Vaya Data was the house to a few of Fania Data’ brightest stars. Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco, the Fania founders, launched the sub-label in 1970 with the Puerto Rican duo Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz. However quickly after its launch, Fania had signed artists to Vaya Data from throughout the Caribbean and the diaspora, together with Celia Cruz, Cheo Feliciano, Mongo Santamaría, Ricardo Ray, and Bobby Cruz, amongst others.
Certainly, if one appears to be like again on the label’s catalog now, it’s unquestionably crammed with unforgettable moments – there are basic recordings that includes Cruz and Pacheco, in addition to a couple of sudden little-known musical forays into rock, jazz, soul, and funk. Beneath, we rejoice among the most vital figures and eras in Vaya Data’ historical past.
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The Puerto Rican Legends
Vaya Data kicked issues off with a bang with Ricardo Ray and Bobby Cruz, a duo now remembered as “The Kings Of Salsa.” Ray and Cruz grew up collectively in Brooklyn, they usually’d gained expertise taking part in the membership circuit in New York. Ray, a piano participant, had educated at Juilliard for a yr earlier than deciding to strike out on his personal. He fashioned a band and Cruz joined him as a lead vocalist, cementing a partnership that will final a long time. In 1970, the duo determined to maneuver to Puerto Rico collectively to check their skilled luck, which coincided completely with Vaya Data’ excavation of the island for potential expertise.
Their debut album, El Bestial Sonido, was successful that gave Vaya the early enhance it wanted. The tune’s lead observe, “Sonido Bestial,” remains to be thought of one of many nice salsa compositions for its winding, improvisational high quality. Ray and Cruz have been amongst Vaya’s most reliable mainstays, with every of them having fun with decades-long careers on the label. Ultimately, each Cruz and Ray turned non secular ministers and launched a number of Christian salsa albums.
Vaya was additionally an early residence to Cheo Feliciano. The Puerto Rican singer and composer had moved to New York on the age of 17 and launched the town to his spectacular baritone. He’d made followers out of each his audiences and his fellow musicians by singing with the Eddie Palmieri Orchestra within the late Nineteen Sixties, however drug habit put his profession on maintain. He sought remedy in Puerto Rico and spent a couple of years recovering till Vaya supplied a possibility for a comeback. Cheo was a smash hit that didn’t draw back from moments of vulnerability. “Mi Triste Problema” was a young ballad, sung over a bucolic guitar, that captured the emotional vary of Feliciano’s voice. He went on to file greater than a dozen albums on Vaya, typically veering between delicate boleros and high-energy salsa.
Different gifted Puerto Ricans left their mark on Vaya. Rafi Val, a bandleader from Ponce Puerto Rico, recorded a number of albums on the label, Rafi Val Y La Diferente among the many most hard-hitting and memorable. The singer Ismael Quintana, as soon as a part of Palmieri’s La Perfecta, recorded 5 albums on Vaya and later discovered success with the tune “Mi Debilidad,” which he carried out with the Fania All Stars in 1976. The Puerto Rican singer Wilkins, who noticed fame within the 80s and 90s, additionally made his debut on Vaya with a self-titled launch in 1973 produced by Tito Puente. In 1988, his tune “Margarita” was featured in Salsa, a critically panned movie that’s primarily remembered at present for all of the star cameos. (Wilkins had a minor function, alongside together with his fellow Vaya labelmates Celia Cruz and Mongo Santamaría.)
Branching out to the remainder of Latin America
Vaya Data began with a deal with Puerto Rico, however the roster finally grew to incorporate artists who signify all elements of Latin America. Mongo Santamaría, as an example, was born in Havana and have become one of the crucial revered drummers on the label. Santamaría discovered the congas as a younger rumba participant within the streets of the Cuban capital, the place he absorbed African rhythms and traditions. These sounds by no means left him: His debut album on Vaya, Fuego, is filled with Afro-Latin percussion beating below advanced jazz and salsa rhythms. “Malcolm X” is a spotlight, wherein air-light flutes and piano arpeggios dance and improvise round one another. 1975’s Afro-Indio, in the meantime, leans into carefree jazz compositions, with “Mambo Mongo” enlivened by his potent drumming.
Félix “Pupi” Legarreta, a local of Cienfuegos, Cuba, confirmed off his myriad talents as a singer, violinist, flutist, and pianist on a number of releases on the label. He’d recorded on Tico (his debut was re-launched by Vaya) and shortly joined Johnny Pacheco on the charanga-tinged album Los Dos Mosqueteros earlier than firing off a couple of tasks of his personal.
The affect of rock on Vaya Data
A number of the extra shocking moments in Vaya Data’ catalog embrace the occasional flirtation with rock music. Psychedelic sounds have been en vogue within the Nineteen Seventies, and salsa musicians similar to Ray Barretto discovered compelling methods to include extra electrical influences into Latin genres. Barretto produced Café, the one album on Vaya Data from a rock and soul band of the identical identify. Songs such because the opening lower, “Sí Dame Tu Amor,” have funk grooves rippling by way of the preparations – and it feels like one thing Barretto himself would have launched.
Eddie Benitez was a teen prodigy, found by Fania after taking part in native battle of the band competitions. He fashioned a band referred to as Nebula, and on 1976’s Nightlife he stretched the chances between rock, funk, and Latin jazz on songs such because the rollicking “Mariposa” and the melodious “I’m So Sad.” The album even earned reward from Carlos Santana, who would propel the type in his personal route. Benitez later turned the primary Latin artist to play at New York Metropolis’s famed CBGB membership.
Celia Cruz
Vaya Data has the excellence of being the automobile by way of which Celia Cruz made her Fania debut. She had been working for years on the level that she got here to Vaya, gaining large recognition for her releases on Tico Data. Cruz had met the producer Larry Harlowe, and shortly crossed paths with an enthusiastic Johnny Pacheco, who doubled-down on Cruz’s artistry by giving her music that matched her vocal prowess. Essentially the most enduring results of their collaboration is Celia y Johnny, the 1974 file that’s now preserved within the Library of Congress. Celia y Johnny modified the course of salsa by marrying Cuban and Puerto Rican traditions collectively. “Quimbara” is testomony to the standout work they recorded, vital and timeless from the primary, nearly ritualistic percussive beats.
Cruz launched a dozen albums on Vaya, partnering with bandleaders and teams similar to Willie Colón and La Sonora Ponceña. Her tribute to Ismael Rivera, recorded 5 years after his dying, is the ultimate album on Vaya. Cruz sings Rivera’s classics, together with the booming “A Bailar La Bomba,” bringing her personal spirit to every tune. Having Cruz interpret the revered sonero’s sound whereas exhibiting the astonishing vary of her personal voice was a becoming conclusion to Vaya.
For extra nice Latin music, learn our function on the pioneering Alegre file label.
