I could swear I've seen Fanias #326-330 before. I believe a couple of them were Pacheco albums. Aren't there pics of them in that Fania Wax Poetics article (#3?).
Johnny Pacheco, Pacheco At The N.Y. World's Fair (Fania 326) Johnny Pacheco, Te Invitar A Bailar (Fania 327) Johnny Pacheco, His Flute And Latin Jam (Fania 328) Louie Ram??rez, Good News (Fania 329) Johnny Pacheco, Viva Africa (Fania 330)
"The term 'boogaloo' was created during it's heyday in eastside of Spanish Harlem from a dance done by Latinos. It's popularity came in early 1965 and caught on nationwide. Tom & Jerrio picked it up, as I said in the article, from a dance hop in Chicago and wrote a song about it. No, they did not invent the 'boogaloo' but mainly popularized it or as you quoted, borrowed it from the dance. The dance stayed around for 6 years."
Alrighty then - advantage...back to the Nuyoricans! (Which still begs the question of where did they get the name from. I wrote Joe Bataan to ask him if he knew so hopefully, we can get an actual member of that generation to comment).
The term 'boogaloo' was created during it's heyday in eastside of Spanish Harlem from a dance done by Latinos.
The word itself had to have been around earlier than '65 - remember, there were a couple of R&B singles by Boogaloo & the Gallant Crew in 1956[/b].
I dont why no one is acknowledging this fact
I can go one better:
"Eighty-one year old Abie "Boogaloo" Ames, who died in February of 2002 in Greenville, Mississippi, was a master of the boogie-woogie piano style. Born in rural Georgia, he first taught himself to play the piano more than seventy-five years ago by listening to songs on the radio and playing with them. When he was fourteen, his family moved to Detroit, where he played gigs regularly in the 1940's at local clubs. He eventually led a popular local band in Detroit. He also worked as a session player in the Motown Studios when Motown was just beginning. In the 1960's Boogaloo returned to the South where he still lives today in Greenville. He began teaching Eden Brent, a young resident of Greenville, in the 1980's. They eventually began playing together and still continue this partnership, which was the focus of a 1999 award-winning documentary by Mississippi Educational Television called Boogaloo and Eden:Photo by JacobsSustaining the Sound.
His piano playing style earned him his nickname "Boogaloo" in the 1940's.[/b]"
I wouldn't have found this ref if not for doing more research on Boogaloo and the Gallant Crew.
Once again...the plot thickens...
...but it does make sense that boogaloo would trace its roots to boogie-woogie piano given the similarities in rhythmic sensibilities (and of course, the name).
Cool thread. I think the word gained currency in the mid 60s due to it crossing the language barrier between the Black and Cuban/PR communities who were cross-promoting their night clubs NYC. The word is just more onomatopoeiacally descriptive than anything else so it stuck. But like a lot of musical terms it has its roots in a previous time and style. It was the RealFunkyBrownManSoul of the mid 60s. If James Brown came out with a Bugaloo LP in 66 then you can bet it first got popular in 65.
Cool thread. I think the word gained currency in the mid 60s due to it crossing the language barrier between the Black and Cuban/PR communities who were cross-promoting their night clubs NYC. The word is just more onomatopoeiacally descriptive than anything else so it stuck. But like a lot of musical terms it has its roots in a previous time and style. It was the RealFunkyBrownManSoul of the mid 60s. If James Brown came out with a Bugaloo LP in 66 then you can bet it first got popular in 65.
Word.
I just think this tracing is fascinating since, as I indicated above, boogaloo was all about crossing over b/t Black and Brown and I'm curious how the term itself also made similar travels. It makes a lot of sense that the original creation of boogaloo came out of an African American tradition - it just sounds like part of the same vernacular that becomes associated with a variety of Black dances.
What's still a mystery is whether the boogaloo - as a dance - first began mostly in Black circles or Latino circles and then who picked up on once. Likewise, where did folks like Ivan Joe Jones and John Patton get the idea for creating jazz in a "boogaloo" fashion that has nothing, in obvious substance, to do with Latin boogaloo yet is of the same time era?
