talcito

I was not referring to Victor Paz.....I was referring to another great player from that era named Hector 'Bomberito" Zarzuela. Both these guys did a large amount of the "latin" work back in the 60's,70's , and 80's.

I never had the chance to play with Paz but have played with many of his students. They all tend to share common characteristics......a compact sound, very efficient players, great time.

Paz was a difficult teacher.....one of my friends once asked to take lessons with him. He told him "No problem, be at my place at 530AM"! Upon arriving at the lesson, he noticed there was so much spit under Paz's trumpet that he must have already been practicing for an hour himself. Shortly after that, he took him to the window and showed him the taxis passing by and says "Son, the way you play now, you will never make as much money as those guys driving the yellow cars.....If you don't dedicate yourself I suggest you drive a cab instead".

If you want to hear a beautifully resonant sound check out the movie "Mambo Kings" where he does all the solo work for actor Antonio Banderas......he also plays lead on many of the big band tunes in that movie.
Playing latin lead, is really what the guys in NYC remember him most for(oh yes, and the show Cats).