Larry Harlow – El Gran Maestro of Fiery Salsa!
By Les Rivera

Ismael Miranda is announcing the lead-in to the next part of the song. Those sitting down are jumping up with a roar and a loud applause. The salsa dancers pause for a second to take a good look. Ismael’s subject of announcement, the piano player of the band, is already way into ripping the piano apart. The spectacular Fania All Stars are performing live, while their onstage dancers are displaying some mambo moves that blow the audience away

The next segment of the song is going into a frenzy crafted into a riveting instrumental crescendo. The enthusiastic hoopla is focused on TNT sparks from Fania’s solo piano segment. Larry Harlow is detonating powerful sound charges into the air. The 30,000 plus outdoor attendees at the Puerto Rico venue is ecstatic about having their megastar artist perform right in front of their eyes!

Today, 30 years in passing since the concert, and millions of new fans later, Larry Harlow shows no signs of slowing down. He is about to depart for performances in Puerto Rico, Miami, Seattle, and Oakland in just two days.
 
In the 1970s he became the Chief Producer and Musical Director of the Fania All Stars. Today, Harlow has his own bands (bands, as in plural!), carrying his career to new heights around the world, and he is releasing new heavy hitting CD’s at a rapid pace!  

Larry Harlow was born Lawrence Ira Kahn in Brooklyn on March 20, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York. In the late 1950’s he went to live in Cuba because of his early fascination with Latin rhythms. There he studied the true Afro-Cuban sounds, which represent the roots of salsa. He stayed in Cuba until he saw Fidel marching in. The many times Grammy Nominee is also passionately known as “El Judio Maravilloso” (“The Marvelous Jew”) and “The Latin Legend”. Harlow was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame on April 5, 2000.
 
Always known to be a true Gentleman, the very enthusiastic, fast paced and beloved artist Larry Harlow is pausing in his very busy schedule for an interview.  The quick thinking, funny and bright Harlow comes up with the interview answers faster than you can say “Latin Legend”:
 
Les Rivera: You’re as popular as ever. Tell us about today’s Larry Harlow and his own band.
 
Larry Harlow: Well, Larry Harlow runs FOUR different bands right now. They are the Latin Legends Band, which consists of many band leaders, like Bobby Sanabria, Louie Bauzo, Ralph Irrizarry and guys like that. They have all been band leaders or they are band leaders. We all get together and we play together like a “dream band”.
 
It was started by Ray Baretto in 1994. He has since gone out to play jazz and he dropped out. We include guest artists like Yomo Toro, Ismael Miranda, Junior Gonzalez, Cano Estremera, and Alfredo de la Fe, etcétera, etcétera. It’s like an add-on band with a 14 piece basic, and then we take it from there.
 
Then it’s the regular Larry Harlow Orchestra; two great vocalists and new young singers, Emo Luciano and Luis Rosario. Then I do a show called Sofrito. It’s a family oriented show. We’ve been running it for years now. It’s in the mornings, from 9 to 12. The venues are Lincoln Center kind of venues across the country, which are programmed for children. When did you hear of musicians working at 9 o’clock in the morning? Oh boy, I am rich (laughter)!
 
And then I have my Latin Jazz Encounter, which is a six piece Latin jazz group. We did our first album on Latin Cool last year. We are working on a second (album) right now. That includes Bobby Sanabria, Guagua Rivera, Chembo Corniel, Ronnie Cuber, and Mac Gollehon. We do that in jazz venues or jazz clubs or jazz concerts.
 
So I keep myself busy between the four. I self-promote myself and I am my own agent, my own man. I have nobody to deal with, except myself. Everything is done by me. I have an extensive website, and I get maybe 75% of my business from the web.
 
LR: What’s the address of your website?
 
LH: www.LarryHarlow.com.
 
LR: How do you build up the tremendous energy and passion you display at your performances?
 
LH: I hang out with young women (laughter). I marry younger wives; that’s really what it is (more laughter). I have been married several times, and I have a wonderful wife now who works as a video editor. She keeps me young, she keeps me moving and she keeps me healthy. We keep up a very nice regimen. I am kind of surprised by all of it that I am having this renaissance. I guess a lot of people have been dying off and a lot of names have been dying off. The more that pass the more popular I get, because I am one of the mainstream guys that started it all.
 
LR: Yes, your popularity appears to be climbing again like crazy.
 
LH: Yes it does. Plus, I am in touch with a lot of universities, big concert venues, and corporate affairs that go on throughout the country and around the world. That’s the kind of business I am looking for. I am assuming there are only two clubs playing in New York City when there used to be two hundred, and that makes it difficult to work dancehalls.
 
LR: Are you currently working towards another CD release?
 
