Andy Harlow
Sorpresa La Flauta
$1.50
Andy Harlow
Sorpresa La Flauta
The recording and subsequent release of “Sorpresa La Flauta” forever changed the course of my musical career. It all began with a casual conversation between Jerry Masucci, my brother Larry and myself sometime in 1971. "Why don't we record my brother?" Larry asked Jerry (with me standing there saying nothing as I was a bit shocked). "He's got the Harlow name; I'll produce it, Ismael Miranda will write some tunes and co-produce the album. Whaddaya think Jer?” Well, Jerry thought it was a money-maker, and we were off.
Larry recruited the then unknown Johnny Vazquez to sing. We then selected arrangers and musicians for the session, Ismael wrote some great tunes and Larry and I selected the rest of the songs. .......Baddabing....baddaboom....with no time to waste, we rehearsed and recorded the album during the summer of 1972.
The LP was released around Christmas time 1972 and by February 1973 “La Lotería” was number one on the Latin singles charts in both New York and Puerto Rico. It turned out, in fact, to be Fania's biggest selling 45 RPM to date, and it put me on the salsa map.
Now, 35 years later, I'm still doin' it here in Miami, and thanks to Emusica Records’ great digital remastering and reproduction, this classic example of hard-driving New York salsa from the 1970s can now be enjoyed by a whole new generation of salsa lovers as well as those of my own generation with this limited edition reissue. A gozar!
Written by Andy Harlow
La grabación y la subsiguiente puesta a la venta de “Sorpresa La Flauta” cambió para siempre el rumbo de mi carrera musical. Todo comenzó con una conversación casual entre Jerry Masucci, mi hermano Larry y yo en algún momento en 1971. “¿Por qué no grabamos a mi hermano?” Larry le pregunto a Jerry (conmingo ahí parado mudo ya que estaba en estado de shock). “Tiene el apellido Harlow; yo lo produzco, Ismael Miranda escribe algunos de los temas y coproduce el álbum ¿Qué te parece Jerry? Jerry, pensó que produciría dinero y arrancamos.
Larry reclutó al entonces desconocido Johnny Vázquez para que cantara. Luego seleccionamos a los arreglistas y músicos para la sesión, Ismael escribió unos magníficos temas y Larry y yo seleccionamos el resto de las canciones. Y con la velocidad de un rayo, sin tiempo que perder, ensayamos y grabamos el álbum durante el verano de 1972.
El elepé salió a la venta cerca de Navidad en 1972 y para febrero de 1973 “La Lotería” estaba en el primer lugar de la lista de éxitos de discos sencillos Latinos en Nueva York y en Puerto Rico. De hecho, resultó ser el disco de 45 revoluciones de mayor venta de Fania hasta la fecha y me puso a mí en el mapa de la salsa.
Ahora, 35 años después, todavía lo estoy haciendo aquí en Miami, y gracias a la magnífica remasterización digital y reproducción de EMúsica Records, este clásico ejemplo de lo que era la salsa de Nueva York de los años 70 ahora lo puede disfrutar una generación de amantes de la salsa totalmente nueva, al igual que aquellos de mi propia generación, con esta reproducción de edición limitada. ¡A gozar!
Escrito por Andy Harlow
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Hammock House: Santiago Sessions
$5.99
Fania is pleased to announce the release of HAMMOCK HOUSE: SANTIAGO SESSIONS on August 25, the newest installment in their highly-regarded “Hammock House” remix series, produced and mixed by internationally renowned LA-based producer and DJ, Jose Marquez. The iconic entertainment brand, which has evolved from a legendary NYC-based music label to an innovative and digitally-driven global music, entertainment and lifestyle company, is known worldwide for their work with influential DJs, and one of the best examples is their highly-regarded ‘Hammock House’ series.
Stemming from an idea that originated at the Manana Festival in Santiago de Cuba two years ago, Marquez fuses his love for dynamic Afro-Cuban and Caribbean flavors on SANTIAGO SESSIONS with classic Fania tracks from icons such as Hector Lavoe, Ray Barretto, Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. Standout tracks include “Aguanile,” the iconic song from Fania legends Willie Colon and Hector Lavoe which first appeared on the album El Juicio in 1972, for which Marquez enlisted noted musicians Bobby Wilmore and Lazaro Galarraga, who specialize in Afro-Cuban percussion, to perform on congas and bata drums. Another showstopper on the release is “Herencia Africana,” which was composed by Javier Vazquez and recorded by the legendary Celia Cruz and Sonora Matancera on the album Feliz Encuentro, released in 1982. In the song, Cruz talks about her African Heritage/influence, so Marquez brought in US-based musicians originally from Mali to perform and emphasize the African elements of the song, using a djembe instead of congas and a Balafon which is a traditional African version of a marimba/xylophone.
