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Chino Rodriguez (b February 2, 1954 - d November 5, 2022) is an American musician and impresario specializing in
Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...
,
salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...
and
Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, whic ...
.


Biography

Chino was born James Mui in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on February 2, 1954, in the
Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...
/
Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...
area of Manhattan to a Chinese father (Chueng Mui), who obtained U.S. citizenship by joining the Merchant Marines during World War II and a third generation Puerto Rican mother (Gloria Figueroa Rodriguez).


Early music career

Chino took music at Junior High School 65 on the
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...
of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. By his late teens, he had met Orchestra Dee Jay in Brooklyn, who soon allowed him into the fold as a band boy, then later as an occasional coro (chorus) singer. He formed his first band on the Lower East Side, simply called Chino Rodriguez and his Orchestra in 1968-69, playing at weddings, birthdays, and private parties. Through the local musician's union, American Federation of Musicians 802, he found work playing music for the New York City Department of Parks arts program, from 1970-74.


Recording career

Chino recorded two albums for Ismael Maisonave's label, Salsa Records: ''Maestro De Kung-Fu'', produced by Andy Harlow, and ''Si Te Vas Mi China'', produced by Larry Harlow. ''Maestro de Kung-Fu'' contained "La Computadora", the first Latin recording using a MOOG synthesizer, played by Larry Harlow. Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez played on "Moonlight Serenade." Chino Rodriguez y La Consagracion was nominated for ''Latin New York Magazines award for Best New Band.Izzy Sanabria, ''Latin NY'', May 1975 Chino's second album, ''Si Te Vas Mi China'', was recorded in 1976 after a year's worth of daily rehearsals. It produced two hits upon its release in 1977 and, like his debut album, achieved gold status.


Latin music impresario

Chino began working part-time at Fania Records as a teenager after FANIA was about to purchase Salsa Records the Record Label Chino Rodriguez recorded on and started helping with the booking of the Fania All-Stars. Then Chino moved on to working as an independent booking agent representing many of the Fania artists such as Larry Harlow, Ismael Miranda, Junior Gonzalez, Bobby Valentine and many other Fania Greats. Chino returned to working full-time in the business side of the music industry in 1991, becoming Senior Vice President and General Manager of the newly formed Hidden Faces Records. After organizing business operations for Hidden Faces he opened his own artist management company, Chino Rodriguez Management (C.R.M.), and booking agency, OMNI Latino Entertainment (OLE), He opened his offices in
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. In 2011, Rodriguez represented Latin hip hop artists
Proyecto Uno Proyecto Uno (in English: Project One) is a Dominican-American hip hop/Merengue house group which helped popularize a style of music which blends Merengue music, merengue with techno, dancehall, reggae and hip-hop/rap music. The band was founde ...
, bachata artist
Domenic Marte Domenic Marte (also known as Domenic M and D. Marte) is an American singer. In 2004, he released his debut album titled ''Intimamente'' (''Intimately''). Its lead single "Ven Tú" ("Come") peaked at #9 on the ''Billboard'' Tropical Chart; his duet ...
, and
reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American Hip hop m ...
duo Edgardo y D'niel, and bachata artist Alfred Martinez, Chino is presently working with many Reggaeton artist and young Rap Artist and is living in Florida.


Discography

*''Maestro De Kung-Fu'', SALSA Records, 1976. Re-released on CD 2004 by Mary Lou/SALSA Records. *''Si Te Vas Mi China'', SALSA Records, 1977. Re-released on CD 2004 by Mary Lou/SALSA Records.


References


Sources

*Flores, Juan. ''From Bomba to Hip Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity''. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000; *Leymarie, Isabelle. ''Cuban Fire: The Story of Salsa and Latin Jazz''. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002; *Washburne, Christopher. ''Sounding Salsa: Performing Latin Music in New York City''. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008;


External links


Review and samples of ''Maestro de Kung-Fu''

Music of Puerto Rico

Andy Harlow interview for ''Descarga''

''Latin Music USA'' PBS documentary

Chino Rodriguez's Personal Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Chino Musicians from New York City American music industry executives Music promoters Living people People from Chinatown, Manhattan Salsa musicians 1954 births American musicians of Puerto Rican descent American musicians of Chinese descent Businesspeople from New York City