I think Jones is still alive, supposedly still gigs around NYC. Anyone confirm this?
"The boogaloo started in soul music--somewhere in Chicago I BELIEVE---around--1965 or 196---first used on a soul record. IN the latin field it was started by either Richie Ray or Pete Rodriquez---but alot of artist were doing something similar before that; JOE CUBA--BANG BANG--RAY BARRETTO-WATUSI-AT THE PARTY--RIVERA---REMEMBER THE BOOGALOO WAS DIFFERENT THAN LATIN SOUL TO A DEGREE."
I know this thread's been dead for a minute, but I started reading some of the liner notes to my old boogaloo records and thought I should share. I mean, this pretty much clarifies that the term comes from "the American Negro".
Straight from the back of Ricardo Ray's "Jala Jala y Boogaloo" LP Alegre LPA-857 (1967):
"...And just to clarify a point lest there be any doubt as to where Latin Bugaloo originated or who is credited for bringing it to the Latin-American scene -- especially in view of the fact that so many Latin orchestras are now playing it, "may your doubts cease and desist, Pilgrim" -- for it was Richie Ray in his first Alegre LP "Se Solto" with tunes as "Lookie! Lookie!," "Azucare Y Bongo," Yare Chango," and "Danzon Bugaloo."
The Bugaloo itself, has been around for a while. It is a form of Rhythm and Blues, and like all forms of jazz, and "soul" music, it was originated by the American Negro[/b]. Latin Bugaloo has since been adopted by all the major Latin American orchestras and has spread the popularity of Latin music to areas where it was little known until now." - Gerry Cousins
On the cover of Se Solto Alegre LP-850: "Introducing The Bugaloo" - at least, the "Latin Bugaloo".
Which pretty much makes sense when we think about the references in R&B going back to the 40's. It was also interesting to read that "El Watusi" too (a key boogaloo predecessor), was ripped off of a 1961 soul single called "The Watusi" by the Vibrations, "which in turn is based on the similar tune "Let???s Go, Let???s Go, Let???s Go," by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters ??? the group, incidentally, which sang the original version of "The Twist" in 1959, a year before Chubby Checker???s historic cover version."
Pete's boogaloo is commonly credited as the first Latin Boogaloo to be played on the radio. On the back of the Pete Rodriguez LP "Oh, That's Nice! Ay, Que Bueno!" Alegre LP-860:
"Pete Rodriguez asked me to tell all his fans that credit must be given for the development of Latin Boogaloo to Mr. Victor Trimmer and Mr. James Flagherty. These two promoters created the launching pad at the Palm Gardes Ballroom in New York City which enabled the new dance rhythm to rocket into outer space"
This also fits perfectly into place, as the Palm Gardens Ballroom (later re-named The Cheetah) is known as the place where Joe Cuba and his Sextet improvised "Bang Bang" one night in an attempt at catering to the mixed Latin / African-American crowd who wasn't feeling their cha-chas or mambos. Supposedly, "beep, beep, haah" (the lyric in "Bang Bang) was a slang term being used at the time, so the crowd can be credited for that one!
I feel really silly now for not thinking to actually, you know, read the boogaloo LP liner notes themselves.
Minor note though, reading Mark Anthony Neal's Popmatters essay: "Alligator Boogaloo" was from 1967, not 1963. His was also the first place where I had seen an attempt to link boogaloo specifically with Earl Palmer/second line backbeat traditions though that might make sense in terms of a full circle influence of Afro-Cuban rhythms through NOLA, back into bugalu.
These are the two "bugaloo" cuts off of Ricardo Ray's "Se Solt??" album on Alegre, 1966. According to SOME scholars (and to be sure, the scholarship on this topic is inconsistent, at best) as well as Alegre, THIS was the first time a Latin boogaloo/bugalu song every proclaimed itself as such.
That's not to say that it was the first boogaloo song - there's a healthy argument to be made around a host of different songs that use similar rhythms and incorporate English lyrics, beginning all the way back with Barretto's 1962 "El Watusi" (a slow charanga in terms of the instrumentation but the groove seems to predict Latin soul's later emergence). However, in terms of the awareness of a Latin genre known as "boogaloo," it may very well be that Ricardo Ray was the first to lay it out like that.
Here's the two songs. What's interesting about "Danzon Bugaloo" is how it doesn't quite conform to the all the musical "norms" we associate with boogaloo but perhaps that's the "danzon" influence.
In comparison, "Lookie, Lookie" definitely feels more like a boogaloo - the piano muntono, the English lyrics, the anchored, measured use of percussion and I love how it kicks things up a notch.
By the way, overall, "Se Solto" was really good as far as Latin albums of this era go. Most folks seem to talk about Ray's "Jala Boogaloo" volumes but I'm really digging all of "Se Solto."
One thing I'd like to add: in the liners to the "Se Solto" (I forgot who wrote them but not Ray himself), they trace the emergence of the term "boogaloo" to an incident in NYC where Ray was playing to a crowd of young Black and Puerto Rican dancers and they liked a particular groove he hit and encouraged him and his band to keep playing that way. It seemed that the music was conducive to their ability to "dance the boogaloo" which again, would suggest that the terms origins come out of a dance style rather than a music style and I think, at this point, it's more than confirmed that the very word "boogaloo" comes from an African American idiom.
It sounds to me like one of those slang terms that just bounced around for years, taking on different meanings/uses along the way like "funk" did.
Right. Like boogie-woogie, too. Also, if your're looking for spelling variations, don't forget Lou Donaldson's "Alligator Bogaloo" (Blue Note 1967)
I always thought that "BOGaloo" was just some sloppy proofreading at Blue Note.
I think it probably was that - Ive never seen that spelling used elsewhere.
It's usually Boogaloo, followed by Bugalu. Ricardo Ray used the fusion of the two: bugaloo but that didn't seem to stick.
And then there's the hyphenated edition: "Boo-Ga-Loo," as Tom & Jerrio had it. (I think James Brown had a "Boo-Ga-Loo" on his ...Plays New Breed album - same song?)
It was also interesting to read that "El Watusi" too (a key boogaloo predecessor), was ripped off of a 1961 soul single called "The Watusi" by the Vibrations
Only in the title. Neither song SOUNDS much like each other (although there is a later Vibrations cut on OKeh, "Watusi Time," with a pronounced Latin rhythm that uses the same chord changes as Tito Puente's "Ti-Mon-Bo" on RCA - a big hit in the black community, at least in Chicago...but that's almost another story).
I just realized, somewhat embarrassingly since it meant I didn't read it closely enough the first time, but Juan Flores' "Cha Cha With a Backbeat" essay notes that Ricardo Ray's "Danzon Boogaloo" is actually a remake of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' "Whipped Cream," which explains why it sounds a little different compared to the "average" boogaloo.
Sorry to dredge up this ancient page, but I was reading today's earlier posts about boogaloo, and began to ponder the etymology of the word.
I thought, 'Golly, I wonder if this has been discussed on Soul Strut before?'
Et voila! Very interesting! Though my eyes started crossing about 2/3 of the way in (or maybe that was 2/3 of the way into my glass of wine ; )
Anyhoo, Dear Spanky:[/b] If you happen to read this, I was wondering - did you read all of Flores' 'Bomba to Hip Hop'? If so, is it worth picking up?
Also, my uneducated 2 cents (esp. since I don't know Spanish): It's just a Spanish derivation of Boogie Woogie with a diminuative "aloo" tacked on the end.
Sorry to dredge up this ancient page, but I was reading today's earlier posts about boogaloo, and began to ponder the etymology of the word.
