Saturday, August 23, 2008

Daniel Ponce - "NEW YORK NOW!" LP 1983 - Cuba-N.Y.C.

 
Daniel Ponce 
dead of a heart attack
Miami, Florida 2013
R.I.P. / D.E.P.

 *** Ibayé bayé tonu ***

'Daniel Ponce' and his first LP as a leader, "NEW YORK NOW!". Recorded in N.Y.C. in 1983, with 'Orlando "Puntilla" Rios', 'Ignacio Berroa', 'Jose "Chi Chi" Trapaga', 'Alberto Morgan', 'Olufemi Mitchell', 'Regenio Tellechea', Paquito D'Rivera and "electro" wizard 'Bill Laswell' among others. On the rumba's, Daniel plays five drums and overdubbed Quinto.
With strong messages in "Invación De 80" and "Cojelo Suave"

Besides Puntilla's earlier 1981 LP
"From Habana To New York", this was the second LP released in the U.S. to present more "modern" and "Contemporary" forms of Cuban rumba as opposed to the earlier styles that most people had been accustomed to: Mongo, Patato, Totico, etc. (como el dicho: "la timba no es como ayer")
LP long out of print, never reissued on CD.
Cover photo shows the World Trade Center "Twin Towers".

1. Invación De 80

4. Odie

5. Cojelo Suave

11 comments:

Alfredo Triff said...

Thanks for posting one of the best Cuban conga players ever.

Alfredo Triff said...

Yeah. He can be pretty tough. Ponce lives in Miami now. He's gigging around. Doing good. Definitely. I'll keep visiting.

Anonymous said...

Hi, cool blog; but I was confused that Daniel Ponce didn't get linked...that probably sounds awfully selfish until you realize I bought two copies of the LP and played them to death. Well anyway it was nice to see someone recognizes the excellence of this album; it was my first exposure to the music of Santeria of example.

Anonymous said...

Hey you know - I just want to apologize for that first post. I have read into your blog and I see you are so obviously someone who has enormous respect and deep, deep roots in the music and the culture in general. I was just venting a little disappointment because you have one of the few mentions of this album anywhere on the Net, and I got all excited thinking I was going to be able to cop it again. sorry!

Alaafia,
Michael.

Percusionils said...

hey mark, new york out was available on CD! I saw it once didn't buy it because I have the LP...shame on me...hahaha

Fidels Eyeglasses said...

It's been re-issued.. but without the original cover.
(cover showing N.Y.C. World Trade Center/Twin Towers skyline)
The re-issued CD doesn't sound as good as the LP, as it was remixed and also has some "added" songs from his other LP's/CD's.

Alec Dempster said...

gracias i had the lp years ago in toronto and hearing it again in mexico has been wonderful. i had a chance to hear ponce in Toronto with hilton ruiz about 2o years ago.

vinicius said...

ola sou brasileiro e agradecido por ter encontrado pessoas como eu so q eu gostaria de fazer o download desse
lp ou cd não sei mais enfim qualquer album do daniel ponce
entre e visite o meu blog tem bastante musica cubana falowww

vinicuban.blogspot.com

Percusionils said...

here's the CD I was writing about. It is called 'New York Now' - no extra tracks!

http://www.muziekweb.nl/shared/cat/ti/index.php?tnr=HEX1450#player

Fidels Eyeglasses said...

I think most likely the CD is a NL bootleg taken directly from the vinyl LP, so the sound may not be great.

But you can download the original Vinyl LP here:

http://musichertz.blogspot.com/2009/03/daniel-ponce-new-york-now.html

Fidels Eyeglasses said...

a.t., I absolutely agree.
The first time I heard him was on Paquito D's 1981 LP titled: Blowin' and loved his playing.

When I moved back here to N.Y.C. in 1986, I would see him often at 'The Village Gate' and giging around town.
He eventually started to hang out and play at the Central Park Rumba's and also at a Rumba that took place during the cold Manhattan winters inside an old VFW post in the east village.

I played rumba with him many times, if he didn't like what was going on, he could be very hard, as he had a very "tough street personality", there was always talk that he carried a pistol in his sock, though I was more interested in playing with him than what was in his sock.
If he liked you, everything was cool.
We got along great.

A lot of players didn't dig him when he first "arrived" on the N.Y.C. scene, as he had real "Cuban attitude" and played with a very "physically powerful" fresh new style which "intimidated" many of the older and younger established players.

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