Papo Vazquez
Trombonist, composer, and arranger Papo Vázquez has had a 40 year career spanning jazz, Latin, Afro-Caribbean and classical music and recordings.
Vázquez born Angel R. Vazquez, 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After spending his early years in Puerto Rico, he grew up in the heart of North Philadelphia's Puerto Rican community.
At the age of 15, Vázquez was performing with local Latin bands in Philadelphia. At only 17, he moved to New York and was hired to play for trumpet player Chocolate Armentero's. Soon after, began playing and recording with top artists in the salsa scene like The Fania All-Stars, Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Larry Harlow, and Hector La Voe. Vázquez became a key player in New York’s burgeoning Latin jazz scene of the late 1970's, He began studying with Slide Hampton, eventually recording and performing for Slide Hampton's World of Trombones.
Vázquez went on to perform with jazz luminaries Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Foster, Mel Lewis, Hilton Ruiz and to tour Europe with the Ray Charles Orchestra. By the age of 22, Vázquez had traveled the globe.
He was a founding member of Jerry Gonzalez' Fort Apache and Conjunto Libre as well as Puerto Rico’s popular Latin fusion band Batacumbele. Performed and recorded several albums with Batacumbele, from 1981 to 1985. Upon his return to New York, he joined Tito Puente's Latin Jazz Ensemble, traveling with them as principal trombonist, and toured Europe with Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra.
Leader, Composer, Innovator
Vázquez has always been deeply moved by jazz, and specifically cites the music of John Coltrane and J.J. Johnson as having most influenced him. His appreciation and knowledge of the indigenous music of the Caribbean provides him with a unique ability to fuse Afro-Caribbean rhythms, specifically those from Puerto Rico, with freer melodic and harmonic elements of progressive jazz.
During his time in Puerto Rico with Batacumbele during the 1980s, he began to experiment with “bomba jazz,” a mixture of jazz and traditional Puerto Rican bomba. In 1993, he recorded his first album as a leader, Breakout. He continued collaborating with a variety of Latin Jazz artists, contributing Overtime Mambo to Hilton Ruiz’s Manhattan Mambo and Contra Mar y Mareo Descarga Boricua, Vol. 1
Interest in Vázquez as a composer grew. He was the first artist to receive a composer’s commission Iron Jungle for the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, then a resident orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The same year, through a grant from The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, Vázquez was asked to expand Pirates Troubadours, and was commissioned to compose new music for a 19-piece, Afro-Puerto Rican Jazz Orchestra. The 2008 event was recorded live, resulting in Papo Vázquez Mighty Pirates Marooned/Aíslado, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album. Vázquez has also shared his compositions with Ruben Blades (Tengan Fe/Antecedente), Hilton Ruiz (Manhattan Mambo) and Dave Valentin (Tropic Heat), among others.
Achievements
Selected Honors and Awards
Vázquez born Angel R. Vazquez, 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After spending his early years in Puerto Rico, he grew up in the heart of North Philadelphia's Puerto Rican community.
At the age of 15, Vázquez was performing with local Latin bands in Philadelphia. At only 17, he moved to New York and was hired to play for trumpet player Chocolate Armentero's. Soon after, began playing and recording with top artists in the salsa scene like The Fania All-Stars, Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Larry Harlow, and Hector La Voe. Vázquez became a key player in New York’s burgeoning Latin jazz scene of the late 1970's, He began studying with Slide Hampton, eventually recording and performing for Slide Hampton's World of Trombones.
Vázquez went on to perform with jazz luminaries Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Foster, Mel Lewis, Hilton Ruiz and to tour Europe with the Ray Charles Orchestra. By the age of 22, Vázquez had traveled the globe.
He was a founding member of Jerry Gonzalez' Fort Apache and Conjunto Libre as well as Puerto Rico’s popular Latin fusion band Batacumbele. Performed and recorded several albums with Batacumbele, from 1981 to 1985. Upon his return to New York, he joined Tito Puente's Latin Jazz Ensemble, traveling with them as principal trombonist, and toured Europe with Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra.
Leader, Composer, Innovator
Vázquez has always been deeply moved by jazz, and specifically cites the music of John Coltrane and J.J. Johnson as having most influenced him. His appreciation and knowledge of the indigenous music of the Caribbean provides him with a unique ability to fuse Afro-Caribbean rhythms, specifically those from Puerto Rico, with freer melodic and harmonic elements of progressive jazz.
