In the rough but quaint Humboldt Park of the early '90s, a 26-year-old park district music teacher assembled the skeleton of a band. The trombonist had harbored the dream since the age of 12, when being a musician meant begging his cousin to teach him a few basic notes.
Sick of years of playing for other musicians in other bands, most notably a hellishly monotonous gig on a cruise ship, this project was his way out. He snagged a hotshot singer who was in town, lined up a tropical Latin percussionist and took care of management by hiring a childhood friend.
Things were going looking up...until the band caught its first flash of success, was scooped up by a local label and decided they didn't need a 'bone player anymore and cut him loose.
Angel Meléndez, now 42, swears he holds no grudges. "Once I got over feeling vengeful and angry, my life turned out to be pretty good." The composer, arranger, instructor and now "greatest trombone player on earth," he quips, is the leader of not one, but five bands these days, chiefly his 21-piece 911 Mambo Orchestra.
"On September 10 [1990], during a deep six-month depression, I was watching a big-band on TV—the Mambo Kings. And I said, 'That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get a big band and blow [my ex-band] out of the water.' So September 11 was my project for the day...my emergency project," says Meléndez of his dark days.
His project, with its colossal brass sections and sweaty island rhythms, has garnered him plenty of success in the Latin, salsa and mambo world. It's played for crowds of 10,000 at Millennium Park, the among most the venue's ever scene. Chicago Magazine named him "Chicagoan of the Year" for "helping shape Chicago's Latin music scene." Richard Daley even designated August 27 "Angel Melendez & The 911 Mambo Orchestra Day" at the 17th annual Viva Chicago Latin music festival. But the most coveted of the artist's accolades is the band's 2005 Grammy nod for its self-titled debut studio album.
But the only reason the band became what it did is because of that cut-him-loose manager. Angel confides, "The same guy that backstabbed me with my band, when I decided to make my own big band, he apologized… and he goes, 'This is what you should do. You should get Jon…I could get him for you for a minimum price.'" Meléndez linked up with the king of Latin production and engineering, 16-Grammy-award winner Jon Fausty.
And what began as a promotional tool to get the 911 Mambo Orchestra more gigs, turned into wave of success and recognition that they're still riding. The album, recorded live at the Chicago Recording Company, captures the essence of the massive orchestra: 21 musicians feeding off horn-driven salsa, cha-cha and calf-clenching merengue beats. But it was just a demo, claims Meléndez. Grammy nomination? "You gotta be kidding."
Though the band didn't come home with a win, it did capture an invaluable level of pride and attention from the national spotlight—"The mambo kings of the Midwest," industry buffs would claim. And now that he's had a taste Grammy gold, "I might strike out four or five times," says Angel, "but eventually I'll get it, man."
Besides headlining this year's Folk and Roots Festival in Welles Park, Meléndez and his 911 Mambo Orchestra have begun production on a second album, Él Que Ríe Último, Ríe Mejor (he who laughs last, laughs best). Again, no grudges, but certainly a little gloating, "Everybody like those guys that burned me, you know, they got their album, they traveled and they thought they were the shish kebob. Now, the dude [singer] is washing dishes somewhere."
In the beginning:
We played a show for the Las Vegas Bureau of Tourism back in '91 or '92 at Park West to get Chicagoans to go to Vegas or something. They had us all dress up in a '50s Cuba night kind of thing. We had a bald sax player. They decided to paint hair on him, but when we were playing the lights were really hot and all of the sudden I look to the side and the paint was running down his face. But that was our real first gig, and that's when I first saw the potential for the band.
After a gig we:
I usually hit the bar. I try not to drink while we're working, but afterwards I like to have a beer and relax. Then I get in my car and I won't listen to anything loud. I'll put on some soft Miles or something.
What's cool in your next of the woods:
There's this BYOB Mexican place in Pilsen—Nuevo Leon. The food is just delicious.
This band blew my hair back:
Willie Colón's, Lo Mato. That's what turned me on to Latin music; that's who I wanted to imitate. I really love the way he sang.
Here I am, rock you like a:
Hurricane with talent—we can play real soft, pretty and romantic. And then when it's time to be ballsy, we can blow your coconuts away with 13 horns blasting double fortes.
I get live at:
Lately we've been playing at the Green Dolphin Street every other Friday. Great salsa crowd; always packed. But it's not the big band; it's usually my 12-piece.
Fresh from the woodshop:
Working on the new album, Él Que Ríe Último, Ríe Mejor so we can actually win the Grammy this time.
Coming soon to a stage near you:
Sunday's headliner on the main stage of the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival (July 8-9). Then Chicago Summerdance Festival on August 5.
