{"id":7090,"date":"2017-05-04T17:44:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T21:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/?p=7090"},"modified":"2022-05-26T16:07:11","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T20:07:11","slug":"history-el-gran-combo-1960s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinomusiccafe.com\/2017\/05\/04\/history-el-gran-combo-1960s\/","title":{"rendered":"History of El Gran Combo: the 1960’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ’60s saw El Gran Combo<\/a> go through a rocky startup, develop their own musical identity, achieve success, see their demand decline due to over-exposure, and manage the departure of several key members. Yet, at the end of the decade, they came out on the other side a stronger band.<\/p>\n

El Gran Combo’s Rocky Start<\/h3>\n

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this blog series, El Gran Combo <\/a>had gained some negative public opinion for their founding members having left Cortijo. Recording their first album with a foreign singer (Dominican merengue star\u00a0Joseito Mateo) did not help matters much.<\/p>\n

\"El
El Gran Combo circa 1962. Notice Rafael Ithier dressed like everyone else, a practice he would later change.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As they decided to continue together and recruit singers in preparation for the second album, which was really their first true one as a group, they couldn’t avoid some instability in the band. They recruited Pell\u00edn Rodriguez, a still relatively young but 20-year veteran singer who had been with the famed Noro Morales orchestra. They also recruited Jose Juan “Chiquit\u00edn” Garc\u00eda, who had been a singer and musical director for the renown Placido Acevedo’s Cuarteto Mayar\u00ed, and also recruited Daniel Vazquez, who would do voice and play the bongos.<\/p>\n

But wait a minute, wasn’t Roberto Roena playing the bongoes? Well, let’s see how this played out.<\/p>\n

Changes Begin; Roena and Andy<\/p>\n

A couple of days after playing on the radio, El Gran Combo made their live performance debut in Bayam\u00f3n on May 26, 1962. A few days later, they played at the popular Hotel La Concha, at a party to homage, ironically, Rafael Cortijo. Shortly after the gig at La Concha, both Daniel Vazquez and Chiquit\u00edn Garc\u00eda decided to leave the group. Maybe they perceived the public apathy towards the new group or weren’t comfortable in it. But the fact is they left.<\/p>\n

Do you remember that meeting at the house of Roena’s mother? In Part 1 we discussed that a group of musicians from Cortijo’s Combo, among which was Roberto, decided to leave and form a new group. They also decided to name Rafael Ithier the group’s leader, and would eventually name the new group, El Gran Combo.<\/p>\n

So far so good!<\/p>\n

But in that meeting, Roberto Roena decided to stay with Cortijo. Rafael Cortijo was the one who started him in music. He taught him how to play the bongo and the cowbell. Cortijo’s idea was to use Roena’s dancing abilities to choreograph routines with the singers in the front line while he played the cowbell. This would make the combo more colorful. So Roena was not ready to abandon his musical godfather. But life is full of surprises!<\/p>\n

\"Pell\u00edn
Pell\u00edn Rodriguez and Andy Monta\u00f1ez made a great team of singers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rafael Cortijo had gone to New York for a short time while things cooled down in Puerto Rico. Roena and others decided to wait for him to come back. But while in New York, Cortijo changed his mind and decided to establish himself there and form a new band. Roberto Roena was not willing to move to New York and now was available for work in Puerto Rico, just as Daniel and Chiquitin were leaving El Gran Combo.<\/p>\n

As for the vacancy of the second singer, someone had recommended Ithier a young 20-year-old who sang in trios. He went by the name of Junior Monta\u00f1ez, named after his father Andr\u00e9s. But since there were so many Juniors around in the music business, they opted to call him Andy.<\/p>\n

The second LP “El Gran Combo de Siempre”, released in 1963, served to introduce the band to the public for the first time. Pell\u00edn took the lead singer role as he sang most songs. Pell\u00edn alternated singing duties with Andy, who was singing Guarachas and Bombas for the first time. But the combo’s sound\u2026it had that Cortijo stamp all over it. Eddie “La Bala” unmistakable falsetto on the chorus, Ithier arrangements (which he also did for Cortijo), and the selection of Guarachas and Bombas, all were Cortijo trademarks.<\/p>\n

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El Gran Combo was formally introduced in their 2nd LP “El Gran Combo de Siempre”. Note the mistake of calling Andy “Eddy”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here’s the Youtube audio cut of “La Muerte”, one of the hits in “de Siempre”. It was composed by Chiquit\u00edn Garc\u00eda, who had left the group on good terms with Ithier, and would provide this and many more songs through the years for el Combo. “La Muerte” was Andy Montanez’s first hit, and you can hear not only his young voice, but that his performance was a bit flat compared to later hits, yet quite good for his first recording!<\/p>\n