Fania launched the groundbreaking ‘Hammock House’ series in 2011 with the release of its first acclaimed compilation from the celebrated producer/DJ Joe Claussell entitled ‘Hammock House Africa Caribe.’ With each thematic installment, Fania has teamed up with innovative DJ/producers such as Louie Vega, Toy Selectah and The Whiskey Barons, providing them with access to Fania's treasure vaults and the original multitrack master tapes from recordings by classic artists to create fresh takes on Fania’s musical legacy to introduce to new generations of fans.
Music Credits:
1. Celia Cruz - Un Bembe Pa Yemaya (Jose Marquez Remix)
Congas: Bobby Wilmore, Lazaro Galarraga
Bata Drums: Bobby Wilmore, Lazaro Galarraga
2. Ray Barretto - Indestructible (Jose Marquez Remix)
Piano: Claudio Passavanti
Bass: Claudio Passavanti
Congas: Ismel Wignall
Saxophone: Elias Perez
3. Joe Pastrana - Cotique Allstars (Jose Marquez Remix)
Congas: Alberto Lopez
Shekere: Steve Haney
Timbales: Michael Duffy
4. Tito Puente - Africa Linda feat. QVLN (Jose Marquez Remix)
Violin: Quetzal Guerrero
Rhodes Piano: Claudio Passavanti
5. Celia Cruz - Herencia Africana (Jose Marquez Salsafrican Mix)
Djembe: Sidy Maiga
Balafon: Balla Kouyaté6. Hector Lavoe - Aguanile (Jose Marquez Remix)Congas: Bobby Wilmore, Lazaro GalarragaShekere: Bobby WIlmoreBass: Claudio PassavantiPiano: Claudio Passavanti -
$9.99
A short biography of Joaquin "Joe" Claussell Joaquin "Joe" Claussell born in Brooklyn, where thanks to the deep musical roots of its diverse and large Puerto Rican family, music was his refuge, family, food, comfort and escape. His first encounter with the world of DJs was in their own neighborhood, at parties and meetings of the association of his block. He started collecting vinyl at the age of 15 years, and his passion for music and dancing took him from Disco Inferno to CBGBs, alternative club Mudd Club, the most famous Underground and the legendary Paradise Garage. While living in the East Village in the early 90 fell in love with the record store Dance Tracks, which was chill, but in turn was technologically impressive. He was friends with the owner, beginning with his musical career. Joe became the DJ Store and gave weekly parties that drew a diverse group of devoted music lovers. After the owner's suggestion produced and performed "Over", his first remix, and produced "Awade" his first track, which became an instant classic. Over time he learned about the music business and took over the store. In 1996, on the back of Dance Tracks, Joe founded Spiritual Life Music, eclectic independent record label. At the same time he oversaw the creation of Ibadan Records with his friend, executive producer Jerome Sydenham. Seal Productions are fluid - with African rhythms, Brazilian, Latin and Middle Eastern that cross genres of disco, jazz, house and electronic music. It is intimately involved in every aspect of the production process: music, composition, selection or creation of visual art and graphic design. Under the seals he has promoted and produced novice artists. His first single, "Nothing's Changed" Ten City, followed by parts of Jephthah Guillaume, Mateo & Matos, Slam Mode and Three Generations Walking. His first full-length album itself was Language. The big record companies seek to collaborate with them and remix pieces by artists such as Femi Kuti, Herbie Hancock, Beth Orton, Steward Mathewman (Sade), Cassandra Wilson, Diana Ross, and Manuel Göttschin. His remixes have given life to classics like "Get away," Hector Lavoe and "Sangue De Beirona" Cesaria Evora. The revival of Nina Simone song "Feeling Good" is due to the remix of Joe featured in TV shows such as Sex and the City, which was followed by countless versions. Joe Claussell That year also joined Francois K and Danny Krivit to play the legendary Sunday dance party Body & Soul. For six years, lovers of music and dance of the City of New York and around the world came religiously to form part of the unique musical journey through the classic, world, soul, disco, funk genres, and house. The tracks were elevated to an infinitely higher level thanks to the synergy of artistic live performance of each DJ, and the care and creativity of the crowd. During the last ten years Joe has constantly been playing music all over the world, remixing, producing and diversifying into other genres of art world. New York originated the Sacred Rhythm party, designed to bring together artists house with artists who perform live in an intimate setting. Soon it will air its first radio show on the Internet, entitled An Invitation to Openness, which is based on the freedom to play whatever they please at the time, rather than be at the mercy of the musical whims of an audience. Joe contemplates humanity and trends from a distant prospect but wrapped. Tries to reach spiritual and creative autonomy in their personal lives, and encourages their loved ones using their unique resources to build a society in which art and individuality are encouraged and praised. For those looking to make a musical journey with the soul, Joe's shows are a rare and coveted opportunity to do so. He has the ability to connect with people who share your passion for the rhythms of life through a universal language, which keeps them intrigued and tune while listening, dance and share their philosophy. Joe is currently involved in a wide range of projects, but we can be sure that your heart and soul are tied to each of them, either by participating in Trembling Sensing Space with theater director Lidy Six, or your remix entitled "Africa Caribbean Hammock House" and its production project for Fania / Code. Each project will communicate in their own language, rhythms and ideas that can only be the product of such a creative mind like yours. And everyone will be as interesting as to keep those who think they know intrigued and attentive. Hammock House by Andy Battaglia Joaquin "Joe" Claussell comes from an area of Brooklyn that could be considered that idyllic Brooklyn that is part of the collective imagination. He grew up a few blocks from Fifth