Johnny Pacheco: 50 years making Latin Music History

Posted on 18. Nov, 2009 by Hector Aviles in Latino Music

Johnny Pacheco is celebrating 50 years in the music business, and I want to share with you my favorite songs from this great Dominican artist. Pacheco arrived to New York in the 1940’s and since then became an influential part of the development of Latin music in New York. I will not attempt to write another Pacheco biography, as you can find good bios and interviews in the internet (I’ll provide you some links). For me, Pacheco’s influence came through his Conjunto and through his work with the Fania All Stars.

My Favorites Pacheco Music:

Tres de Cafe Dos de Azucar

The 1^st big musical hit I remember from Pacheco was “La Escencia del Guaguanco” with Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, included in his 1971 album “La Perfecta Combinación”. This song was played extensively in Puerto Rico, but after that point I lost track of Pacheco and El Conde. I completely missed their album “Los Compadres” and had only heard the merengue “Los Diablitos” from their 1973 album “Tres de Café y Dos de Azucar” when I decided to find out more about their music. After the huge impact of the “Fania All Stars Live at the Cheetah” albums I was so impressed with El Conde’s performance that I set out to find out more about his music. That’s when a friend lent me the “Tres de Café y Dos de Azucar” LP, and I was hooked. That album had several hit songs, including “Primoroso Cantar” and “Ponle Punto”, but my favorite from this album was “El Piro de Farra”. I believe this album captured the Pacheco and Pete El Conde duo at their best!

I then went further back and got “Los Compadres” which is another great recording for the Pacheco-Conde duo. My favorite song from that album “De Que Te Vale” was later recorded by Tommy Olivencia with a great trumpet solo by latin music maestro Luis “Perico” Ortiz.

Celia y Johnny

But is was Johnny Pacheco’s work with Celia Cruz which really got him to mainstream salseros who may or may not have followed him with El Conde, but who would not miss the Queen of Salsa. Their great 1974 debut album together titled “Celia y Johnny” was an instant latin music success, with the single mega-hit rumba “Quimbara”. And although the song was very popular and had a catchy tune, my favorites were the “santería” themed hit “Tengo El Idde” and the classic “Toro Mata”. For “Celia and Johnny”, Pacheco reinforced his recording musicians with Sonora Ponceña’s Papo Lucca at piano, the maestro Luis “Perico”Ortiz in trumpet, and his inseparable recording friend Justo Betancourt in chorus, among the most notable.

Pacheco followed this recording with another favorite of mine, the 1975 album “Tremendo Caché”, which featured the old Cortijo and Ismael Rivera hit “Cúcala”. Like with other albums, I enjoyed the album’s hit single song, but preferred the Sonora Matancera classic “La Sopa en Botella” and “Tres Días de Carnaval”, along with the Puerto Rican bomba “De la Verdegue”. “La Sopa en Botella” really brings Pacheco’s conjunto sound out, featuring guest Papo Lucca in a nice piano solo, and Celia providing all the right notes and “soneos” in another of her extraordinary performances.

Celia Cruz and Johnny Pacheco recorded their 3^rd collaboration in 1976 with the album “Recordando el Ayer”, adding Justo Betancourt to the front vocals with Celia Cruz. Its single, “Besito de Coco” became a huge hit. Pacheco and Celia also recorded “Celia, Johnny, and Pete” with El Conde, and did their final collaboration in 1981 with “Eternos” which contained the sticky merengue “El Guabá” and my favorite song “Saludo Celestial”, which is a tribute to Cuban latin music greats Arsenio Rodriguez, Benny Moré, and Chano Pozo.

El Maestro

As radio stations continued to play Pacheco’s hit songs from the “Tremendo Caché” album, Pacheco began recording with whom became his steady conjunto singer, the Cuban Hector Casanova. Casanova had a voice very similar to Pete El Conde’s, and Pete always referred to Casanova as the guy who imitated him. I’m not sure if the resemblance in singing voice was purposely or coincidental, but the fact is that Casanova proved a popular combination with Pacheco, immediately making the single of their debut album “El Maestro” an instant hit. The song “Guaguancó pa’l que Sabe” climbed the radio hit charts, as it had a mainstream soft-tempo son-montuno (in resemblance to Roberto Roena’s 1976 hit “Mi Desengaño) again featuring Papo Lucca on a piano solo and Casanova demonstrating his vocal range.

From “El Maestro” I also liked the funny themes “Prestame los Guantes” and “Yo No Parlevu Frances”, along with the classics “El Chivo”, “El Faisan”, and “Mango Mangue”. The duo of Pacheco-Casanova proved to be solid, and they went on to record 2 more albums before the 1970’s were over and Casanova ventured out as soloist. The 1977 ”The Artist” and the 1979 “Los Amigos” proved to be very good recordings. “The Artist” was one of my favorite overall albums of those years, as it has a good number of hits, including the popular single “Esa Prieta” besides other good songs as “Yerba Brava”, “La Chiva”, “Dirindinde”, Tu No Sabes Na’”, and “Ileana”. Pacheco’s “Tumbao Añejo” (as he nicknamed his conjunto, in reference to his old conjunto nickname of “Nuevo Tumbao” which he used in the 1960’s) had Papa Lucca and “Perico” Ortiz as the usual highlights, along with a guy which Pacheco brought in to substitute Justo Bentancourt in the chorus; Ramón Rodriguez, who wrote some of the songs, and later went on to work with Orquesta La Masacre and became a founding-member of the popular Conjunto Clásico.

“Los Amigos” had the hit single “Los Pollos no Tienen Dientes”, along with Pacheco’s 1960’s classic “Agua del Clavelito” (which highlights the Pacheco-Ramon Rodriguez chorus) and the merengue “Me Llevaron La Cartera”.

After Casanova left, Pacheco didn’t keep a steady recording singer in the band. He recorded with several singers like Mexican “Melón”, Cuban ex-Sonora Matancera singer Celio Gonzalez, and Puerto Rican Daniel Santos. In the 1980’s he also went back to record 4 mostly forgettable albums with his “compadre” Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez. Later, with Fania’s decline, he semi-retired, and then went on to perform mostly locally in New York with his band, but didn’t return to the recording studio, until releasing the “Entre Amigos” album in 2005 with a bunch of guest stars.

Johnny Pacheco’s Legacy was Fania Records:

As you read one of Johnny Pacheco’s biographies, you’ll see that he started the “Charanga” craze in New York alongside the late pianist Charlie Palmieri, participated in the first Alegre All Star recording, later formed his more typical Cuban sound conjunto to play at the 1964 World Fair in New York, and as he struggled with his partnership in Alegre Records with Al Santiago, decided to split and form his own record label, which he named after one of his songs, “Fania”. Because he lacked the legal know-how and capital, he joined forces with Jewish lawyer Jerry Masucci and they went on to revolutionize the Latin music world with the Salsa movement.

In honor of Pacheco’s 50^th Anniversary in music, there was a tribute concert this past week in New York, with many of his friends participating. Pacheco had an illustrious career which had a big impact in the music we enjoy today. I wish Pacheco the best!

Share with us which is your favorite Pacheco music by using the “Comments” section below. Its free!