Cuco Valoy

Cuco Valoy entered the world in the Dominican Republic. From the middle of the 1950s onward, the multi-talented performer—singer, bandleader, composer, arranger and producer—teamed with his guitarist sibling Martín to record as the duo Los Ahijados, issuing a run of LPs that showcased material in the classic Cuban manner. During the 1970s he assembled a twelve-piece ensemble billed alternately as Los Virtuosos and La Tribu; once several newcomers joined in the mid-1980s the group was rechristened Nueva Tribu. Its roster featured Martín on bass guitar, Valoy’s sons Ramón Orlando Valoy (piano, arranger and composer, usually credited simply as Ramón Orlando) and Marcos Antonio Valoy on trombone, plus the outstanding vocalist Henry García, who remained with the unit from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s. Around that same time Ramón stepped away to front his own orchestra. The ensemble’s current configuration centers on lead and backing voices together with a rhythm section, supplemented by a flexible horn line that typically includes two or three trumpets, one or two saxophones and, on many occasions, a trombone.

Through the mid-1980s Valoy’s releases alternated salsa numbers with tracks in merengue, the Dominican Republic’s principal dance rhythm. Thereafter he shifted direction, issuing a series of albums devoted largely or exclusively to merengue. Numerous standout performances from his catalog first appeared on the Discolor and Kubaney labels between 1975 and 1983; many of those selections later surfaced on various CD anthologies. From 1983 to 1987 he worked with smaller imprints, among them his own CVR label, before returning to Kubaney in 1988. Several noteworthy cuts also surfaced during this interval on titles such as Cuco Valoy Y Su Tribu, Mejor Que Nunca and Con Sabor Del Tropico. Arguably his most uniformly satisfying collections to that point arrived in 1991 with Salsa Con Coco, Tremenda Salsa, Arrollando and Tiza!. The 1989 album A Petición Popular... Salsa signaled a notable re-engagement with salsa and featured all-new arrangements penned by the prolific Isidro Infante. Two years later Cuco and Ramón rejoined forces for the J & N/Fuga Records project La Gran Obra Musical De Cuco Valoy.