Avenue, a busy street that adjoins a cozy neighborhood known as Park Slope. Day and night, virtually unabated, life goes on as it has done for years: the bustle of business is the same as always, cars with loudspeakers exaggerated hear his roar, the elderly walk carefully along the sidewalks, mothers pushing berreantes Strollers their babies, corner delis people who spit drinking grape soda and scrape lottery tickets; robust women out there, guys walking around with impeccable Yankees hats, boys shirts size sails. Black, brown, white, young, old, straight, gay, lazy, cunning, sneaky ... There is life everywhere in a manic and peaceful balance. Joe shows us the place where you bought your first album, a small shop which had told us at lunch the day before. We are a group of three who are following Joe for a few days to see where you live and where does what he does. Lunch was at El Viejo Yayo, a Latin restaurant that frequents Joe since he was a child and which still swear is the best of the whole city of New York. People chatted with cooks at the counter and smiles abounded everywhere. We ordered dishes that were so large they could Glad we fed for days. What was good? Very good: rice and beans was perfect, the baked chicken fell off the bone, and fried bananas ...! The record store was another success, but felt like something from another era, another mentality, and somewhat strange. The shop is called The Record & Tape Center, the owner is the same lifetime, now 73, and has not changed much since Joe bought his first piece of music when he was a boy (actually, the album III, Led Zeppelin). Several CD a few years ago are in the showcase, faded by sun and covered with dust. Abound in old copies of vinyl discs of The Five Saints, The Chi-Lites, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Rolling Stones, and lots of artists whose work lies in the furrows of old records 45. The place is a mess and smells basement Grandfather. Not the kind of establishment run by meticulous collectors or those who have learned to move things online. It's just a big, strange room, and something crazy in Brooklyn, where music has been accumulating for nearly 40 years, and counting. Joe flipping through the merchandise that finger and thumb movement dominated world by DJ scavenging among the drawers. Do not be surprised at anything before we left, but he looks happy to just be there, looking for something in a place where he could find it. It is at home, in the kind of old record store where the masterpieces of Fania Records initially prospered, where sometimes still hide or hibernate or just hang out, waiting for someone to listen again. - "We used to play all that music at home. To be part of this now, look at the labels of Fania discs spin in front of me ... I can not believe I had the opportunity to work on this. It still seems unbelievable. " That's Joe, who talks about the year he spent working on the music part of Hammock House. He talks about it with a little astonished tone reserved for a project which had to listen to her past and literally had to hold history in your hands. Have you ever seen an old tape reel of study? Have you raised, you have marveled at your weight, you've looked at the shiny black plastic around its center? Joe shows us one you have in your office. We have driven over the bridge to Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan, near the area of construction of the World Trade Center, which rents space in Tribeca for Spiritual Life Sacred Rhythm and two record labels who helps run. It is also home to a personal studio where he works and stores preproduction assertion - very convincingly - is a collection of over a million records. A whole wall full of tablets containing countless classics: Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Jimi Hendrix, a set of recordings NASA landing on the moon, The History of the House Sound of Chicago. But there is something in a battered cardboard box that holds for our inspection. Inside, a reel of metal surrounded by many feet of magnetic tape and a page to crumble a "Report tracks" day any of the 70 different numbered columns are written in pencil: "low", "guitar "" saxophone "," trombone ". Scribbled names appear in the top right corner, with cryptic notes that mark other important parts of what appears to be a hot and complicated Latin melody. It's ... amazing. "When the messenger came with all these boxes and I had a feeling of Indiana Jones when you open the treasure chest and the golden glow of light illuminates his face. This was something miraculous anduviese still out there, and the history of all these things is wonderful. When I opened all the multi-tracks, the pleasure of having an entire string orchestra with which those days really could work ... "That's Joe again, drifting on a thought that can not end with words. He's talking about the amount of archive tapes he got, old tapes Fania catalog tracks with individual sections could be isolated and remastered, you reimagined, recombined. "I listened to those songs and I thought 'what am I going to do with that?'. Many sounded perfect as they were. But the mentality of the people during the 60's and 70's in music, they created as artists, soul, heart. They took for granted a lot of the technical part. Made music without thinking about the different mixtures or someone were to touch his work in the future, so I tried to maintain the integrity of what is there. Fania is sacred to the heritage of Puerto Rico and Cuba and it was important to be put in good hands, "Joe Puerto Rican raised in New York -. Or specifically nuyorican - with all the hot and bubbling concoction of identity that occurs when a boy It grows with nine brothers and sisters (and a shared battery) in the turbulent and working community of Brooklyn. "When I think of my home growing up, there was plenty more music than love. We are bombarded with music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all types of music: rock, popular hits, African music. We gave it all at once. And Latin music flew everywhere