JOE QUIJANO
b. 27 September 1935, Puerta De Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico. The versatile Latin band leader, vocalist, percussionist and composer Quijano was seven years of age when his family settled in the Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. In 1950, while at school he sang and played maracas with a teenage group organized by Orlando Marín (b. 1934, the Bronx, New York City, New York, USA, of Puerto Rican parentage; timbales) and pianist Eddie Palmieri. Three trumpets were later added and they became the Orlando Marín Conjunto. Marín assumed leadership after Palmieri’s departure to Johnny Seguí’s group. Accounts conflict about the next stage in the band’s history. Quijano states he inherited the outfit when Marín was drafted into the US Army, whereas Orlando maintains that Joe left and was replaced by another vocalist prior to his military stint. In 1956, Quijano travelled to Cuba, where he saw and met many of his idols. He later recalled, ‘... I also heard a different sound - the Senen Suarez Group, that comprised one trumpet and a flute, as a free form... I returned with an idea for a new sound for the band. I worked with my friend Charlie Palmieri, and asked him if he could make musical arrangements using a combination of two trumpets, flute, and a rhythm section playing a charanga feel with the singers in unison... Charlie argued that since the two instruments tune differently, there would be a clash, but I insisted, and he persisted, and a few months later, he came up with the instrumental version of ‘Amor’. It was then that the sound of the Conjunto Cachana was born...’ (quote from sleeve notes to La Pachanga Se Baila Asi, 1990). He named his band ‘Cachana’ after his grandfather’s nickname. He persuaded his employers, who ran a wholesale record distributors, to finance the recording of a single with pianist Héctor Rivera. The success of the release led to an album deal with Spanoramic Records. Conjunto Cachana’s two releases on the label, A Cataño and Volvi A Cataña, were big hits in Latin America.
In 1960, Quijano managed to secure a contract with Columbia Records. He made three albums on the label between 1961 and 1963. The lyrics to the title-track of the first, La Pachanga Se Baila Asi, co-written by Quijano and Charlie Palmieri, were intended to end the confusion dancers made between the terms ‘pachanga’ and ‘charanga’: ‘There is a lot of discussion in the Latin communities that everyone is dancing the pachanga. There is talk that a charanga is the orchestra that plays it... that everyone is dancing the pachanga, the dance rage of the moment...’ (translated lyrics from the article ‘Remembering Charlie Palmieri’ by Max Salazar). Quijano’s lead vocalists at this stage were Paquito Guzmán and Willie Torres. Guzmán later joined Tommy Olivencia’s band in Puerto Rico, where he also recorded with the Puerto Rico All Stars and now works as a solo artist. In 1965, Quijano participated in the second descarga (Latin jam session) album by the Alegre All-Stars. Quijano founded his own Cesta Records label, named after the basket used in the game of Jai-Alai. Two notable releases on the label were the Cesta All-Stars descarga workouts, Live Jam Session and Salsa Festival, both directed by Charlie Palmieri and featuring Cheo Feliciano, Kako, Louie Ramírez, Willie Rosario, Orlando Marín, and others. Quijano also had the distinction of being the first artist to record a composition by the great Puerto Rican composer, Tite Curet Alonso. The song was titled ‘Efectivamente’, and was re-recorded by Quijano for Cositas Sueltas in 1980.
© TiVo
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Discography
16 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Charanga en Changa
Salsa - Released by Play Music on Mar 29, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Por Siempre Exitos
Salsa - Released by Musical Productions on Apr 4, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Historia de un Condenado
Latin America - Released by OUR LATIN THING MUSIC - Music videos & performances on Jan 1, 2001
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cachana 80
Latin America - Released by OUR LATIN THING MUSIC - Music videos & performances on Jan 12, 2014
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Exitos de Oro (Golden Hits)
Latin America - Released by Charly | Coco on Oct 6, 1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Éxitos de Oro
World - Released by Musical Productions on Sep 14, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Yo Soy El Son Cubano
World - Released by Joe Quijano on Dec 1, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ahora
Latin America - Released by Musical Productions on Apr 26, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Matchmaker
Latin America - Released by Global Music Distribution, dba DISCOS LA PERLA CO. INC. on Jul 1, 1988
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joe Quijano
Latin America - Released by Vintage 2016 on Jun 12, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Punto Final
Latin America - Released by OUR LATIN THING MUSIC - Music videos & performances on Jan 12, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Un Regalo de Salsa en Navidad
Salsa - Released by Musical Productions on Nov 19, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Un Regalo de Salsa en Navidad, Vol. 2
Latin America - Released by Musical Productions on Nov 12, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Volvi a Cataño
World - Released by Spanoramic Records on Feb 9, 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo