I had the pleasure of working with two first-rate Panamanians on this recording, arranger/musician extraordinaire, the late Mauricio Smith, and the wonderful vocalist/composer/leader, Camilo Azuquita.

I ran into Azuquita at Virginia’s, an Los Angeles night club where he performed with his orchestra. He told me about some compositions he wanted to record and he handed me an audio cassette containing a dozen of his compositions. In New York I studied the tape with Mauricio where we decided on the songs. Mauricio immediately went to work on the arrangements.

We recorded the music tracks in New York laid down Azuquita’s vocal track, at A & M studios in Los Angeles. I was able to do the final re-mixing of the album in New York and upon completion, I presented it to Fania President, Jerry Masucci, who had told me beforehand that he had more recording artists than he could handle. Jerry graciously listened to the album, loved it, and scheduled it for immediate release.

Written by Bobby Marin LESS >