Lo M'o</I> in 1982. The same year, Roberto teamed up with vocalist <U>Adalberto Santiago</U> for his last release on Fania, <I>Super Apollo 47:50.</I> Also in 1982, Roena participated in a reunion of some ex-members of El Gran Combo on <I>El Combo Del Ayer</I>, and again in 1983 on <I>Aquel Gran Encuentro</I>. Roena re-surfaced with Apollo Sound in 1985 on <I>Afuera y Contento</I> on Pa' Lante Records. Founder member of Apollo Sound, Piro Mantilla, and Sammy Gonzelez, another former member, together with Junior Reynoso, comprised the album's trio of lead singers. Included was a gloriously understated, yet swinging version of Adalberto Alvarez's composition 'A Ver' (Let's See). </div> <div> The album also featured an example of the short-lived Puerto Rican dance fad called zuky. The track in question, 'Apollo Zuky', was a latinized cover of the 1981 soca hit 'Soca Rhumba' by Montserrat's Arrow. After a brief gap, Roena released the aptly titled <I>Regreso</I> (Return) in 1987 on Up Records. The record also marked the comeback to Apollo Sound of Papo Senchez, who shared lead vocals with Ruben La Hoz and two female vocalists: Johanie Robles and Aracelis Beltran. The album was a further top quality serving of sophisticated salsa and featured two more cover versions of Adalberto Alvarez songs, including a magnificent arrangement of his 'Reflexiones M'as' by Tito Rivera. Senchez was the sole lead singer on 1990's <I>New Decade</I> on the Sonostar label.</div> <div> Roena joined the Fania All Stars at the beginning of the 70s and has continued to record and gig with them up to the present day. With them he appeared in the films <I>Our Latin Thing (Nuestra Cosa)</I> (1972) and <I>Salsa</I> (1976), and made his UK debut in 1976. He can be seen performing as a percussionist and dancer with the band in the 1991 UK video release <I>Salsa Madness</I>, filmed in Zaire in 1974. Roena has sessioned on recordings by various other salsa artists and bands, including <U>Charlie Palmieri</U>, <U>Cheo Feliciano</U>, <U>Ismael Quintana</U>, Julio 'Gunda' Merced y su Salsa Fever, Pedro Arroyo, Roberto Lugo, Andy and Harold Montanez and Willie Gonzelez.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Discography</B></div> <div> Mi Musica 1997 </div> <div> El Pueblo Pide </div> <div> Que Toque </div> <div> Apollo Sound 2 </div> <div> Apollo Sound 3 </div> <div> Apollo Sound 5 </div> <div> Apollo Sound 6 </div> <div> Gold </div> <div> Looking Out For Numero Uno </div> <div> Pa Fuera </div> <div> Poderoso </div> <div> Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound </div> <div> Roena (Legends Of Salsa) </div> <div> Super Apollo 47-50 </div> <div> Vivo En Bellas Artes </div> <bR> <div> <B>Comments</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>