Used-Bin Bargains: Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers - Yaina

Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers - You Can't Always Get What You Want (Right On 1971, rereleased Cubop 1997)

Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers - San Juan 2000 (Right On 1971, rereleased Cubop 1997)

Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers – Yaina / Right On/Cubop

In the spirit of Cinco de Mayo weekend, I figured why not spotlight a little Latin music since most of North America is in the right frame of mind for it (even if most Americans use Mexico’s day of heritage celebration solely as an excuse to wear sombreros and drink margaritas). So continuing with that sort of pseudo-theme, I have decided to concentrate on a man who is actually not of Latin descent, but has embraced their style of music so whole-heartily that his ethnic heritage is often mistaken for his genre of choice. Henry “Pucho” Brown is an African-American Harlem native who immersed himself completely in Latin culture after being raised in the Nuyorkian Latin explosion of the 50s. With his walls covered by posters of Tito Puente, Machito, Tito Rodriguez and Pucho & the Alfarona X (a Puerto Rican band that led to his own nickname by childhood friends), Pucho mastered the timbales, rose through the ranks of Latin clubs in New York as a bandleader, and was instrumental in the blending of Latin, jazz, soul and funk throughout his 50-year career, but would never reach the level of recognition adorned to his contemporaries like Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo and Cal Tjader. After somewhat retiring from the record industry, Brown would spend two decades obscured in a hotel house band before returning to the scene in the late 90s as an unknowing godfather of acid jazz, which lead to a resurgence in his recording career.

Growing up in New York and frequenting the Apollo Theatre with his mother, Pucho’s band-leading ear was no doubt influenced by being exposed to big bands led by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Buddy Johnson. The music bug bit early, and Brown dropped out of high school to concentrate on his musical craft, learning the nuances of the timbales and putting together and experimenting with a number of youthful acts. By 17, he was good enough to join the Joe Panama Sextet and later rival Joe Cuba’s Cha-Cha Boys. After a series of hirings and firings, and definitely a good amount of quality networking, Pucho pieced together his first substantial group: Pucho & the Cha-Cha Boys. While most acts traveling the Latin circuit at that time stuck solely to what particular style of the genre the chose, Brown’s outside influences persistently seeped into his mambo foundation. Elements of doo-wop, R&B, swing, jazz and blues mixed with the Latin-based music to lay the seeds of Latin-jazz and both the audience and other musicians took notice.

By 1962 (at age 24), Pucho & the Cha-Cha boys were headlining the Purple Banner in Harlem with his audiences growing every night. But Brown was still a young man and both his finances and experience was limited, so other bandleaders like Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo would cherry-pick Pucho’s hard found talent and bribe them into their own bands. Musicians like Chick Corea, Hubert Laws and Sonny Henry among others developed their chops with Brown before being snagged by the lures of more money and more exposure leaving Pucho’s band in a constant state of musician turnaround but nonetheless amazingly consistent over the years. Latin soul exploded into the mainstream a year later with Santamaria’s saucy take on Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” and concurrently the major labels were out for imitating that kind of success. Pucho had an innate knack for balancing just the right amount of Latin, soul, jazz and funk, and Epic took first notice releasing the group’s first ever single, “Darin’s Mambo,” though with little success (and a quick termination of their contract).

Pucho’s next, much more successful venture into the recording industry came when he renamed his group Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers and signed with Prestige in 1966. Musically, he upped the funk element considerably as James Brown was concurrently spreading his influence and definitely kept a keen ear on what Motown was producing. Mambo became his Latin influence of choice and the Soul Brothers talented line-up of heavily rhythmic and genre-jumping players meant a nearly unparalleled groove quotient that could switch from mambo to soul to funk at the snap of Pucho’s burly fingers. Their debut Prestige release, Tough!, is now actually regarded as the starting point of acid jazz with it’s percussion-heavy blend of soul-jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms. Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers released eight albums in just over three years for Prestige, but none really made a significant impact on the mainstream; his genre-jumping ideals are respectful no doubt, but make for an inconsistent discography with as many trials and errors as overlooked successes.

