Biography
Innovative Cuban violinist, flautist, singer, band leader, arranger and composer Legarreta figured prominently in the pachanga and charanga surge of the early 1960s, the charanga resurgence spanning the mid-1970s into the early 1980s, and New York’s descarga scene. During childhood he financed violin lessons through barber work that his father pressed him to drop. Pupi departed Cuba in 1959 to enter the United States’ second charanga ensemble, Orquesta Nuevo Ritmo—the first having been a short-lived group started by Gilberto Valdés in 1952—which Cuban conguero Armando Sánchez had formed in Chicago during the mid-1950s. Among Nuevo Ritmo’s members stood other leading Latin figures: Rudy Calzado and Pellín Rodríguez on vocals, Rolando Lozano on flute, René ‘El Latigo’ Hernández at the piano and Victor Venegas on bass. While with the band Pupi cut the single ‘Tumba La Caña’, recorded the New York album The Heart Of Cuba (1960) for GNP and appeared at the city’s storied Palladium Ballroom. After Sánchez stepped away, Mongo Santamaría assumed leadership, bringing in Jose ‘Chombo’ Silva on violin and tenor saxophone together with Willie Bobo on timbales. Stationed on the West Coast, Pupi contributed to six Fantasy releases by Santamaría’s charanga unit between 1961 and 1962, one of them alongside pianist and leader Joe Loco, and supplied every arrangement for the Benny Velarde Orchestra’s Ay Que Rico! issued by the same label in late 1962.
Pupi’s first album fronting his own group arrived in 1963 with Salsa Nova on Tico Records, marking one of the earliest recorded uses of the word “salsa” in New York. The set boasted an accomplished roster—Chombo on violin, ‘El Latigo’ Hernández on piano, Osvaldo ‘Chi Hua Hua’ Martínez on güiro, Carlos ‘Patato’ Valdez on conga, plus vocalists Totico and Elliot Romero—while Pupi handled violin, chorus vocals and all arrangements under Tito Puente’s musical direction. Moving to Remo Records, he issued six albums on that imprint from the middle through the late 1960s; the standout Latin-jam set Pupi En Venezuela (late 1960s) later resurfaced on the UK Tumi label in 1993 as Pupy Y Su Charanga, augmented by three tracks drawn from the earlier Remo title Pupi: Jala Jala. In a June 1993 Jazz On CD review, DJ Tomek observed that “Superb, long descarga jams of classic folk numbers show how the flute/violin charanga orchestras had progressed from the elegant to the electrifying.” Pupi’s second Remo outing, the mid-1960s Jala Jala Con Boog - A - Loo (also issued as Salsa), contained his original composition ‘Salsa’; another track, the guaracha ‘Cada Quien’, featured a vocalist hailing him as ‘El Rey de la Salsa y la Sabor’.
He appeared on the notable descarga collections Pacheco His Flute And Latin Jam (1965) under Johnny Pacheco and Descarga Cubana Vol. 1 (1966) led by Osvaldo ‘Chi Hua Hua’ Martínez—the latter later paired with its follow-up Latin Cuban Session Vol. 2 (c.1967) on the Palladium CD reissue Descarga Cubana (1991). Ten years afterward he joined the landmark sessions Cachao Y Su Descarga ’77 Vol. 1 (1976) and Dos (1977) by descarga originator Israel ‘Cachao’ López.
Signing with Fania Records, Pupi delivered four albums on its Vaya subsidiary between 1975 and 1980, beginning with the acclaimed Pupi Y Su Charanga (1975) that featured Cuban flautist Don Gonzalo Fernández. In 1976 he participated in Fernández’s expansive Super Típica De Estrellas, essentially a gathering of many of New York’s foremost charanga figures at the time. His 1977 joint project with Johnny Pacheco, Los Dos Mosqueteros - The Two Musketeers, revisited his composition ‘Salsa’.
