JOE BATAAN: THE BOOGALOO KID
Joe Bataan: Subway Joe
Joe Bataan: Freedom
From Under the Streetlamps (Fania, 2008)
If folks don't mind a personal plug, I wrote the liner notes for a new anthology chronicling the years Latin soul star Joe Bataan spent with Fania Records: Under the Streetlamps (if anyone's interested, here's an excerpt). For those of you unfamiliar with Bataan, in the late 1960s, he was part of a wave of Latin boogaloo artists to rise out of the New York Latin scene and Bataan quickly became one of the giants in the scene, especially with hits such as "Gypsy Woman" and "It's a Good Feeling (Riot)." Bataan was also an unusual figure in the East Harlem streets where he grew up - he was half-Black/half-Filipino but was able to pass for Puerto Rican. Much of his teen years were consumed by life in local street gangs, culminating in a couple of jail stints that encouraged him to transition into something less risky, i.e. music. As a Latin soul vocalist raised on equal parts Frankie Lymon and Tito Puente, Bataan's was a unique voice in the Latin boogaloo scene. He wasn't a pop crooner in the tradition of Frank Sinatra, instead he brought more of a doo-wop/R&B influence, helping broaden his appeal to not just Latin Americans but African Americans and whites as well.
Under the Streetlamps is the first official Fania anthology that looks at Bataan's impressive catalog on the label (for the interested, be sure to also see Vampisoul's excellent pair of Bataan comps) and they do an impressive job of consolidating songs strewn across over half a dozen albums, into a tight 20 song package that includes a few exclusives (such as the original, unreleased Futura version of "Ordinary Guy"). For the uninitiated, I plucked two - "Subway Joe" was one of his biggest boogaloo hits from 1967 and gives you a sense of his style as both singer and storyteller. "Freedom," from the Poor Boy album of 1970, shows how Bataan as evolved with the times, showcasing his engagement and awareness with the Civil Rights Movement of the times; not a common sight in Latin music of that particular era.
(If you want to listen some more, check out this post back at Soul-Sides.com)
Tags: boogaloo
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