César Concepción

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cayetano César Concepción Martínez (born July 28, 1909 in Cayey , † March 11, 1974 in Río Piedras ) was a Puerto Rican trumpeter , arranger , orchestra conductor and composer .

Life

From the age of ten, Concepción received trumpet lessons from Claudio Torres , who later became a member of his orchestra. At the age of thirteen he was a member of a group of silent film musicians at the Teatro San Rafael . In 1925 the pianist Augusto Rodríguez Amador brought him to his orchestra The Midnight Serenaders in San Juan. After the orchestra was disbanded in 1932, he joined Ralph Sánchez & His Symphonians .

In 1935 he went to New York and became a member of the orchestra of the pianist Eddie LeBaron . With this he recorded pieces such as Por Corrientes va una conga by Ernesto Lecuona and a number of pieces by Eliseo Grenets under his direction. In 1940 he separated from LeBaron and performed in Los Angeles at Trocaderos's Club with the orchestras of Xavier Cugat , Enrique Madriguera , Don Maya , Carlos Molina , José Morand and Nano Rodrigo . From 1940 he made recordings in various line-ups with Pedro Flores .

In 1942 Concepción returned to Puerto Rico and joined Armando Castro & His Jazz Band . For this group he composed the classic Jack, Jack, Jack / Cutúguru , which, sung by Juan Ramón Torres, was the first title of purely Puerto Rican origin to be included in the US hit parade in 1945.

From 1945 Concepción was involved for a year and a half at the Escambrón Beach Club , led by Rafael Duchesne . At the New York Club he founded his own orchestra (in the first line-up with Juan Ramón Torres, vocals; Luisito Benjamín , piano; Tony Di Ricci and Berto Torres , second and third trumpet; Lito Peña , first alto saxophone; José Torres , second alto saxophone; Rubén Rivera , tenor saxophone; Juan Antonio Bajandas , double bass player; Pepo Talavera , Jesús Cruz and Francisco Torres , percussion), which performed for the first time on June 14, 1947, alternating with the Noro Morales ' orchestra in a broadcast on WAPA radio hosted by Mariano Artau occurred.

The orchestra gained a lot of popularity through the daily participation in the show La ruleta musical with Joe Valle as singer. From 1954 it was the orchestra of the television show Coca-Cola busca estrellas on Telemundo / Canal 2 , from 1963 to 1966 the official orchestra of El show del mediodía on WAPA TV / CANAL 4, produced by Tommy Muñiz . In addition, Concepción conducted orchestras at the Caribe Hilton and the Hotel Flamboyán during this time .

In 1968 he dissolved his famous orchestra and moved with his family to New York. In 1972 he returned to Puerto Rico and formed a new orchestra with Joe Valle. In March 1974 he died in Río Piedra of complications from a heart attack. In 1983 Nicolás Nogueras Cartagena founded a new Orquesta César Concepción from former members of Concepción's orchestra . This appeared until 1997 at the Hotel Caribe Hilton , then on other stages with the singers Freddy Gutierrez , Efrén Santiago , Edward Santiago , Aníbal Hernández , Dilores Escalera and occasionally Tato Díaz and took part in a show in the Centro de Bellas Artes in San Juan in 2003 Iris Chacón took part.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Concepción, César
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Concepción Martínez, Cayetano César
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Puerto Rican trumpeter, arranger, orchestra leader and composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Cayey
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 1974
Place of death Río Piedras