in the neighborhood, from the basement, through the windows, in parks. My mother put us abreast of all Latin songs. " - What you hear in Hammock House are more than simple mixtures. Each issue was addressed and armed differently, each in its own terms. As Joe says, "Some songs were released, others were elongated ... many parts were rewritten ... some parts were recorded over others". Now we are in a recording studio in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is dark outside, in a hidden in a rough neighborhood marked by dazzling the ruined Jewish synagogues and trendy boutique bars street. Joe is here to record with his brother Joseph, a famous percussionist who championed many of the parts of the battery in Hammock House. The session looks like a family event, which is apparently the case wherever he goes Joe (even if it is alone with three strangers following him wherever he goes.) Both Claussell have headphones on and congas between his knees. Joseph plays a lively syncope, grunting and humming while playing. Joe sways from side to side, lost in the music as it occurs will fall where the new lines of percussion. Both spend much time with his eyes closed under bright studio lights, but they seem to be able to see each other, or at least listen to each other, while their way into a sound that both learned in his youth. "The cultural aspect of this is the objective of the remix," says Joe. "It is a great privilege to work with the music of others, especially when it has the flavor of the era when music was originally created. Able to play these old tapes and listen to excerpts in which you hear someone say 'first shot' while consuming cocaine or whatever those people do is a blessing. It's deep. " Joe looks down for a moment and looks up again. "How many guys out there on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn today know what was Fania? Perhaps some of them hear this and like it. So begins the chain reaction. " NOTES TRACKS, COUNTED BY JOE CLAUSSELL Lou Perez, "African Fantasy" I did not know this track before this project, but I immediately liked the idea in the title of an "African Fantasy". The objective of this remix was possible to hear the feeling of walking into a jungle where a new world opens up. Historically, all this music originated in Africa, and through the movement of the slave trade it spread around the world. It was important for me to establish its roots. I used many natural sounds of the forest, jungle and animals to generate the feeling of going somewhere. Then comes the flute and percussion and strongly enter the piano, like a tribal meeting. What kept the original multi-track was a flute and percussion. Everything else reproduced: the sounds of the jungle, more percussion ... The story begins in Africa and across the new world. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "African Fantasy" remix " Jaidene "Jai" Veda, "Undeniable Love" This song is actually not the old file. The production is completely original. The reason why I suggested that we used it was to give this project a real sense today, something new and something now that fits into the idea of "hammock house". He was working with Jai Veda before starting this project and this is a song that I connected from the start because it has a kind of Latin style that complements the rest. Then it was just a demo; originally had a slower rate hip-hop, so I called my brother Joseph to help me redo it with a Latin beat, and the end result is a two-part story that travels from one another. Jai was thrilled when I said I was going to be part of this. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Undeniable Love" remix " Mongo Santamaria "Mambo Mongo" This song fascinates me completely. I used to play the original version all the time for years, but not many people know, so I thought that if this project is a DJ that exposes the world to some lost or hidden music, then had to use it. Initially production was so good we did not really need anything, but in my original attempt to strengthen I added more percussion and Rhodes electric piano lines to complement the original chords Rhodes. The new percussion sounds are my brother playing at the same time as the original parts of Santamaria, who was a great Cuban percussionist. Because this was recorded in the late 60s, many original sections as these were buried in the mix, perhaps because they were produced for listening caseramente. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Mambo Mango" remix " Celia Cruz " Chango "Celia Cruz is considered the goddess of Latin and Afro-Cuban music. As a child I remember that everyone admired. The atmosphere around her was profound. My mother loved her. This is a song in Yoruba, the African religious music. The original is very minimalist: just a 6/8 rhythm with Celia singing / reciting over it. I just tried to give a more modern profile, with the addition of the lower and percussion, both produced by my brother, and some sound effects interwoven with bells, whistles and African kaba layers. So I brought a pianist Bennett Paster, who played for a while, talking and responding to the music rhythmically and really complement the melody. It's a monster! Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Chango" remix " Eddie Palmieri, "Lucumí" Eddie Palmieri ... what you can do to your music? This is an album made in 1976 for Columbia. Everything was there, so I decided to do a more traditional remix with him, as they did in the 70s, when they did remixes manipulating existing tracks of the multi-tracks and reorganized parts that were already there. I added some percussion, but it was enough, and Palmieri had great musicians playing with him. Moreover, it is one of the few Latin artists who used lots of delay and reverb, and tried to give an air of dub. The guitars are echoed. There are a lot of reverb to give more space and what I like to call freakiness. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Lucumí" remix " Ray Barretto, "Exodus" Most of this song was recently created, and again my brother Joseph It had much to do with that. Ray Barretto was a very special musician in my family life, as it was in the world of Latin music. This particular song I'm not crazy, unless it be the version of Bob Marley, but there is something about her that made me select it. I wanted to make it a tribute to Ray and created an entirely new introduction. Everything up where chords say "exodus" was created as a tribute. I wanted people to feel the love and appreciation we all feel for this man, and why has such cosmic and spiritual introduction. This is the awakening, and there follows a Yoruba chant, saying "thank you". One person singing is Liliana Santamaria, Mongo's daughter. I could have taken the part of "exodus" and add a kick, cymbals and a keyboard, and make it more type house. But my brother and I tried to turn it into something that more people could appreciate, and something that pleased even the same Ray. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Exodus" remix " Mongo Santamaria, "O Mi Shango" This It was the last song we worked on this project. In the old days, when I started doing remixes, I took the original CD track and I made an issue. I enjoyed it and I just wanted to lengthen, and I remember I said then, "I wish I could get the multi-track this and do something with it." I did not realize it was on the Fania catalog when we started Hammock House. Then when we were finished, I heard one day in my iPod on a flight to Japan and thought, "Hmmm, maybe this itself is available!" So I called and asked, and happened to be there, and I went crazy. For this version I took the song from a Latin style to one of more African percussion. Add some wind instruments. And so feels the rhythm house. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "O My Shango" remix " Eddie Palmieri, "Yoruba Chant" The only part of this song I used was the beginning. Hence he is passing to a type of lounge music with which he could do nothing and re-did the rest. It came to me like a clue in the multi-track from another song he had asked, and when I heard the singing of the thought, "With this I can do something themselves." The rest of the craziness and the African question as he walked elsewhere I thought, "Ok, there must be a kind dance track here." We ended up with a song with a kind of Caribbean feel. Ismael Miranda, "I'm going now" I stumbled upon this topic while researching and listening to all CDs reissued Fania at the beginning of this project. I heard it in the car one afternoon on the way to give an oil change, while driving on Prospect Park West, and I fell for him. It was part of a collection of ballads, and he sings about going to leave his wife. Their excitement is obvious that composed this song for one reason in particular. Really impressed me. The entire production was already a beauty, and I wondered what I could do to take it to another level. The strings were already there, but not heard in the same way as the original, so I created a second part in the composition starts out as three minutes. By using only original strings could create what I like to imagine as a purely production Claussell, just because we try to do something new. Is the perfect ending. Click here to listen to Joe Classuell "I'm now" remix " MIX My goal for the mix CD was the creation of an epic journey that begins in the mother country (Africa) and moved to New York. I wanted to make a futuristic blend, where stories soundscapes and tapestries are created, and where transitions serve as introductions to each story. I wanted to create bridges with different rhythms, and worked with my brother Joseph and other percussionists and musicians in the studio to create pieces that flowed together. I wanted to create the feeling of passing, for example, the idea of "rhythm" in a scene to another scene of "love", where you can feel the real emotion of love. The live mixed with four CD players, effects and touch-tapes, and then took her to the studio and edited some of the levels. I wanted to mix live for a more human feeling, to keep the authenticity of the texture of this music, because I wanted to reflect the process of working on this project. Looking back, I am proud and grateful to have worked with power as historical music, and music that I grew up. A NOTE FROM JOE taking leave, I would like to inform those concerned that there is no way I could have achieved this goal if not for the help of my brother José Claussell, keyboardist Bennett Paster, and last but not least important the engineer Fran Cathcart Eastside Sound in New York. I take my hat off to Michael Rucker for his guidance with this too. Thanks I'm here to thank the following individuals, without which neither the idea needed to design the production of this concept might have been true. Fran Cathcart Pastor Joseph Bennett Cochise Claussell Kanna Masatani Kamati Brian Pinkston Bacchus Dennis Perez Manny Diaz Jaidene Gaspard Red Veda Atsuko Miyazaki (Japan Coordinator) Jonathan Paul Claussell Cochise Jasper Claussell Bakki "Sora" Larry Claussell Claussell Joaquin "Jackie Claussell Dora" Momi "Claussell Joaquin "Papi" Claussell Mario Manuel Claussell Claussell Benny Claussell Claussell Gloria Lynda Zully Claussell Claussell East Side Studios The entire group Sounds of Music Group Code And last but not least, Mr. Michael Rucker, a DJ to another ... you are the best! Thank you for your confidence in my ability to do this with you. With love, respect and gratitude to all rhythm, Joaquin Joe ClaussellHammock House By Andy Battaglia Joaquin "Joe" Claussell hails from a part of Brooklyn that could double as the setting for a fantastical sort of Brooklyn of the mind. He grew up a few blocks from 5th Avenue, a teeming thoroughfare on the edge of a homey neighborhood known as Park Slope. Day and night, pretty much ceaselessly, action happens as it has for ages. Businesses bustle as they did decades ago. Cars with souped-up speakers blare by. Old people shuffle down the sidewalk. Mothers push strollers with wailing babies inside. Corner delis spit out people sipping grape soda and