LH: Yes, I have a box-set coming out shortly. The set is a double CD and a DVD of the 35th. Anniversary Concert down in Puerto Rico. Plus, my biography is attached as a bonus inside.  I also have a Latin jazz thing coming out. Right now the record companies are kind of in turmoil. They don’t know in which direction they’re going, they are kind of waiting for the elections in November, and they’re waiting for new laws to be passed about downloads and bootlegs. So it’s a little hairy right now in the recording end.
 
LR: How many albums have you released in your career?
 
LH: I have 36 of my own, about another 40 with Fania, and I have produced another 300 more. It’s quite extensive.
 
LR: What’s happening to salsa today?
 
LH: I think salsa is great. The salseros from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s are all “male holding executive positions and companies” right now. They are the ones doing the hiring and the firing. I am getting calls from very strange places, such as from Knoxville, Tennessee; places I have never played before. Now there are more Hispanics in these places. The Hispanic population is growing.
 
Unfortunately I do not see the young salseros 16, 17, 18, 20 years old, those who are going to be the next generation of entertainers. I am not talking about audience, I am talking about entertainers. What happens when we all pass? Who do the secrets get passed down to? I don’t see any young band leaders, who are 18-20 years old, and that’s what’s worrying me.
 
I am producing a couple of young singers. But they are not like the musicians of years past. I am a little concerned about that. But right now I am just going with the flow.
 
LR: What led to your discovery of Ruben Blades and Ismael Miranda?
 
LH: I had been very Cuba oriented in my first couple of albums. Ismael Miranda was singing with my brother’s orchestra when I had an opening in my band, and he was brought to me. I gave him an audition and he was great! For one year he learned how to play maracas and sing coro. I took him to my house to send Arsenio Rodriguez-stuff and all that Cuban funk down his mind (laughter). He was a very handsome, energetic young man. We took off, because we had like ten single good looking guys in the band, with a hundred girls following us around. Then when you have a hundred girls you have three hundred guys following those one hundred girls (laughter)!
 
In the late 60’s, 70’s there was fierce competition here in New York. There were ten great bands and there was a hundred places to play. We were always competing against each other. Therefore we were giving our all, giving 120 percent towards cutting up the other band.
 
Then Ruben Blades was working in the mail room at Fania, licking stamps. He was sitting in the back of the room playing guitar and I listened to him. I was the main producer for Fania, and I said: Wow this guy can play! When there was an opening in Ray Baretto’s Band I kind of convinced Ray to take him in his band. When he left Ray’s band he came with me for a year. We did the La Raza Latina album, which was a Grammy nominee, which was a great album. We’ll probably be doing that again in 2005 if Ruben is available. He is a very creative man, a wonderful composer and a great singer.
 
LR: How did your friendships with the likes of Arsenio, Perez Prado and Tito Puente influence each others as artists?
 
LH: First of all I did not know Perez Prado very well; he’s more like a mentor. I met Arsenio when he was still in Cuba. But when he came here he used to come up and sit in with my band. He really influenced Latin music completely and not just me. Imagine, before Arsenio there were no conjuntos, there were no bands. And he introduced a piano in the band, he introduced the conga drum in the band, he introduced written arrangements to the band. He was a big influence on Afro-Cuban music. I just loved his lyrics, I just loved his songs, and I loved his talent!
 
Tito Puente of course, you know, since I was a teenager I used to stick into the Palladium to watch him play. He was my idol and he taught me a lot about being a bandleader. He was just a good time Charlie, he told stories the old stuff and said hello to everybody. A great guy!
 
LR: On June 5, 2004 you led the Legends of Fania at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in a spectacular performance, a show which has salsa people still talking back East. I was told that show came with every bit of ingredient a today’s salsa audience could only dream of experiencing. An excerpt from a brilliant article on your website reads:
 
Much like a yellow jacketed ringmaster at the center of a three ring circus, Larry Harlow led an artistic team of 32 musicians and dancers in a star studded tribute to 40 years of Latin music. With simulated palm trees swaying in the backdrop of the stage, the almost sold out NJPAC was decked in “salsafied” splendor with spectators sporting Puerto Rican flags reminiscent of the salsa fever that spread through New York during the ‘70s.
 
LR: Can you give us your impressions of the show?
 
LH: This thing that I put together, it’s kind of like a mini-Fania: We couldn’t use the name Fania All Stars, naturally, because they own the name. So this was Larry Harlow’s Latin Legends.  I brought in my guests, who were all Fania recording artists and eight dancers. This was a beautiful, absolutely gorgeous venue.
 
It was run by Concerts West, actually, which is part of Clear Channel I think. So, they really gave us a break and we made a lot of money. We had a nice budget to work with and no one thought we were going to do anything there, because it was the closing week of their series, but it was absolutely spectacular. We almost sold out the house with 2,800 seats. We’ll be doing this again across the world in a year or so.
 
LR:  Wow, that’s awesome! Thank you so much for your time; it was a true pleasure speaking with you. Please have a great time during your upcoming tour.
 
LH: Thanks, let me know when it’s up okay. Bye bye.