By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter, Jamaica Gleaner, Wednesday, June 19, 2002
To be perfectly honest, when one hears the name 'Miami Latinos', one would think that it is safe to assume that the members of the band would all be Latinos. Of course, this would therefore be a classic example of why one should not make assumptions, because this band featured two persons who were not.
Last Friday night, the Miami Latinos performed during 'Latin Jazz Party Night', a part of the Ocho Rios Jazz Festival at the Jamaica Grande, Ocho Rios. One of the persons who did not fit the Latino description was guest performer Noel Seale. Seale is Jamaican and was an impromptu addition to the band, although one would be completely unable to tell from the performance. The Gleaner found out that this was the case when we went to have a short talk with the band's leader and bass player, Pepe Aparicio.
Senor Aparicio pointed out that he had only just met Mr. Seale, who had provided them with drums. He stated that in response, he invited Seale to join them on the stage. Seale, who is a 'reflexologist' in Duncans, Trelawny by day, has been playing percussion for years and blended smoothly with the band.
The other non-Latino of the group is Dustin Bayrd, who played tenor sax, the flute and the clarinet. Bayrd hails from Iowa and was very evidently not Latino. In introducing the members of the band, Aparicio stated that Bayrd represented the point at which Latin meets jazz. This proved quite true, since while most of the instruments focused on jazz rhythms, with the occasional exception of the piano, the jazz inflections of the night came from the horns.
The performance of the Miami Latinos was completely different from that of the Rick DellaRatta quartet earlier, which provided latin and jazz for easy listening. The Miami Latinos played heavy salsa and mambo that made you want to get to your feet and dance. In fact, it was actually astounding that the audience remained in their seats for as long as they did.
The band also featured Johnny Congas on percussion (but, as his name suggests, mainly congas), Noel Torres on piano, keyboards and vocals, Jose Martinez on drums and Dustin Bayrd on sax, flute and clarinet. Additionally, their name was for local performances only. The band usually performs as Saoco, an African slang term which means the band is 'hot', Aparicio stated. The band began their rousing performance with Mambo Inn and never slackened their pace. They quickly switched to salsa rhythms, which had the still seated audience slapping their thighs and rocking energetically to the beats. Finally, as the band started playing Oje Como Va, several persons gave in to the pulsating rhythms and got to their feet at the back of the room. However, when they started their tribute to Bob Marley, by playing a Latin and jazz interpretation of I Shot the Sheriff, the dancers switched to the front of the room, declaring that the night had become quite a party.
One audience member yelled the one word that comes to mind when you hear these guys perform, and that is 'Ole!'