La Palabra (musician) - Early Years

Early Years

La Palabra was born and raised in the small coastal town of Caimanera, Cuba. He loved music from an early age and grew up listening to Cuban artists like Orquesta Aragón, Estrellas Cubanas Orquesta, Pello el Afrokan (Pedro Izquierdo), Tata Guines, and Chapotin. He was exposed to all genres of Cuban music -- charanga, son, danzón, cha-cha-cha, bolero, bolero-cha, rumba, sipisón, el mozambique, paca, joropo, changui, mozan-cha, guaguanco, and early Afro-Cuban jazz precursors to salsa.

At the age of 11, La Palabra began taking piano lessons from his grandmother and, inspired by Neno Gonzalez's song "El Café," was soon writing his own arrangements. After winning an amateur musical competition judged by representatives from the Department of Education, he was invited to attend a state-controlled school of music in Havana. La Palabra's grandmother turned down the opportunity down out of fear that La Palabra would be unable to leave Fidel Castro's post-revolutionary Cuba if he became a student at the state music conservatory. The almost constant flow of music, musicians, and tourists to and from the U.S. and Cuba that had taken place since the 1930s and 1940s was quickly halted. A few years later La Palabra's family successfully obtained their official visas to leave Cuba. He moved to New York City with his sister, aunt, and uncle in 1966.

In New York La Palabra entered the music scene by joining the sextet Lalo y La New Yorkina and played piano on their first single, "Rompe Tu Pared," with Hector Casanova on vocals. La Palabra continued playing with Lalo y La New Yorkina for two more years until 1968, when his mother decided to move the family to Detroit. He witnessed the cultural upheaval taking place in American society and in music -- hippie psychedelia, New York salsa, anti-Vietnam War anthems, Barry Gordy's Motown artists, the closely knit Detroit jazz community, Detroit-born Chicago blues singers (John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson) even the occasional Latin artist (Joe Cuba) on American Bandstand.

As a student of Cooley High School in Detroit, La Palabra became involved with as many aspects of the music department as possible and, most importantly, founded the school's first integrated band, The Blazers, which beat The Sons of Soul out of first place at the 1969 Michigan State Fair (where The Jackson Five was the main act) with their compelling performance of "Son of Ice Bag." The Sons of Soul drummer at the time was Ricky Lawson, who later moved to Los Angeles to become a studio musician and played on Michael Jackson's Thriller. While La Palabra found regular work playing high-powered R&B cover tunes by Hugh Masakela, Chicago, Tower of Power, B.B. King and Hubert Laws, he began writing his first romantic song arrangements, lyrics and orchestrations, including his first-to-be-recorded salsa song "Amor de Juventud," which was later recorded by Ricardo Lemvo in the early 1980s.

By 1974 La Palabra had outgrown the high school music scene and began playing at El Sol Supper Club in Detroit. The 18-year-old performer and arranger dazzled audiences week after week with his quick-finger piano playing and romantic Spanish ballad-style singing of English cover tunes, delivered with Palabra's own mixture of Cuban guaguanco, salsa, soul, and rock and roll. One of his sidemen at El Sol was trumpeter Marcus Belgrave; another regular sideman was the young percussionist Humberto "El Nengue" Hernandez, also born in Cuba and later to become a Mongo Santamaria sideman.

For the next several years, La Palabra continued playing the Detroit club circuit, alternating between Stanley Mitchell and the People's Choice, Brainstorm (featuring violinist Regina Carter), the Five Specials, and Norma Belle and the All Stars, while sharing the circuit with Earl Klugh, Chapter 7 (with lead singer Anita Baker,) Dennis Coffey, Lyman Woodard, and the Organization. In 1977, La Palabra went on tour with Brainstorm (who later appeared on Soul Train) and the Five Specials. The tour included Kool and the Gang, the Average White Band, and Fat Back Band. Following the tour La Palabra joined Norma Belle's band, with whom he played until 1979.