#145 Anthony Carrillo- Master Bongocero & Percussionist for Eddie Palmieri, Batacumbele, & More!
Damon and Marcos are recording this episode on the Zoom H6 handheld recorder.
Anthony Carrillo is the guest on this week’s episode. (Friend of the show) Camilo Molina helped out with the interview because Damon was attending the NYC JammCard, JammJam.
Marcos brings up that Anthony talks about folkloric Puerto Rican styles of music including Jibaro music.
R.I.P. to the great Ginger Baker. One of the most innovative and influential drummers in rock music, has died at the age of 80. A co-founder of Cream, he also played with Blind Faith, Hawkwind and Fela Kuti in a long and varied career. The song Damon refers to is called “Toad” by the band Cream.
Shout-out to our new intern for helping us with the episodes and to keep this podcast machine going. If you would like to follow him, check him out on Facebook, or Instagram!
Gig Alerts for this week…..
The Loft Party hosted by the Jazz Foundation of America is coming up on Sat October 19th. If you would like to play the NYC Halloween parade with Maracatu NY, fill out THIS FORM and head to one of the remaining rehearsals at the New School in Manhattan. Damon and Marcos made it to the Blue Note to see (friend of the show) Weedie Braimah and the audience was filled with fantastic players from Bobby Allende, Marcos Lopez, Cory Henry, Nate Werth, “Mono Neon”, Chris “Daddy” Dave, Camilo Molina, Will Calhoun, Elmo Lovano and more! This month the Blue Note NYC is being taken over by Robert Glasper (with Chris “Daddy” Dave on drums).
Damon will be playing in the aforementioned Halloween Parade with Maracatu NY on the 31st of October and at the Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 2) on the 15th, at 9pm, with Zane Carney. Marcos will be playing with the Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra at Hostos Community College this Saturday the 12th at 7.30pm. On the 17th Marcos will be playing with Jeremy Bosch at the Bitter End in NYC.
NEW SEGMENT ALERT.
The Correction Section…..
JP Castillo is playing with J.Lo at the upcoming Super Bowl not Fausto Cuevas. AND, Aaron Steele is currently on tour with Emily King, not James Williams.
Social Soundbyte for this week…..
Marcos found this Aaron Steele clip and Damon found a video reposted by Ash Soan of Papa Jo Jones (in honor of his birthday).
The Iconic Recording for this week is…….
“La Quinta de Beethoven” by Charlie Palmieri and the Cesta All Stars featuring Frankie Malabe on congas.
Music News for this week…..
LAX to end curbside pickup by Uber and Lyft. Los Angeles International Airport will soon ban ride-hailing companies from picking up passengers outside its terminals. Why sobriety can be more complicated for professional musicians. When sobriety is your bedrock, but performing requires playing in bars and clubs, how do you avoid relapse? House of Blues Music Forward Foundation Hosting Free Music Industry Job Fairs Across the Country. After Wrecking Disney CEO Bob Iger’s Book Signing, Musicians Double Down on Streaming Payment Demands. Musicians continue to fight Disney and other major media companies for increased streaming royalties. New York Judge Says R. Kelly Is a Flight Risk — Denies Him Bail. Cincinnati Symphony Violinist Stops Her Performance to Ask an Audience Member to Stop Recording.
The song leading into the interview is “Yambawa Se Meueve” by Yambawa (the group Anthony co-leads).
The interview was conducted at the legendary Fonda Boricua.
Anthony used to practice for hours a day and around 13/14, he started playing bomba with Rafael Cepeda.
After that he went on to play with Batacumbele when he was 15.
Anthony starts to talk about how a lot of the folkloric music of Puerto Rico has been forgotten about, like some of the Jibaro music.
Anthony talks about how the cuatro in Puerto Rico evolved from the Bordonúa. If you want to read more on the history of the cuatro from the Laud in Europe, you can CLICK HERE.
Anthony mentions two bongo players. Papi Andino who played with Ramito and Roberto Roena who played with Cortijo (among others).
The person that took the musica tipica to the next level in Anthony’s opinion was Andres Jimenez.
After Puya, in 1995, Anthony joined Harry Belefonte’s band.
The album that Camilo and Marcos mention that everyone should check out is Anthony’s album Mis Raices.
Anthony mentions studying several songs by Roberto Roena Y Su Apollo Sound, and having some of the same rhythmic vocabulary.
Anthony has known Giovanni since he was 9 years old. They were pitted against each other with their playing for several hours.
The Batacumbele song Anthony refers to with regard to learning Giovanni’s solo is called “A La I Ole”.
Anthony talks about studying and playing with “Puntilla” in NYC after leaving Puerto Rico.
The song from the Eddie Palmieri album ‘La Verdad’ that Camilo brings up is called “Congo Yambumba”. It features a solo by Anthony.
Armando Perazza, Jose Mangual, & Jack Constanzo are Anthony’s main influences in his bongo playing. Also the aforementioned Papi Andino and Roberto Roena.
Camilo mentions “Palo Pa’ Rumba” for another bongo lick that Anthony plays (that he says he stole from Giovanni).
Here are some of the albums Anthony has recorded and/or played on. Here is another list with some other titles.
His newest work is Yambawa which he leads along with Amy Quint Millan.
The song leading out of the interview is called “Bailen Ahora” by Yambawa.
