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It's the Seventies. It's the start of a massive stadium gig. Bright spotlights zigzag wildly across the audience and zero in on the long-haired musicians who jog, one by one, out of the darkness onto the pitch. The fanfare is phenomenal. It's thrilling. Dressed in white suits, silk shirts and jumpsuits, these men are feted like gods. They slap palms with nearby fans before reaching the stage. The crowd go crazy! It's like Led Zep at Madison Square Garden or Aerosmith at the Hollywood Bowl. Then MC Izzy Sanabria, in matching gold lame suit, screams, "Ladies and gentlemen, here they are! The world's greatest Latin musicians - the Fania All Stars!......" This concert at Yankee Stadium on 24th August, 1973, was the next move in Fania boss Jerry Masucci's scheme for world salsa domination. Yet, despite the amazing achievements of Fania's 1972 film/concert, Our Latin Thing, when Masucci first broached the idea of the Yankee Stadium gig, everyone thought he was insane. But with Our Latin Thing smashing open the doors for a massive salsa revolution, plus some astute marketing tricks, afew gambles and, of course, great music, Masucci was - again - right on the money. He was creating Latin music super-heroes with the maxim: treat them like stars, they become stars - hence the outrageous overture at the start of the Yankee Stadium show. Nonetheless, the size of the salsa explosion was shocking, probably even to Masucci. The Cheetah, the principal New York location for Our Latin Thing, was a 4000-capacity ballroom, but a couple of years later on this hot August night, the Yankee Stadium bulged with over 40,000 fans. There was even a pitch invasion! In fact, this concert was just one of the significant ingredients in the film, Salsa. Released in 1976 and directed by Masucci and Our Latin Thing's Leon Gast, the movie combined live footage from another massive Fania All Stars show in 1974 at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Archive footage as well as reportage from television journalist, Geraldo Rivera, was also inter-cut with the performances. The strategy for Salsa was to deliberately break away from the ghetto-centric iconography of Our Latin Thing and attract a much bigger audience outside the traditional Latin market. If Our Latin Thing explored salsa's tough, New York roots, Salsa dramatically broadened the agenda and investigated it's African heritage and showed how Latin music was a part of American culture. Our Latin Thing implied the music was created by an urban racial minority ostracized from the American mainstream dream. But Salsa presented a more sophisticated image and suggested its rhythms were actually an important, integral element of American life. Esteemed Latin authorities, Max Salazar and John Storm Roberts, were hired as the movie's researchers, with Geraldo Rivera as the narrator/presenter. Rivera was a respected, heavyweight TV journalist who worked as a reporter for WABC's Eyewitness News, then as correspondent/host of Good Morning America. He was undoubtedly drafted in to help grab an audience outside of the Hispanic one. Rivera's role in the film was to explore the music's voyage and evolution from Africa, via slave ships, to the Caribbean and into the States. It was also to debunk the Hollywood image of Latinos which surfaced in a myriad of mawkish musicals. Early on in Salsa, Rivera's filmed on a Los Angeles street. He describes the Hollywood movies, which stereotyped Latinos, as, "Happy, high-stepping and mindless." Rivera explains, "To Hollywood, Latin music had its roots in the slick, smiley characters wearing pointy shoes and zoot suits. They couldn't have been more wrong. Here are the roots of Latin music, here are the roots of salsa..." Black and white archive of African drummers follows before dissolving into Mongo Santamaria's exhilarating performance of "Leah" which features a female dancer in African dress shaking like crazy at the front of the stage. The documentary side of Salsa continued to oscillate between Rivera's sober historical examinations of the music's growth - from Africa to Tito Puente in Fifties New York - and the ridiculing of racial stereotypes and the Latin-lite style of music in American musicals. But despite the good intentions of this informative part of the movie, in retrospect it's the bright kaleidoscopic bursts of live