In 1970, Brown left Prestige for the smaller, more independent minded Right On where he would have more creative say, which further separated him from any mainstream success but did result in this fantastic psychedelic Latin-funk record from 1971, Yaina. Somewhat obscure until it was re-released by Cubop in 1997, Pucho and his crew of Latin soul-jazz misfits unleash nine wonderfully eclectic and fun songs. With a few originals sprinkled in, just look at Pucho’s source material for the erraticism of his music: The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” John Coltrane’s “Naima,” Kenny Burrell’s “Chitterlings con Carne,” and Grant Green by-way-of Neal Creque’s “Cease the Bombing.” The instrumental line-up blends beautifully with a Latin-oriented rhythm section, electric piano, vibes, wa-wa guitar, electric bass, flutes and occasional sax and brass. Like all of Pucho’s music, it is heavily influenced by the popular music of the time, in this case, mainly psychedelic rock and soul-jazz. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” kicks off the re-release (not included on the original) with a cheesy introduction, but quickly opens up with funk-heavy drumming, 70s soul sax wailing, which is later replaced by growling flute, and electric piano flourishes. It is surprisingly effective and fun and would makes for a great inclusion on your party playlist. “Cease the Bombing” follows with a much more mellow vibe and very Santana-like sound, and surprisingly moving with its vibraphone melody and wordless vocals. My personal favorites are “San Juan 2000,” “Naima” and “Chitterlings con Carne,” but for very different reasons. “San Juan 2000” has been a mixtape staple of mine for years now; it has this sort of timeless quality to it in that you could as easily assume it’s from the early 60s as it could be the mid-70s. Layered rhythms poignantly chatter beneath vibes and electric piano before vocal chants and increasingly loud rhythms take over; it is very easy to lose yourself in its many exotic flavors. Pucho has a very interesting take on Coltrane’s “Naima” transforming the sultry slow-burner with almost a Weather Report kind of psychedelic fusion. On the other side of things, “Chitterlings con Carne” is infectious because of it’s growling flute and ear-friendly melody. It just further proves Pucho’s talents for masterfully balancing genres, this time the raucous fun of Latin mambo and the deep groove of psychedelic rock. The rest of the album follows suit: never many surprises once you discover the formula, but it is a formula that is finely balanced and infectious as all hell.

With the Latin-soul-jazz falling out of mainstream favor by the mid-70s, Pucho in turn left the limelight setting up shop as a drummer in the Catskill Mountian resorts of New York State. He somehow remained there for 20 years until being fired for personal disputes. It turned out to be a blessing though with acid jazz taking increasing interest in the U.K. in the early 90s as well as the crate-digging, re-issuing bug here in the states. Cubop re-released a number of his albums from his independent label days (including Yaina), and he went back into the studio to continuing purveying his multi-genre fusions. In all honesty, Pucho’s sound on his more recent albums barely sounds aged at all. It is still the same great balance of mambo, soul, funk and jazz, even if the audience for such styles isn’t quite as large as they were in the past. So if this year’s Cinco de Mayo festivities inspired you to take an increased interest in Latin music, why not go check out some of Pucho’s wonderfully fun music. Prestige released a great collection of his best material during his tenure there in 2000 called Cold Shoulder, which is a great starting point for curious ears. As far as recent material is concerned, I’m a pretty big fan of How’m I Doin’? from the same year on Cannonball even if it is a bit nostalgic and suffers from dated funk on occasions. And of course, head over to Cubop for the great re-issues of his early 70s material like Yaina that really buttered on the psychedelia influence with his already flourishing stylistic fusions. You will not be disappointed, and besides, Latin music of all kinds is a treat no matter the date.

Continued Research:
All Music Guide Entry
Ubiquity Profile
All About Jazz Interview
Wax Poetics #9, "A Man and His Music, from Harlem, New York" by Matt Rogers
waxpoetics.com