Pupi joined the Fania All Stars, performing with them in the film Live In Africa (1974; released in the UK as Salsa Madness, 1991) and making his UK debut in 1976. He recorded on three Fania All Stars albums issued from 1978 to 1980, among them Habana Jam (1979) captured in his native Cuba, as well as the 1986 twentieth-anniversary packages Live In Africa and Live In Japan 1976. Throughout the latter half of the 1970s he frequently contributed to Larry Harlow’s recordings, including El Judio Maravilloso (1975), Con Mi Viejo Amigo (1976), El Jardinero Del Amor (1976), La Raza Latina (1977, Grammy-nominated) and El Albino Divino (1978). Pupi Pa’ Bailar marked his final leader date in 1980, coinciding with the waning of New York’s 1970s charanga wave. After that point his studio work largely consisted of session playing and arranging for Roberto Torres, Papaíto, Orquesta Sublime, Israel ‘Kantor’ Sardiñas, Rudy Calzado and Orquesta Son Primero.
Pupi’s first album fronting his own group arrived in 1963 with Salsa Nova on Tico Records, marking one of the earliest recorded uses of the word “salsa” in New York. The set boasted an accomplished roster—Chombo on violin, ‘El Latigo’ Hernández on piano, Osvaldo ‘Chi Hua Hua’ Martínez on güiro, Carlos ‘Patato’ Valdez on conga, plus vocalists Totico and Elliot Romero—while Pupi handled violin, chorus vocals and all arrangements under Tito Puente’s musical direction. Moving to Remo Records, he issued six albums on that imprint from the middle through the late 1960s; the standout Latin-jam set Pupi En Venezuela (late 1960s) later resurfaced on the UK Tumi label in 1993 as Pupy Y Su Charanga, augmented by three tracks drawn from the earlier Remo title Pupi: Jala Jala. In a June 1993 Jazz On CD review, DJ Tomek observed that “Superb, long descarga jams of classic folk numbers show how the flute/violin charanga orchestras had progressed from the elegant to the electrifying.” Pupi’s second Remo outing, the mid-1960s Jala Jala Con Boog - A - Loo (also issued as Salsa), contained his original composition ‘Salsa’; another track, the guaracha ‘Cada Quien’, featured a vocalist hailing him as ‘El Rey de la Salsa y la Sabor’.
He appeared on the notable descarga collections Pacheco His Flute And Latin Jam (1965) under Johnny Pacheco and Descarga Cubana Vol. 1 (1966) led by Osvaldo ‘Chi Hua Hua’ Martínez—the latter later paired with its follow-up Latin Cuban Session Vol. 2 (c.1967) on the Palladium CD reissue Descarga Cubana (1991). Ten years afterward he joined the landmark sessions Cachao Y Su Descarga ’77 Vol. 1 (1976) and Dos (1977) by descarga originator Israel ‘Cachao’ López.
Signing with Fania Records, Pupi delivered four albums on its Vaya subsidiary between 1975 and 1980, beginning with the acclaimed Pupi Y Su Charanga (1975) that featured Cuban flautist Don Gonzalo Fernández. In 1976 he participated in Fernández’s expansive Super Típica De Estrellas, essentially a gathering of many of New York’s foremost charanga figures at the time. His 1977 joint project with Johnny Pacheco, Los Dos Mosqueteros - The Two Musketeers, revisited his composition ‘Salsa’.
Pupi joined the Fania All Stars, performing with them in the film Live In Africa (1974; released in the UK as Salsa Madness, 1991) and making his UK debut in 1976. He recorded on three Fania All Stars albums issued from 1978 to 1980, among them Habana Jam (1979) captured in his native Cuba, as well as the 1986 twentieth-anniversary packages Live In Africa and Live In Japan 1976. Throughout the latter half of the 1970s he frequently contributed to Larry Harlow’s recordings, including El Judio Maravilloso (1975), Con Mi Viejo Amigo (1976), El Jardinero Del Amor (1976), La Raza Latina (1977, Grammy-nominated) and El Albino Divino (1978). Pupi Pa’ Bailar marked his final leader date in 1980, coinciding with the waning of New York’s 1970s charanga wave. After that point his studio work largely consisted of session playing and arranging for Roberto Torres, Papaíto, Orquesta Sublime, Israel ‘Kantor’ Sardiñas, Rudy Calzado and Orquesta Son Primero.
Albums
Los Dos Mosqueteros
2019
Perlas Cubanas: Pupi Legarreta y Su Charanga
2016
Pupi pa' Bailar
1995
El Fugitivo
1979
Singles
