When a musician mentions J.C.,
he's usually not referring to Jesus Christ, but to our beloved,
adopted Miamian Conga player, JOHNNY CONGA.
JOHNNY was born in Brooklyn, NEW YORK. He grew up in the Bronx
listening to the sounds of CAL TJADER and started what was to
become a lifetime musical career at the age of 15 (although he
had been banging on things since he was 5).
The name JOHNNY CONGA came from when he was playing with Gloria
Gaynor and there were three Johnnys in the band. So they called
the piano player JACK, the guitarist used his last name "Fetter"
and they started calling JOHNNY "J.C.". It has stuck
with him ever since as well as JOHNNY CONGA which is now his
"real" name.
In the wake of his career JOHNNY has played with over 100
major artists, both here and abroad including WILLIE BOBO, SERGIO
MENDEZ 77, and a pre-victory tour with the JACKSON 5 in 1979.
Now to the concert...
I arrived early ( MOCA The Museum
of Contemporary Art, at West Dixie Highway and 125th Street)
having left early to find the place. There was already excitement
in the air! The band was setting up and legendary host, radio
personality CHINA VALLES was happy as a kid! At the side of the
stage I saw the legendary MAMBO KING and QUEEN of dance CUBAN
PETE and BARBARA CRADDOCK.
The concert began with "GUAJIRA" enjoyed by all,
The band sounded great! Then Johnny brought up the dancers to
dance to "Coje el Tiempo" They were fabulous, I thought
I was in old Havana. The song also featured the horn section,
especially the very talented trumpet player Doug Michaels. On
the third song, "Siempre Va Bien" J.C. started heating
up, yes those drums got hot on this N.Y. salsa style tune with
a very nice horn arrangement tenor sax (Ta TA Palau) and trumpet
solos.
Then we came to the first original from J.C.s upcoming C.D
called "May the MAMBO be with you", The song was ¨CHA
BLUE¨and the title says it all. I loved it. Because of his
longstanding admiration for Cal Tjader, J.C. finally started
playing the vibes about a year ago and used them in this haunting
melody as well as other percussion. Dominique Cama got his turn
to solo on Alto Sax and the amazing talent on keyboards from
New York, Mario Marrero Jr. let loose along with bongo player
Luis Gonzales.
The 5th song was dedicated to
WILLIE BOBO and featured ALBERTO SIERRA on Timbales who stirred
up a, man that boy was cookin!! The night was full of surprises.
Next came the classic Lee Morgan tune ¨Sidewinder¨ and
I just had to dance to the mixture of afro cuban rhythm and classic
salsa.
Then followed another of J.C.s compositions for his new CD,
this tune called "Song for TJADER¨" J.C. admitted
to not being too prolific on the vibes yet, said he was just
¨wingin´it¨, but it sounded good to me, he respected
the music, didn't´t try to play beyond his capacity, he´s
certainly a prolific composer and percussionist, he should shut
up and play.
"MY DRUM WILL GO ON" followed (from Titanic?) It
didn't´t sink, It was beautiful. A majestic ending totally
enjoyable concert!
JOHNNY´s plans for the future
include finishing his 2nd CD and a tour in Canada. We hope to
see him soon again!
Musicians:
Johnny Conga - percussion, congas and vibes
Luis Gonzalez - bongos and pecussion
Alberto Sierra - timbales
Maria "Del Barrio" Marrero - keyboards
David Nieves - baby bass
"Tata" Palau - tenor sax
Dominic Cama - alto sax
Doug Michaels - trumpet