footage from Yankee Stadium and Puerto Rico that are easily the most memorable moments of the film. At the start of Salsa, we watch Johnny Pacheco yell "Harlow!" from the Yankee Stadium stage, sparking Larry's opening piano riff, before the whole band blast off into the outrageous Congo Bongo jam. From then on, the musical sequences never dip, always dazzling the gob-smacked audience. In 1973, Fania were big enough to lure "Special Guests" like Manu Dibango, Jorge Santana, Billy Cobham and Jan Hammer into performing with the All Stars - everyone wanted a piece of the salsa action. Their presence, of course, helped attract the fans of these particular artists to Fania, again expanding salsa's audience range. Manu Dibango was a huge star after his recent global smash, Soul Makossa, whilst guitarist Jorge Santana, brother of Carlos, led his own popular West Coast Chicano rock band, Malo. Billy Cobham and Jan Hammer were important figures in the jazz rock world. Mongo Santamaria was also part of the Fania family now after signing with the subsidiary label, Vaya. The "Special Guests" and Mongo performed at both the New York and Puerto Rico shows. The Fania All Stars line-up for the NY and PR stadium gigs differed slightly from Our Latin Thing. This time, all the vocalists at the concerts were Fania solo acts, not part of an orchestra. They included Cheo Feliciano, Justo Betancourt, Hector Lavoe, Ismael Miranda, Bobby Cruz and Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez. Celia Cruz sang too. As for the percussionists, conguero Ray Barretto and bongocero Roberto Roena were still All Star players, but Nicky Marrero replaced Orestes Vilato as timbalero. Regarding the brass section, just Willie Colon, Barry Rogers and Roberto Rodriguez survived as members after Our Latin Thing. These 3 were augmented by trumpeters Victor Paz and Ray Maldonado and trombonist Lewis Kahn. Of course, Larry Harlow was still pianist and Bobby Valentin, the electric bassist. Valentin, a very talented musician, was also a brilliant orchestrator. He was responsible for arranging 3 of the hottest performances in Salsa - Congo Bongo, El Raton and Bembe Colora. Celia Cruz's rendition of Bembe Colora was her official debut with the Fania All Stars. Originally kicking off her 1966 Tico LP, Son Con Guaguanco, this version with the All Stars is absolutely mesmerizing. Sporting a tent-like multicoloured gown and large, swinging earrings, Cruz delivers an ecstatic performance. Although approaching her fiftieth birthday, the Queen of Salsa just can't stop jumping and jiggling. El Raton is Cheo Feliciano's spotlight song. Originally recorded when he was vocalist with the Joe Cuba Sextet, this version is a tantalizing, moody, slow burner. Cheo is in complete control of his powers and bewitches the audience. The El Raton performance also highlighted "Special Guest" Jorge Santana. As Jorge executes his guitar solo, the singers affectionately chant "Hey, Santana!" Then a great brass vamp follows - thanks to Bobby Valentin - before Cheo's majestic return. The final rendition of Congo Bongo at the end of the film is a phenomenal, balls-to-the-wall performance. With fast, sharp editing, we watch Mongo frantically slapping the skins - then it's over to Ray. Pacheco is dancing, others start beating on cowbells. Spotlights strafe the massive, euphoric crowd as Cuban flags billow in the distance. Then Ray, grinning, hammers the base of his conga drum against the stage. It's impossible not to be sucked in by this incredible squall of musical energy. The aim of Salsa was to accentuate the music's universal charm - and, of course, to popularize that very phrase. Towards the close of the film, Geraldo Rivera explains it's ability to achieve this. He comments how salsa is perfect for "a classy discotheque in San Juan or New York." He adds that it is music "for all seasons and all people," which certainly wasn't the message of Our Latin Thing. Yet, viewed together, both Salsa and Our Latin Thing were a 2-forked attack on the unsuspecting public. The first film broke open the barriers and highlighted the urban lifeblood of this music, then Salsa pushed it up to a higher level, helping Fania conquer Japan and Europe. Distributed by Columbia, the film was a triumph, accomplishing the desired goals of promoting the label, the artists and the whole salsa concept. It was the high summer of Fania.
