Luis Eric  
     
   

Luis Eric Gonzalez, born in Matanzas Cuba, is a seasoned composer, arranger and producer. Luis Eric arranges and composes various styles such as: Salsa, R&B, Classical and Rock. He has toured and recorded with artists such as: Don Henley, Gloria Estefan, Eric Bentet and Juan Gabriel. Luis Eric was also musical director of the late legendary Celia Cruz. He has done arrangements for artists such as: Celia Cruz, Raul Malo, Lou Vega and Elidades Ochoa (one of the members of the Buena vista Social Club). You may also hear Luis's music on the movie soundtracks Hot Chick and Original Sin.

Luis's desire is to take Azulu Music to a level which will allow him the opportunity to exercise his full range of abilities.

Luis Eric Gonzalez was born in Cuba, and started playing trumpet at the age of 7. He is a graduate of the Institute of Arts in Havana, and has several years of formal classical training. He not only performed and recorded with Cubas top bands, but performed and recorded on operas, ballets, radio, and documentary films. He has toured and recorded with Don Henley, Celia Cruz, Raul Malo, Lou Vega, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tito Nieves, Juan Gabriel, Joan Sebastian and Carl Thomas. Luis Eric is also a talented composer/arranger, with his own production company, Azulu Productions.

The brassy adventures of Luis Eric Gonzalez
Latin Beat Magazine, 'Oct, 2003 'by Luis Tamargo

Since the mid-1990s, the L.A. Latin music scene has been strengthened with the arrival of multiple young (and not-so-young) Cuban players, including but not limited to various talented bassists (Carlitos del Puerto, Edgar Hernandez, Rigoberto Lopez), several gifted trap drummers/percussionists (Jimmy Branly, Coky Garcia, Raul Pineda) and the subject of the following interview: The imaginative 36-year old trumpeter/composer/arranger Luis Eric Gonzalez, co-founder of the newly inaugurated Bayal, a youthful timba-oriented band characterized by its heavy brass attack, multicultural sounds, and entirely original repertoire ...
LUIS TAMARGO: Where were you born?
LUIS ERIC GONZALEZ: In the city of Matanzas, under the sign of Libra, although my entire family hails from Bolondron, the hometown of Barbarito Diez. My family moved to Havana when I was only a year old, so I was raised in the Cuban capital.
LT: Were you the first musician in your family?
LEG: Yes. I started out with the elementary school band, playing marches with the side drum, before I switched to the trumpet.
LT: Which trumpeters do you regard as your main formative influences?
EG: Arturo Sandoval, Jorge Varona, Freddie Hubbard, Maynard Ferguson, and Felix Chapotton, the latter of whom bad a very distinctive improvising style. I attended Havana's Amadeo Roldon Conservatory for eight years (1980-1988). After I graduated from that school as a trumpet teacher, I was sent to work in that capacity to Santa Clara's Escuela de Artes. During my one-year tenure at said boarding school, I got to meet Santa Clara's top players, including the trumpeter Manuel Machado and the trap drummer/percussionist nicknamed El Peje. In fact, I had the opportunity to play with Santa Clara's Banda de Conciertos and with a very progressive group called Raices Nuevas, before I was drafted into the military service for three years. Afterwards, I returned to Havana, where I was featured on a few documentary soundtracks and joined Conjunto Rumbavana's four-trumpet section for a few months.
LT: What happened after Rumbavana?
LEG: I spent a couple of years with vocalist Xiomara Leugart's sextet, with whom I toured Mexico and Spain. Xiomara had a very beautiful voice, and we were playing a sort of modern trova arranged by pianist Omar Sosa.
LT: What happened after Xiomara?
LEG: I worked with Paulito y su Elite for about a year and traveled to Spain with a group led by guitarist Octavio Coton. I also performed with the vocal quartet Las D'Aida for about a month, back in 1993, when I had the honor of playing alongside the great timbalero Amadito Valdes.
LT: Like many other Cuban musicians throughout the world, you were eventually allowed to work abroad in an officially approved "velvet exile," as long as the Castroite regime received a significant portion of your earnings.
LEG: Exactly. Along with another trumpeter, a trombonist and a vocalist, I traveled to Colombia to join a group formerly associated with Albita. As a matter of fact, I arrived in Colombia on the same day that Pablo Escobar was killed: December 3, 1993. Sooner than later, I was recruited by Jairo Varela to work with his Grupo Niche, with whom I spent almost four years. There came a time, however, when I was ready to move on, to explore jazz and other kinds of music. In 1997, I came to the U.S., where I have performed and/or recorded with Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Cachao, Alex Acuna, Tolo, Jose Rizo's Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars, Raul Malo, Ricky Martin, Cuba L.A., Lou Bega, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Tito Nieves, Yari More, etc. I also played trumpet alongside Terrence Blanchard on the soundtrack of "Original Sin," a film protagonized by Antonio Banderas.
LT: Could you define the musical essence of Bayalo?
LEG: It's a mixture of everything imaginable--Cuban music, salsa, R&B, hip-hop, pop. I personally elaborated all of the arrangements with the intention of taking this music to new heights. We're trying to make music that will appeal to everyone, that everyone could identity with.
LT: I noticed that Bayalo's first self-produced recording features not one but three vocalists.
LEG: Yes. My partner Carlitos Bustamante (Bayalo's co-leader) raps, Carlos Guerrero (formerly with Grupo Niche) handles the soneos, and Lean Branly is mostly assigned to the R&B-style vocals, although there are some tunes in which all of them participate. Bayalo is also comprised of Rigoberto Lopez (basa), Brian Velazco (piano), Jimmy Branly (timbal), Joey de Leon (tumbadoras), Fauricio Garzola (sax), Francisco Torres (trombone), Arturo Solar (trumpet), and Alejandro Blanco (guitar). In addition, our recording debut was reinforced with three special guests--tumbador Robert Quintero (of Timbalaye fame), pianist Alberto Salas, and vocalist Fernando Vargas.