I thought, 'Golly, I wonder if this has been discussed on Soul Strut before?'
Et voila! Very interesting! Though my eyes started crossing about 2/3 of the way in (or maybe that was 2/3 of the way into my glass of wine ; )
Anyhoo, Dear Spanky:[/b] If you happen to read this, I was wondering - did you read all of Flores' 'Bomba to Hip Hop'? If so, is it worth picking up?
Also, my uneducated 2 cents (esp. since I don't know Spanish): It's just a Spanish derivation of Boogie Woogie with a diminuative "aloo" tacked on the end.
BR,
I wrote about this in the OTHER boogaloo thread but here's the deal with Flores:
It's well worth reading his chapter on boogaloo SO LONG as you realize that it has some notable errors and debatable assumptions. However, in this case, I'm not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater - I think Flores' text, taken with some grains of salt, is still a very, very good primer for the history of boogaloo and is a solid starting point for anyone interested in the genre.
I think his chapter on Puerto Ricans and hip-hop is important, though, again, factually speaking, his research makes some points that other scholars have debated. If you're interested in a solid read on Nuyorican hip-hop, I'd much sooner recommend Raquel Rivera's "Nuyoricans in the Hip Hop Zone."
Comments
Johnny Pacheco, Te Invitar A Bailar (Fania 327)
Johnny Pacheco, His Flute And Latin Jam (Fania 328)
Louie Ram??rez, Good News (Fania 329)
Johnny Pacheco, Viva Africa (Fania 330)
http://www.chancellorofsoul.com/jerryo.html
According to him:
"The term 'boogaloo' was created during it's heyday in eastside of Spanish Harlem from a dance done by Latinos. It's popularity came in early 1965 and caught on nationwide. Tom & Jerrio picked it up, as I said in the article, from a dance hop in Chicago and wrote a song about it. No, they did not invent the 'boogaloo' but mainly popularized it or as you quoted, borrowed it from the dance. The dance stayed around for 6 years."
Alrighty then - advantage...back to the Nuyoricans! (Which still begs the question of where did they get the name from. I wrote Joe Bataan to ask him if he knew so hopefully, we can get an actual member of that generation to comment).
The word itself had to have been around earlier than '65 - remember, there were a couple of R&B singles by Boogaloo & the Gallant Crew in 1956[/b].
Thanks for clarifying the fact - that's what i thought. I couldn't really see a two year gap between "Young Man..." and "Bad Breath". BB was 67.
I dont why no one is acknowledging this fact
I can go one better:
"Eighty-one year old Abie "Boogaloo" Ames, who died in February of 2002 in Greenville, Mississippi, was a master of the boogie-woogie piano style. Born in rural Georgia, he first taught himself to play the piano more than seventy-five years ago by listening to songs on the radio and playing with them. When he was fourteen, his family moved to Detroit, where he played gigs regularly in the 1940's at local clubs. He eventually led a popular local band in Detroit. He also worked as a session player in the Motown Studios when Motown was just beginning. In the 1960's Boogaloo returned to the South where he still lives today in Greenville. He began teaching Eden Brent, a young resident of Greenville, in the 1980's. They eventually began playing together and still continue this partnership, which was the focus of a 1999 award-winning documentary by Mississippi Educational Television called Boogaloo and Eden:Photo by JacobsSustaining the Sound.
His piano playing style earned him his nickname "Boogaloo" in the 1940's.[/b]"
I wouldn't have found this ref if not for doing more research on Boogaloo and the Gallant Crew.
Once again...the plot thickens...
...but it does make sense that boogaloo would trace its roots to boogie-woogie piano given the similarities in rhythmic sensibilities (and of course, the name).
Word.
I just think this tracing is fascinating since, as I indicated above, boogaloo was all about crossing over b/t Black and Brown and I'm curious how the term itself also made similar travels. It makes a lot of sense that the original creation of boogaloo came out of an African American tradition - it just sounds like part of the same vernacular that becomes associated with a variety of Black dances.