scratching off lottery tickets: fat ladies from the around the way, cruising dudes in crisp new Yankees hats, young kids in T-shirts as big as sails. Black, brown, white, young, old, straight, gay, sketchy, crafty, shifty… There's life everywhere, in manic and tranquil balance. Joe wants to shows us where he bought his first record, a little neighborhood shop he'd told us about at lunch the day before. "We" is a group of three of us following Joe around for a few days, to see where he lives and where he does what he does. Lunch was at El Viejo Yayo, a Latin restaurant that Joe has been going to since he was a kid and continues to swear is the best in all of New York City. Locals sat chatting up the cooks at the counter, with lots of smiles going around. We ordered plates that wound up being big enough to feed each of us for days. Was it good? Very: the rice & beans were perfect, the pollo al horno -- or roast chicken -- fell right off the bone, and the fried plantains! The record shop was a different kind of good, an out-of-time, out-of-mind, bizarro kind of good. The store is called the Record & Tape Center, and it's still run by the same owner, now 73, who hasn't changed much at all since Joe bought his first piece of music there as a kid (a copy of Led Zeppelin's III, incidentally). A handful of CDs from a few years ago sit in the window, faded from the sun and covered with dust. Inside it's mostly old vinyl on display -- records by The Five Satins, The Chi-Lites, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Rolling Stones, and reams of artists whose work resides in the etched grooves of old 45s. The place is a mess and smells like a grandfather's basement. It's not the kind of record store run by meticulous collectors or movers who learn how to price things online. It's just a big, weird, slightly crazy old room in Brooklyn where music has come to accumulate for close to 40 years and counting. Joe flips through the stock, with that impressive finger/thumb motion mastered by crate-digging DJs the world over. He doesn't turn over anything of note before we have to go. But he looks happy simply to be there, searching for he doesn't know what in a place that just might have it. He's near home, in the kind of old record shop where masterpieces of the Fania Records catalog originally thrived -- and where they still sometimes hide or hibernate or just hang out, waiting to be heard again. --- "We used to jam all that music at home. To be part of it now, to watch Fania labels spin on records in front of me… I can't believe I had a chance to mess with this stuff. Even still it blows my mind." That's Joe, talking about the past year or so he spent working on the music that makes up Hammock House. He talks about it with a slightly awed tone reserved for a project for which he listened back to his past and literally held history in his hands. Have you ever seen an old studio-session tape reel? Ever picked one up, marveled at its weight, stared into the gleaming black plastic spooled around its center? Joe shows us one in his office. He's driven us over the Brooklyn Bridge to Lower Manhattan, not far from the sputtering construction at the World Trade Center. He rents space there, in Tribeca, for Sacred Rhythm and Spiritual Life, two labels he helps run. It's also the site of a personal studio where he works on pre-production stuff and stores some of what he claims -- quite convincingly -- is a collection of more than a million records. A whole wall's worth of shelves hold countless classics: Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Jimi Hendrix, a set of recordings from NASA's landing on the moon, The History of the House Sound of Chicago. But it's something in a battered cardboard box that he's holding out for inspection. Inside is a round metal reel wrapped with many feet of rolled magnetic tape, and a crumbling "Track Report" sheet from some matter-of-fact day in the 1970s. Different numbered columns are written in with pencil: "bass," "guitar," "sax," "conga," "bone" (trombone, it turns out). A scrawl of names appears in the upper right-hand corner, with some cryptic notes marking other important parts of what seems to have been a rather hot and complicated Latin jam. It's kind of… incredible. "When the carrier came to my place with all these boxes, I had an Indiana Jones moment, like when he opens the treasure chest and the glow of gold light shines up on his face. It was miraculous that they were still around, and the history of all this stuff is just amazing. When I opened these multi-tracks up, the pleasure of having a full-on string orchestra from back in the day that you can actually work with…" That's Joe again, drifting off on a thought he can't quite complete with words. He's talking about the many archival tapes he got his hands on -- old multi-track tapes from the Fania catalog with individual parts that could be isolated and then remixed, reimagined, recombined. "I would listen to these songs and think what am I going to do to that?! A lot of them sounded perfect as they were. But the mentality of the '60s and '70s, when it came to music, people were just creating as artists—from the soul, from the heart. They took a lot of the technical stuff for granted. They were making music, not thinking about different mixes or anybody touching their art in the future. So I tried to keep the integrity of what’s there. Fania is very sacred to the Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage, so it was important that it get taken in by the right hands." Joe grew up Puerto Rican in New York -- or more precisely Nuyorican, with all the simmering, sweltering swirl of identity that comes to pass for a kid growing up with nine brothers and sisters (and a shared family drum set) in roiling, toiling Brooklyn. "When I think about my home growing up, more abundant than even love was music. We were bombarded with music 24-7, all kinds: rock, Top 40, African music. We were fed everything at once. And Latin music was flying all around, in the neighborhood, up from the basement, through the