During his time in Puerto Rico with Batacumbele during the 1980s, he began to experiment with “bomba jazz,” a mixture of jazz and traditional Puerto Rican bomba. In 1993, he recorded his first album as a leader, Breakout. He continued collaborating with a variety of Latin Jazz artists, contributing Overtime Mambo to Hilton Ruiz’s Manhattan Mambo and Contra Mar y Mareo Descarga Boricua, Vol. 1
Interest in Vázquez as a composer grew. He was the first artist to receive a composer’s commission Iron Jungle for the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, then a resident orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The same year, through a grant from The Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia, Vázquez was asked to expand Pirates Troubadours, and was commissioned to compose new music for a 19-piece, Afro-Puerto Rican Jazz Orchestra. The 2008 event was recorded live, resulting in Papo Vázquez Mighty Pirates Marooned/Aíslado, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album. Vázquez has also shared his compositions with Ruben Blades (Tengan Fe/Antecedente), Hilton Ruiz (Manhattan Mambo) and Dave Valentin (Tropic Heat), among others.
Achievements
- His song "Baila Plena" from At The Point, Vol I. is featured on the soundtrack for Free Enterprise. Other movie credits include playing on the soundtracks for The Mambo Kings and Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues.
- Grammy nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album recording Marooned/Aíslado (2008).
- Commissioned by Mr. Wynton Marsalis to compose a work inspired by Cuban painter Wilfredo Lam, Conducted and performed with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Orchestra on The Jazz and Art concert (2010).
- Presented with a Latino Masters Award by the Pregones Theater under The National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces: Presenting program (2011).
- Commissioned by Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and Symphony Space composed new music for “Nueva Musica” concert series, in New York (2013).
- Invited to lead and direct “The Presidents Own” US Marine Band and perform Afro Caribbean Latin Jazz, in Washington, DC. (2013).
Selected Honors and Awards
- Grammy Nominated 2008 – Papo Vazquez Marooned/Aislado, Picaro Records
- Grammy: Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Wayne Shorter’s Alegria (Verve Records)
- Grammy: Bebo Valdez – Bebo de Cuba
- Recognized by Los Pleneros de La 21 for his contributions to Puerto Rican Culture.
- New York Times’ list of "Top 10 Undeservedly Obscure Recordings”
- Taller de Jazz Don Pedro in Puerto Rico Award
- DownBeat Magazine’s list of “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” 1980.
- Best Trombone “Latin New York Magazine” 1980, 1979
- Papo Vazquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours – Spirit Warrior, Picaro Records, 2015
- Papo Vazquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours – Oasis, Picaro Records, 2012
- Papo Vázquez The Mighty Pirates - Marooned/Aislado, Picaro Records, Grammy Nomination 2008
- Papo Vázquez Pirates Troubadours - From The Badlands, Picaro Records, 2007
- Papo Vázquez Pirates Troubadours - Carnival in San Juan, Cu-Bop Records, 2003
- Papo Vázquez Pirates & Troubadours - At the Point Vol. " Cubop, 2000
- Papo Vázquez Breakout, Timeless, 1993
The Critics Speak
The Band
Papo Vazquez Pirates Troubadours:
Papo Vazquez - Trombone,Leader
Willie Williams - Saxophone
Rick Germanson - Piano
Dezron Douglas - Bass
Alvester Garnett - Drums
Anthony Carrillo - Percussion
Carlos Maldonado - Percussion
Gabo Lugo - Percussion
- “Mr. Vazquez strong, highly rhythmic trombone style, and its able interactions with a rhythm section, produce some of the best Latin Jazz around”– New York Times
- “Papo Vazquez’s remarkable chops are evident. This is quite an album.” - JazzTimes
- "Trombone virtuoso and innovative composer, Papo combines the best of jazz and Latin music to create a genre that is unique and wild. He's redefined Latin jazz!" - Michael Brecker
The Band
Papo Vazquez Pirates Troubadours:
Papo Vazquez - Trombone,Leader
Willie Williams - Saxophone
Rick Germanson - Piano
Dezron Douglas - Bass
Alvester Garnett - Drums
Anthony Carrillo - Percussion
Carlos Maldonado - Percussion
Gabo Lugo - Percussion
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