What's still a mystery is whether the boogaloo - as a dance - first began mostly in Black circles or Latino circles and then who picked up on once. Likewise, where did folks like Ivan Joe Jones and John Patton get the idea for creating jazz in a "boogaloo" fashion that has nothing, in obvious substance, to do with Latin boogaloo yet is of the same time era?
I think Jones is still alive, supposedly still gigs around NYC. Anyone confirm this?
Right. Like boogie-woogie, too. Also, if your're looking for spelling variations, don't forget Lou Donaldson's "Alligator Bogaloo" (Blue Note 1967)
"The boogaloo started in soul music--somewhere in Chicago I BELIEVE---around--1965 or 196---first used on a soul record. IN the latin field it was started by either Richie Ray or Pete Rodriquez---but alot of artist were doing something similar before that; JOE CUBA--BANG BANG--RAY BARRETTO-WATUSI-AT THE PARTY--RIVERA---REMEMBER THE BOOGALOO WAS DIFFERENT THAN LATIN SOUL TO A DEGREE."
Tom and Jerry-O Theory gets another vote.
Straight from the back of Ricardo Ray's "Jala Jala y Boogaloo" LP Alegre LPA-857 (1967):
"...And just to clarify a point lest there be any doubt as to where Latin Bugaloo originated or who is credited for bringing it to the Latin-American scene -- especially in view of the fact that so many Latin orchestras are now playing it, "may your doubts cease and desist, Pilgrim" -- for it was Richie Ray in his first Alegre LP "Se Solto" with tunes as "Lookie! Lookie!," "Azucare Y Bongo," Yare Chango," and "Danzon Bugaloo."
The Bugaloo itself, has been around for a while. It is a form of Rhythm and Blues, and like all forms of jazz, and "soul" music, it was originated by the American Negro[/b]. Latin Bugaloo has since been adopted by all the major Latin American orchestras and has spread the popularity of Latin music to areas where it was little known until now." - Gerry Cousins
On the cover of Se Solto Alegre LP-850: "Introducing The Bugaloo" - at least, the "Latin Bugaloo".
Which pretty much makes sense when we think about the references in R&B going back to the 40's. It was also interesting to read that "El Watusi" too (a key boogaloo predecessor), was ripped off of a 1961 soul single called "The Watusi" by the Vibrations, "which in turn is based on the similar tune "Let???s Go, Let???s Go, Let???s Go," by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters ??? the group, incidentally, which sang the original version of "The Twist" in 1959, a year before Chubby Checker???s historic cover version."
Pete's boogaloo is commonly credited as the first Latin Boogaloo to be played on the radio.
On the back of the Pete Rodriguez LP "Oh, That's Nice! Ay, Que Bueno!" Alegre LP-860:
"Pete Rodriguez asked me to tell all his fans that credit must be given for the development of Latin Boogaloo to Mr. Victor Trimmer and Mr. James Flagherty. These two promoters created the launching pad at the Palm Gardes Ballroom in New York City which enabled the new dance rhythm to rocket into outer space"
This also fits perfectly into place, as the Palm Gardens Ballroom (later re-named The Cheetah) is known as the place where Joe Cuba and his Sextet improvised "Bang Bang" one night in an attempt at catering to the mixed Latin / African-American crowd who wasn't feeling their cha-chas or mambos. Supposedly, "beep, beep, haah" (the lyric in "Bang Bang) was a slang term being used at the time, so the crowd can be credited for that one!
More cool sources to check:
http://www.spectropop.com/tico/TICOpart4.htm
http://www.popmatters.com/columns/criticalnoire/020423.shtml
http://www.buscasalsa.com/Cha-Cha-with-A-Backbeat-Songs-and
Sorry if I ramble, this stuff actually excites me somehow...