windows, in the parks. My mother would turn us on to all the Latin jams." --- What you hear on Hammock House are more than mere remixes. Each track was approached and assembled differently, each on its own terms. As Joe says, "Some songs were edited, some were time-stretched… many parts were re-recorded… some new parts were recorded on top." Now we're sitting in a recording studio on Manhattan's Lower East Side. It's dark out, on a side-street tucked away in a gritty/glitzy neighborhood marked by dilapidated Jewish synagogues and fashionable boutique bars. Joe is here to do some tracking with his brother Jose, a celebrated percussionist in his own right who augmented many of the drum parts on Hammock House. The session feels like a family affair, which seems to be the case wherever Joe goes (even when it's just him alone with three strangers following him around). Both Claussells are wearing headphones, with congas between their knees. Jose lays down some spirited syncopation, grunting and humming while he plays. Joe sways from side to side, lost in music while figuring out where the new drum lines will fit. Both spend much of their time beneath the bright studio lights with their eyes closed, but they seem to be able to see each other -- or at least hear each other as they work their way into a sound they both grew up learning. "The cultural aspect of this is what the entire point of remixing is all about," Joe says. "It's a great privilege to work on someone else's music, especially when it has the vibe from when the music was actually created. To play these old tapes and listen to all the excerpts with sounds of people saying 'Take 1' and snorting cocaine or whatever those guys were doing, you get blessed by that time. It's deep." He looks down for a while, then back up. "How many kids out here on 5th Avenue in Brooklyn now even know what Fania was? Maybe some of them might hear this and get turned on. That’s how the whole chain reaction happens." TRACK NOTES, AS TOLD BY JOE CLAUSSELL Lou Perez, "African Fantasy" I didn't know this track before I started on this project, but I immediately liked the idea in the title of an “African fantasy.” The point of this remix was to give listeners the sense that they were entering a jungle, where a whole new world opens up. Historically, all of this music originated in Africa and then, through the movement of the slave trade, found itself in different parts of the world. It was important to me to establish the root of it. I used a lot of natural forest, jungle, and animal sounds to give it a sense of walking in. Then a flute comes in, and then it goes heavy into percussion and piano -- like at a tribal gathering. What I kept from the original multi-track was the flute, some of the percussion. Everything else I reproduced: the jungle sounds, more percussion… The story begins in Africa and then crosses into the new world. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "African Fantasy" remix » Jai Veda, "Undeniable Love" This song is actually not from the old archive. I produced it from scratch. My reason for suggesting we use it was to give this project a legitimate sense of today, of something new and something now that fits into the idea of "hammock house." I was working with Jai Veda before I started working on this project, and this is a song that spoke to me at the time I started, because it has a sort of Latin groove that complements the rest. It was just a demo then; it originally had more of a hip-hop rhythm, so I called in my brother Jose to help me revamp it into a more Latin-flavored rhythm, with the end result being a two-part story traveling from one into the other. Jai freaked out when I told her she was going to be on this. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Undeniable Love" remix » Mongo Santamaria, "Mambo Mongo" I absolutely love this song. I used to jam the original of this all the time back in the day, but not many people know about it. So I thought, if this project is about a DJ exposing certain lost or undiscovered music to the world, then I have to use this. It was such a great production originally that it really needed nothing. But from my original attempt to beef up the groove, I added more percussion and new Rhodes electric-piano lines to compliment the original Rhodes chords. The new hand-drums are my brother playing alongside the original parts by Santamaria, who was a great percussionist from Cuba. Because this was recorded in the late '60s, a lot of original parts like that were buried in the mix, I guess because they were produced more for home listening. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Mambo Mango" remix » Celia Cruz, "Chango " Celia Cruz is considered the goddess of Latin/Afro-Cuban music. As a kid, I remember how everybody really looked up to her. The vibe that surrounded her was really profound. My mother loved her. This is a song sung in Yoruba -- religious African music. The original is very minimal: just some 6/8-groove percussion with Celia singing/chanting over it. I just tried to give it a more modern edge, by adding a bass line and more percussion, both produced by my brother, and some sound effects layered and weaved throughout with bells, whistles, and African kaba. Then I brought in a piano player, Bennett Paster, who jammed for a while, having a rhythmic call-and-response conversation with the music and really complementing the melody. He's a monster! Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Chango" remix » Eddie Palmieri, "Lucumi " Eddie Palmieri… what can you even do to his music? This is from an album he made in 1976 for Columbia. Everything was already there, so I decided to do a more traditional remix for this, kind of like they did in the '70s, where remixers would manipulate the existing tracks from the multi-tracks and rearrange parts that were already there. I added some percussion, but there was already a lot of percussion there, and Palmieri had such great musicians playing for him. Aside from that, he's one of the few Latin artists who used lots of delay and reverb, so I tried to give the whole thing a dub feel. The guitars are echoing, the horns are echoing. There's a lot of reverb, to give it more space and what I like to call freakiness. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Lucumi" remix » Ray Barretto, "Exodus" Most of this song was newly created, and again my brother Jose had a lot to do with it. Ray Barretto was such a special musician in my family life, as well as in the Latin music world. I'm not crazy about this song in particular, unless it's Bob Marley's version, but there was something about this that made me pick it. I wanted to make this a tribute to Ray, so I created a whole new intro. Everything up until the actual "Exodus" chords was created new as a tribute. I wanted people to feel the love and appreciation we all have for this man, so that's why it has such a cosmic, spiritual intro. That's the awakening, and then it goes into a Yoruba chant, saying "thank you." One of the people singing is Liliana Santamaria, who is Mongo Santamaria's daughter. I could have just taken the "Exodus" part and added a kick, a hi-hat, and some keyboards, and housed it up. But both my brother and I tried to make this something that more people could appreciate -- and that Ray himself would be happy with. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "Exodus" remix » Mongo Santamaria, "O Mi Shango" This was actually the last track we worked on for this project. Back in the old days, when I first started doing remixes, I got this track from the original CD and did an edit of it. I really loved it, so I just wanted to extend it, and I remember saying then, "Man, I really wish I could get the multi-track for this and do something with it." I didn’t realize this was in the Fania catalog when we started on Hammock House. Then, near the end, it came up on my iPod one day on a flight to Japan and I thought, "Hmmm, maybe this is available!" So I called and asked, it turned out it was there, and I flipped out. For this version, I took the song from a Latin groove and gave it more of an Afrobeat feel. We got some horn players involved. And it feels kind of house-y with that four-on-the-floor beat. Click here to listen to Joe Claussell "O Mi Shango" remix » Eddie Palmieri, "Yoruba Chant" The only part of this song that I kept was the beginning. It went into some ballroom-dancing part that I couldn’t do anything with, so we re-did the rest. I came to it as a track that was on the multi-track reel of another song I had asked for, and I heard the chant part of it and thought, "Oh, I can do something with this." With all the rest of the craziness and all the African stuff going on elsewhere, I thought, "OK, we've got to have a dance track here." In the end we ended with a new tune with a Caribbean kind of feel. Ismael Miranda, "Me Voy Ahora" I stumbled upon this track while doing research and listening to all the reissued Fania CDs at the beginning of the project. I heard it in the car, driving down Prospect Park West on my way to get an oil change one afternoon, and I just fell in love with it. It was on a compilation of ballads, and he's singing about how he's leaving his woman. The emotion of it -- it's obvious he did this song for a reason. It really blew me away. The whole production of it was already beautiful, so I wondered what I could do to take it to a different level. The strings were in there already, but you couldn't hear them the same way in the original. So I created a second part to the composition that begins around the 3:00 mark. Using only the original strings, I created what I like to think of as a signature Joe Claussell production, just from us trying to do something new. It's a perfect ending. Click here to listen to Joe Classuell "Me Voy Ahora" remix » THE MIX My goal for the mix-CD was to create an epic journey that begins in the Motherland (Africa) to moves to New York. I wanted to do a futuristic mix, where stories are being created with soundscapes and tapestries, and segues work as introductions to each story. I wanted to create bridges through different rhythms, so I worked with my brother Jose, as well as other percussionists and musicians in the studio, to create parts that flow between. I wanted to create the feeling of moving from, say, the idea of "rhythm" in one scene into another scene of "love," where you can feel the actual emotion of love. I mixed it live, with four CD players, effects, and reel-to-reel, then took it into the studio and tightened up some of the levels through editing. I wanted to mix it live so you get more of a human feel from it, to stay true to the texture of this music. And I really wanted it to reflect on the process of working on this whole project. Looking back, I'm honored and grateful to get to work on such historical music -- and music that I grew up with. A NOTE FROM JOE Upon exiting, I would like for those who are interested to know that there would have been no way I could achieve such a journey if it wasn’t for the help of my brother Jose Claussell, keyboardist Bennett Paster, and, last but not least, engineer Fran Cathcart of Eastside Sound in New York. My hat goes off to Michael Rucker for his guidance with all of this as well. Gratitude I’m here to thank the following individuals to whom without, even the thought needed to conceive the production of this concept would not be realized. Fran Cathcart Jose Cochise Claussell Bennett Pastor Kanna Masatani Kamati Pinkston Brian Bacchus Dennis Perez Gaspard Rojo Manny Diaz Jaidene Veda Atsuko Miyazaki (Japan Coordinator) Jonathan Paul Claussell Cochise Jasper Claussell Bakki “Sora” Claussell Larry Claussell Joaquin “Jackie Claussell Dora “Momi” Claussell Joaquin “Papi” Claussell Manuel Claussell Mario Claussell Benny Claussell Zully Claussell Lynda Claussell Gloria Claussell East Side Sounds Studios The Entire Codigo Music Group And last but not least: Mr. Michael Rucker, from one DJ to another… You are the best! Thank you for your trust in my ability to do this with you. With Love, Respect, Rhythm and Gratitude to All Joaquin Joe Claussell
