Johnny Pacheco - Original Fania Band

Original Fania Band

The early Fania All-Stars band was made up of Johnny Pacheco, musical director and flute; Larry Harlow on piano; Bobby Valentín (later replaced by Salvador "Sal" Cuevas) on bass guitar; Ray Barretto on conga (replaced later on by others, including Mongo Santamaria, Johnny "Dandy" Rodriguez and Eddie Montalvo); Roberto Roena on bongos; and Orestes Vilato on timbales (later replaced by Nicky Marrero due to a conflict with Ray Barreto, whose singer, Adalberto Santiago, formed La Tipica 73 with Vilato, angering Barreto and forcing Patcheco to replace Vilato to prevent internal conflicts); Willie Colón, Barry Rodgers (subsequently replaced), and Renaldo Jorge (replaced by several others) on trombones; Larry Spencer (also to be replaced), Roberto Rodriguez (replaced by Victor Paz, and subsequently by Juan "Juancito" Torres) and Hector "Bomberito" Zarzuela on trumpets; and Yomo Toro on the cuatro (a small Puerto Rican guitar with 5 pairs of strings). The lead singers included vocalists from the Colon, Pacheco, Barretto and Harlow bands. Héctor Lavoe, Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, Adalberto Santiago, and Ismael Miranda were joined by Santitos Colon (from the Tito Puente band), Jose Cheo Feliciano (from the Joe Cuba band) and Ismael Quintana (from the Eddie Palmieri orchestra). Early Fania All-Stars guests were Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Joe Bataan, Monguito, Mongo Santamaría, Jimmy Sabater, La La, Louie Ramirez, Ralph Robles, Ricardo Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz. The 1970s line-up included Rubén Blades, Celia Cruz, Papo Lucca, Luigi Texidor, Jorge Santana (Carlos's brother), drummer Billy Cobham and the Cameroonian sax player Manu Dibango, who appeared as a guest in concerts and live recordings in Puerto Rico and New York. Later on singer Andy Montañez would join the band in the mid 1990s.