Minor note though, reading Mark Anthony Neal's Popmatters essay: "Alligator Boogaloo" was from 1967, not 1963. His was also the first place where I had seen an attempt to link boogaloo specifically with Earl Palmer/second line backbeat traditions though that might make sense in terms of a full circle influence of Afro-Cuban rhythms through NOLA, back into bugalu.
I always thought that "BOGaloo" was just some sloppy proofreading at Blue Note.
I think it probably was that - Ive never seen that spelling used elsewhere.
It's usually Boogaloo, followed by Bugalu. Ricardo Ray used the fusion of the two: bugaloo but that didn't seem to stick.
These are the two "bugaloo" cuts off of Ricardo Ray's "Se Solt??" album on Alegre, 1966. According to SOME scholars (and to be sure, the scholarship on this topic is inconsistent, at best) as well as Alegre, THIS was the first time a Latin boogaloo/bugalu song every proclaimed itself as such.
That's not to say that it was the first boogaloo song - there's a healthy argument to be made around a host of different songs that use similar rhythms and incorporate English lyrics, beginning all the way back with Barretto's 1962 "El Watusi" (a slow charanga in terms of the instrumentation but the groove seems to predict Latin soul's later emergence). However, in terms of the awareness of a Latin genre known as "boogaloo," it may very well be that Ricardo Ray was the first to lay it out like that.
Here's the two songs. What's interesting about "Danzon Bugaloo" is how it doesn't quite conform to the all the musical "norms" we associate with boogaloo but perhaps that's the "danzon" influence.
In comparison, "Lookie, Lookie" definitely feels more like a boogaloo - the piano muntono, the English lyrics, the anchored, measured use of percussion and I love how it kicks things up a notch.
By the way, overall, "Se Solto" was really good as far as Latin albums of this era go. Most folks seem to talk about Ray's "Jala Boogaloo" volumes but I'm really digging all of "Se Solto."
And then there's the hyphenated edition: "Boo-Ga-Loo," as Tom & Jerrio had it. (I think James Brown had a "Boo-Ga-Loo" on his ...Plays New Breed album - same song?)
Only in the title. Neither song SOUNDS much like each other (although there is a later Vibrations cut on OKeh, "Watusi Time," with a pronounced Latin rhythm that uses the same chord changes as Tito Puente's "Ti-Mon-Bo" on RCA - a big hit in the black community, at least in Chicago...but that's almost another story).
I just realized, somewhat embarrassingly since it meant I didn't read it closely enough the first time, but Juan Flores' "Cha Cha With a Backbeat" essay notes that Ricardo Ray's "Danzon Boogaloo" is actually a remake of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' "Whipped Cream," which explains why it sounds a little different compared to the "average" boogaloo.
I thought, 'Golly, I wonder if this has been discussed on Soul Strut before?'
Et voila! Very interesting! Though my eyes started crossing about 2/3 of the way in (or maybe that was 2/3 of the way into my glass of wine ; )
Anyhoo, Dear Spanky:[/b] If you happen to read this, I was wondering - did you read all of Flores' 'Bomba to Hip Hop'? If so, is it worth picking up?
Also, my uneducated 2 cents (esp. since I don't know Spanish): It's just a Spanish derivation of Boogie Woogie with a diminuative "aloo" tacked on the end.
i'll check some spanish resources tomorrow
BR,
I wrote about this in the OTHER boogaloo thread but here's the deal with Flores:
It's well worth reading his chapter on boogaloo SO LONG as you realize that it has some notable errors and debatable assumptions. However, in this case, I'm not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater - I think Flores' text, taken with some grains of salt, is still a very, very good primer for the history of boogaloo and is a solid starting point for anyone interested in the genre.
I think his chapter on Puerto Ricans and hip-hop is important, though, again, factually speaking, his research makes some points that other scholars have debated. If you're interested in a solid read on Nuyorican hip-hop, I'd much sooner recommend Raquel Rivera's "Nuyoricans in the Hip Hop Zone."
every book i've checked speak in terms of onomatopoeia origins, as in chachach?? or guaguanc??