Juanito Marquez
There’s something in Juanito that until this day rejects fame. It’s not that he hasn’t been a success; his “boleros” “Alma con alma”, and “Como un milagro” are standards in the Latin American Repertoire. In 1964, his great popular success, “Arrimate pa’ca”, was recorded by the major Cuban musical groups, and almost forty years later, Elíades Ochoa, of the Buena Vista Social Club, revisited it in the theme titled “Estoy como nunca”.
Born in Holguín, Juanito spent the first four decades of his life in Cuba, collaborating with the main artists of the Golden Age of Cuban music. He is born into a family of guitarists and adopts the instrument, going from Spanish classical guitar to electric guitar with a self-made style; although his favorite instrument is the twelve string acoustic guitar which has a timbre reminiscent of the Cuban “Tres”.
Composed in 1953, in 1958, Bebo Valdés, records Juanito’s first composition titled “La Feria de los Siglos” (named after the carnavals in Holguín).
Around that same time, from his native Holguín, Juanito was providing musical arrangements for the “Radio Centro” Orchestra (CMQ), as well as to other popular orchestras such as “La Riverside” with Tito Gomez on vocals, and Cesar Concepción’s orchestra in Puerto Rico. As such, we could possibly declare Juanito the first, if not the only, “arranger by correspondence”. Upon moving to Havana, Juanito becomes the preferred “arranger of the moderns” in Cuba.
In 1969, he leaves Cuba and arrives in Madrid, Spain. There, he works as a session musician, where he lays down guitar and bass tracks for international artists such as Julio Iglesias, Massiel, Mocedades, Cecilia, Rafael, Danny Daniel, etc., an at the same time, writing arrangements for other artists, such as “Moncho, el Bolerista Gitano”.
Soon thereafter, he is contracted as exclusive arranger, orchestra director, and guitarist, by the Hispavox label. In that capacity, he produced the first albums for Paloma San Basilio and Jose Luis Perales. He also wrote arrangements for the duo Yerbabuena, Karina, Tony Landa, Elsa Baeza, Jeannette, and many others. During that time, Juanito also produced his own albums; an example of which is “Marquez”, where possibly for the first time, pop drums are blended with classic Cuban percussion.
During these past thirty years, the Márquez touch can be heard in selected sessions of Cuban Music in exile. He has written arrangements for Alfredo Kraus, Gloria Stefan (and Miami Sound Machine), Jon Secada, Albita, Willy Chirino, and Cachao. He has continued his collaboration with important Popular Spanish Music Artists such as María Dolores Pradera, José Luis Perales, and Azucar Moreno. We can also add to his list of credits, recordings with artists of other areas. Among them are the Venezuelan Franco De Vita, and the soul singer Donna Allen.
During the last three decades, Cubaneo is the most recent album that Juanito launches under his own name. In it, one finds a mixture of 30’s and 50’s Cuban Music Classics with his own original themes (featuring guitar solos) which are reminiscent of those two decades of our music. If indeed there are many Juanitos (composer, arranger, interpreter), here we can hear each one of them in the area in which he has always been known for; Cuban pop.
With a curriculum that many would kill for; why is it that Juanito’s name is so prevalent among the cognoscenti? Because, as with almost all the greats that don’t have to make any boasts, he prefers that his works speak for themselves. Others may have the fame, but fame is ephemeral. Juanito is forever.
Nat Chediak
*Nat Chediak is a Grammy Award-winning record producer and Latin jazz historian. Born in Havana, Nat Chediak is the founder/director of the Miami Film Festival, where for many years, some of the finest names in jazz have performed after hours.
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