Julio Gutiérrez (January 12, 1918 – December 15, 1990) was a Cuban

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

, pianist, composer and arranger. He was one of the main figures in the music scene of

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

in the 1940s and 1950s, and a pioneer of the

descarga A descarga (literally ''discharge'' in Spanish) is an improvised jam session consisting of variations on Cuban music themes, primarily son montuno, but also guajira, bolero, guaracha and rumba. The genre is strongly influenced by jazz and it was ...

(Cuban

jam session A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without exte ...

).Julio Gutiérrez
''EcuRed''. As a songwriter, he is remembered for his 1944 bolero " Inolvidable", which has been performed by numerous artists.

Biography

Born in Manzanillo (in the current

Granma Province Granma is one of the provinces of Cuba. Its capital is Bayamo. Other towns include Manzanillo (a port on the Gulf of Guacanayabo) and Pilón. History The province takes its name from the yacht '' Granma'', used by Che Guevara and Fidel Castr ...

) on January 12, 1918, Julio Gutiérrez learned to play the violin and to sing at a very young age. He was six years old when he learned the piano, and fourteen when he founded a local band and became its director.Dalmace, Patrick
Julio Gutiérrez
''Montuno Cubano''. In 1940,

Orquesta Casino de la Playa Orquesta Casino de la Playa, founded in 1937 in Havana, Cuba, was a band that bridged Cuban popular music and the sound of American Jazz Big Bands. It was led by tres player Arsenio Rodríguez, and launched the career of many important musicians in ...

was touring the east of Cuba and

Miguelito Valdés Miguelito Valdés (September 6, 1912 – November 9, 1978), also known as Mr. Babalú, was a renowned Cuban singer. His performances were characterized by a strong voice and a particular sense of ''cubanismo''. Life Miguelito Valdés was born ...

suggested him to go to Havana where he could thrive as a musician. Months later he moved to the capital, where he became the pianist of Casino de la Playa and composed several hit songs such as the bolero " Inolvidable". In 1948, he formed his own big band with which he toured Latin America and Spain. This group which was

RHC-Cadena Azul Radio Habana Cuba-Cadena Azul (lit. "''Radio Havana Cuba-Blue Network''") was a Cuban radio network operating in various forms from 1939 until 1954. It was a heated rival of radio network CMQ (Cuba), CMQ. History Origins RHC was created in 1939 by ...

's resident band, included prominent musicians such as Alejandro "El Negro" Vivar, Edilberto Escrich, Nilo Argudín, Emilio Peñalver, Rogelio Darias, and Óscar Valdés Sr. After returning to Cuba from his long tour in 1950, Gutiérrez began composing ''bolero-mambos'' and cha-cha-chas. He was appointed musical director of the Channel 4 television, and he accompanied vocal acts such as

Rita Montaner Rita Aurelia Fulcida Montaner y Facenda (20 August 1900 – 17 April 1958), known as Rita Montaner, was a Cuban singer, pianist and actress. In Cuban parlance, she was a '' vedette'' (a star), and was well known in Mexico City, Paris, Miami and ...

Rosita Fornés Rosita Fornés (née Rosalía Lourdes Elisa Palet Bonavia; February 11, 1923June 10, 2020) was a Cuban-American singer and film actress. She was noted for her multifaceted career in the entertainment industry of Cuba. She worked in cinema, the t ...

, Lucy Fabery, Olga Rivero, Cuarteto Faxas, Dúo Cabrisas-Farach and

Omara Portuondo Omara Portuondo Peláez (born 29 October 1930) is a Cuban singer and dancer. A founding member of the popular vocal group Cuarteto d'Aida, Portuondo has collaborated with many important Cuban musicians during her long career, including Julio Gu ...

. In 1956,

Panart Panart was one of the first and most successful independent record labels in Cuba, founded in 1944 by engineer Ramón Sabat. In 1961, its studios were seized by Fidel Castro's communist regime and the label was nationalized, becoming "Panart Nacio ...

commissioned him the recording of a "descarga", a

of Cuban popular music. Despite being conceived as a very commercial project, Panart's ''Cuban Jam Sessions'' under the direction of Julio Gutiérrez, featuring

Peruchín Pedro Nolasco Jústiz Rodríguez, better known as Peruchín (January 31, 1913 – December 24, 1977), was a Cuban pianist specializing in jazz-influenced Cuban popular music. He was an important figure in the 1950s descarga (jam session) scene in ...

on piano and other well-known Cuban musicians, have received widespread critical acclaim. Following his success, artists such as

Chico O'Farrill Arturo "Chico" O'Farrill (October 28, 1921 – June 27, 2001) was a Cuban composer, arranger, and conductor, best known for his work in the Latin idiom, specifically Afro-Cuban jazz or "Cubop", although he also composed traditional jazz pieces a ...

Cachao Israel López Valdés (September 14, 1918 – March 22, 2008), better known as Cachao ( ), was a Cuban double bassist and composer. Cachao is widely known as the co-creator of the mambo and a master of the descarga (improvised jam sessions). T ...

and Niño Rivera recorded their own descargas. In 1960, Julio Gutiérrez fled to México and shortly after he moved to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, where he recorded a few LPs for labels such as Sirena and Montilla as a leader; he also backed singer

Blanca Rosa Gil Blanca Rosa Gil (born August 26, 1937 in Matanzas Perico, Cuba) is a famous Cuban Latin Bolero singer known as 'The Singing Dolly'. Singing career Blanca Rosa Gil's first album 'Shadows' was recorded in Venezuela in 1957. In the 1950s, 1960's an ...

. He then spent over 20 years 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 ...

, recording numerous sessions as a leader, orchestral director and/or pianist. He also founded his own label, J&G. He traveled several times to

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, where he played in hotels and nightclubs. He died in New York on December 15, 1990. Gutiérrez was posthumously inducted into the

International Latin Music Hall of Fame The International Latin Music Hall of Fame (ILMHF) was an annual event established in 1999 and held in New York City to honor artists who have largely contributed to the Latin music (genre), Latin music genre. In addition to the induction into th ...

in 2000.

Discography

*1956: ''Este es el ritmo del cha cha chá'' (Panart) - with Cuarteto Faxas *1956: ''Cha Cha Cha for Moderns (Fiesta del cha cha cha)'' (Panart; reissued as ''This Is The Rhythm'') - with Cuarteto Faxas *1956: ''Serenata en cha cha chá'' (Panart) - with Cuarteto Faxas *1956: ''Cuban Jam Session Vol. 1'' (Panart) *1957: ''Cuban Jam Session Vol. 2'' (Panart) *1957: ''Luna de miel en Venecia'' (Panart) - with Pino Baratti *1959: ''Así es La Habana!'' (Panart) *1960: ''Una noche inolvidable'' (Panart) *1964: ''Julio Gutiérrez Play the Exciting Sound of Havana B.C.'' (Sirena) *1965: ''Get to Know Mr. J.G.'' (Montilla) *1968: ''Instrumentales para ti'' (Gema) *1970: ''Progressive Latin'' (Gema) *1971: ''Julio Gutiérrez and Los Guajiros'' (Gema) *1978: ''Close Encounters of the Latin Kind'' (Neon) *1982: ''Viva América Latina'' (Toboga)

References

External links

Julio Gutiérrez
''Rate Your Music''.
Julio Gutiérrez
''Discogs''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gutierrez, Julio 1918 births 1990 deaths Cuban composers Male composers Cuban pianists Music directors Cuban emigrants to the United States 20th-century pianists 20th-century composers Male organists 20th-century male musicians Cuban male musicians