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The Musicians of Puerto Vallarta By Marla Hoover Spring-summer/2000 From classical dinner music to traditional jazz, new age, flamenco, and rhythm & blues, the live-music scene along the shores of Puerto Vallarta is as diverse as its people, culture, and beauty. Musicians from around the world have found their way to our city by the bay to play for our entertainment. With each passing year the musical scene grows to include more artists and cultural events. These are some of the talented people who have played here for many years and have added to the destination's success. Undoubtedly, the most successful musicians to come from Puerto Vallarta are Willie and Lobo. Violinist Willie Royal and guitarist Wolfgang Lobo Fink started playing in PV in 1990 after first meeting seven years earlier in San Miguel de Allende. Soon after uniting, they recorded a set of their music, which sold over 5,000 copies locally. They went on to record several more CD's; the newest one, just released is called Wild Heart. Having moved on to touring internationally, Willie and Lobo return each year to play for their friends and fans in Vallarta. Their distinct sound is described as, a special blend of world-music fusion and a hypnotic brew of gypsy flamenco, hot jazz, Mexicali blues, Cuban swing, Cajun, zydeco, tango, Middle Eastern airs, and Tex-Mex boogie, with an intoxicating dash of salsa. Whew! The longest running musical variety show in Puerto Vallarta is performed by Richard Kaplan, a.k.a. the Mayor of Margaritaville. For 22 years, he and his two macaws have been entertaining audiences in a weekly floorshow at the Playa de Oro resort. Kaplan plays guitar and sings, calling himself a cross between Kenny Loggins, Jimmy Buffett and Willie Nelson. Prior to his Puerto Vallarta show, Kaplan was warm-up in the 1960's for the Johnny Carson Show and has played several times at the Grand Ole Opery. In Puerto Vallarta live dinner music has become not only an integral part of the dining experience but a genre of music in itself. Antonio LeComte, an award-winning pianist, has played his original, new age style compositions in the vein of Yanni and George Winston in Café Des Artistes since 1989. LeComte was nominated by the Theater Journalists Association in Mexico for the best original score of l993 in 'The Chess Player'. He is accompanied by Bob Tansen, a flautist born in Lenox Castle in Glasgow, Scotland and who ironically now plays in one (castle) in Mexico. Tansen has been playing flute, sax, guitar and singing in PV for 13 years. Inspired by Jethro Tull and The Moody Blues, Tansen can also be seen at La Palapa along with Alberto Pérez, who has performed in the beachfront lounge of his restaurant for 14 years. In this romantic setting, he and his trio play easy listening jazz and ballads from such favorites as James Taylor and José Feliciano. Much to his chagrin (and due to the success of La Palapa!) Alberto only has time to perform twice a week. Classical guitarist Rigoberto and flautist, harpist and singer d'Rachel, supported by the entire musicians community, have long been advocates of the need for a local site for performing arts. As music instructors, both with degrees in music education and active in the local music scene for 20 years, it's their hope that someday there will be a concert hall where audiences can enjoy performances of the highly accomplished musicians of Puerto Vallarta beyond the current venues. Owners of Encore Digital Projects Studio, they also play their original classical guitar and flute compositions nightly at Archie's Wok and at Sunday Brunch at Daiquiri Dick's, where d'Rachel also plays harp. When one thinks of jazz in Vallarta, Beverly and Willow come to mind. For the last decade, this duo has been entertaining audiences with their smooth-as-liquid renditions of traditional jazz standards of Gershwin, Cole Porter and others. Beverly has been singing for twenty-five years with her husband Willow, who plays rhythm guitar. They are extremely popular with returning tourists who seek them out while on vacation. They like many other local musicians they support the idea of Puerto Vallarta developing a musical identity, and would like to see it become, 'a sort of Mexican New Orleans.' Their After Dark show is performed nightly at Ibiza's. Interestingly, not only have nearly all the musicians of Puerto Vallarta performed together on stage, all have recordings of their music which is available at each of their performances and many of them are on each other's recordings. Another such recording artist who has made his music for the last two decades in Puerto Vallarta is Ron Doering, director of the Sweet Life Quartet. Ron and his band have performed at La Dolce Vita restaurant for the past seven years. Along with Freddy González on drums, Guillermo Orijel, a wicked bass guitarist from Veracruz and Argentinean, Marcos Petrina, who plays the most delicious, toe-curling sax, Ron plays rhythm guitar and sings a vibrant style of bluesy and traditional jazz standards. Stefano Santini, owner of La Dolce Vita is known to sit in on drums from time to time, much to the delight of the audience. Being a tropical location, Puerto Vallarta is a natural setting for flamenco music. To which, we have some of the best flamenco artists a gypsy soul could ever long for. Latcho and Andrea have been entertaining crowds with their energetic, Latin-influenced, spicy and traditional flamenco music at The River Café and Costa Azul Resort in San Pancho for several seasons. For seven years, a popular place for rhythm & blues has been Club Roxy. José Francisco Pardo, better known as Pico, has put together a solid, tight band that plays a repertoire of tunes from such greats as Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Van Morrison, Bob Marley and Santana. The club's group is called 'Children' and includes two rhythm guitarists, bass guitarists, keyboard player and drummer. Pico, who owns Roxy and plays rhythm guitar, describes his club as a 'an unpretentious place where locals and tourists come to hear good music and dance.' From winter to winter musicians have played here for many years, bringing their particular style to what has become a city with a unique blend of tropical and traditional sounds. Some of our musicians have gone on to national and international fame, others have returned after a brief stint in the lime-light, while still others are yet reaching for the stars. They have become part of the color and charm of the community, sharing their talent with us all.

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