Day 12-Piano Lesson & Lots of Progress

Today marked the start of a new week. It also marked the start of major progress with my project. I took a two hour lesson with a Cuban piano player by the name of Michelle Fragoso. He taught me some basic Montuno patterns and gave me exercises to work on to enhance my skills. Montunos are usually played in Cuban Son music and are rhythmically and technically challenging (in my opinion). I recorded the entire lesson so that I may listen back to it later and remember what we discussed more in depth. I enjoyed the lesson, but will more than likely not take any more lessons with Michelle. It is nothing against him, I just have a fixed amount of money to spend on lessons, and I will want to take a few more lessons with other Cuban pianists I have contacted. In any event, I will be meeting with Michelle on Friday for an Interview about his musical experiences in Cuba (he went to a Conservatory, but learned all of the popular music "on the streets"). Before I left, Michelle gave me the name of an older Cuban gentleman who I will be calling to try and set up an interview.

After the lesson, I came back to my hotel and took care of a few things around here. In the late afternoon, I received a phone call from Eloy Cepero (who is a Cuban music historian and radio show host in Miami). He was returning my phone call to him about getting the phone numbers of two older Cuban musicians. Eloy was very helpful and provided me with the phone numbers for José and Fausto Curbelo, who were both involved in the NYC Latin/Cuban Big Band era of the 1940's and 1950's. José is 93 years old and Fausto is 100 years old, so it will be a real pleasure to meet and talk with them. I called them both to set-up interviews. José and I are meeting on Thursday and I'll mention that his English is very good. Fausto, on the other hand, does not speak English that well because (in his words), he has not practiced in many years because he does not leave the house much. He instructed me to find a translator to bring along and then call him back to set up a time (he told me he's ALWAYS home so any time would probably be fine). Both men were extremely friendly over the phone and I am very grateful for their agreeing to be interviewed.

In the evening, I went to see the band Oriente perform at the Loews Hotel in South Beach. What a BEAUTIFUL Hotel!!! I'll post the pictures when I can get to a faster internet connection. Incredible courtyard, pool, palm trees, architecture...everything was beautiful. The band played the hotel's lounge (where it cost $6 for Tonic with Lime). I thought that they were a Cuban group that experimented with other genres (at least thats what I gathered from their website and descriptions I found elsewhere on the internet). I was very surprised to hear them playing jazz standards when I walked in. The instrumentation was electric jazz guitar, drum set, trombone, and electric bass. I enjoyed the first few tunes they performed, but was wondering if they were going to play anything Cuban. A few tunes later, they played El Carretero and then El Cuarto De Tula, two of my favorite Son pieces. They performed it with a slightly modern-tinge, but overall the performance was excellent. All of the musicians were very talented, most of whom came from Cuba over the past twenty years. I went up to the band at the set-break and introduced myself. I told them about my project, explained about what I am doing, and told them that I was having trouble with finding authentic Cuban traditional music in Miami. They helped me out with all three areas. The guitar player and drummer both gave me their numbers and told me to call them for interviews. They also told me about a few concerts coming up this weekend with authentic Cuban music and about some other musicians that I should contact.

Overall, today was a very productive day! Tomorrow will be a big day as well, because I have a long list of Cuban musicians to call. A few musicians instructed me to call them on 7/20 (Tuesday) in order to set-up interviews and lessons. I will be calling the following people:

Jorge Gomez (Piano player for Tiempo Libre)
Trompetica (Trumpet player for Afro-Cuban All Stars, and a living Cuban music legend)
Paquito Hechavarría (Piano player who played in Cuba in the 1940's, 1950's, played with Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine)
José Martinez and his brother (Flute and Guitar/Vocalist from Saturday Night at Cuba Ocho)


Busy...Busy Day...