Nicknamed “El Cantante de los Cantantes” (“The Singer of Singers”), Héctor Lavoe’s angelic vocals, improvisational genius, and easy, infectious command of fabric made him probably the most beloved salsa singer of his technology. His profession as a soloist, nevertheless, started reluctantly. Ensconced inside trombonist/bandleader Willie Colón’s vastly fashionable conjunto since 1967 – crafting hits like “Che Che Colé,” “Barrunto,” and “La Murga” amongst many others – Lavoe, together with the remainder of the Latin music world, was surprised when his pal and collaborator abruptly disbanded the still-thriving group in 1974. Formally Colón defined the break up as a need to discover different musical pursuits. Others understood it as an act of each self-preservation and difficult love – Colón’s last-ditch effort to course-correct Lavoe’s more and more erratic habits stemming from his mounting struggles with drug habit.
Take heed to Héctor Lavoe’s Ti De Depende now.
“At first, I was hurt,” Lavoe later informed Latin NY journal in 1980, “but I soon realized the split up had its purpose; it was a test! I had to prove that I could go it alone.” Removed from abandoning Lavoe, Colón continued to information the singer’s recordings from the producer’s chair, starting with 1975’s sterling solo debut, La Voz. Anchored by two hits – “El Todopoderoso” and the composition that may grow to be one in every of Lavoe’s signature songs, “Mi Gente” – the album’s success assuaged a few of the salsero’s insecurities. After the discharge of Lavoe’s definitive dwell model of “Mi Gente” – carried out with the Fania All-Stars in San Juan – Colón believed Héctor was able to extra actively tackle the tasks of bandleader. However not simply any group. For his subsequent effort, Lavoe could be handed the reins of the core of Colón’s celebrated, longtime band – percussionists Jose Mangual Jr. and Milton Cardona, pianist “Professor” Joe Torres, and bassist Santi Gonzalez – augmented by different top-flight musicians.
1976’s ensuing De Ti Depende is imbued with a way of function from its title (“It’s Up to You”) on down. Energized by Lavoe’s playful tongue-rolling ad-libs and Torres’ dynamic piano solo, a terrific adaptation of Venezuelan singer Perucho Torcat’s traditional “Vamos A Reir Un Poco” (“Let’s Laugh a Little”) opens the LP and supplies Lavoe the possibility to slyly reference his personal mercurial popularity (“Esta risa no es de loco/ Se estan riendo de mi”: “This laugh is not crazy/ They are telling me that I am crazy”). Much more explicitly self-referential is “Hacha Y Machete,” a declaration of Lavoe and Colón’s enduring musical and private chemistry that’s forcefully convincing in each theme and apply. Lavoe’s evolution as a tune stylist is additional mirrored by the album’s boleros: the beautiful title observe, prominently that includes Yomo Toro’s tres guitar, and the spellbinding “Tanto Como Ayer” accented by Louie Ortiz’s elegant strings and horns.
The album’s largest hit and acknowledged salsa masterpiece is “Periodico de Ayer.” Composed by the prolific Tite Curet Alonso, the tune likens expired like to yesterday’s newspaper, and Lavoe, because the spurned narrator, delivers one more authoritative efficiency. He’s additionally immeasurably supported by Colón’s sensible orchestral string association and countermelody, which encode extra layers of urgency and that means. That Lavoe and Colón’s preliminary break-up was, actually, headline information in Latin NY just some years earlier infuses the tune with an additional poetic energy. Heard figuring out that De Ti Depende’s triumphs couldn’t stop Lavoe from struggling by an eventual tragic decline, ending together with his demise at simply age 46, it possesses the heartbreaking efficiency of an elegy.
Take heed to Héctor Lavoe’s Ti De Depende now.
