Rafael MUNOZ

Seldom does a music group capture the public's admiration and loyalty for a period as long as the Rafael Muñoz Orchestra has done in Puerto Rico. From the time it was organized in 1934, until the present, the public has continued to buy the band's recordings and attend all activities connected with it.

Rafael Muñoz was born in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico and he was destined to become one of the island's most respected bandleaders. As a young man, he learned to play trumpet, double bass, flute and saxophone. During the early '30s, he was a sideman with several orchestras in San Juan.

On May 12, 1934, when bandleader Don Rivero left for New York, Muñoz was chosen to replace him as the leader of the Escambrón Beach Orchestra. Thereafter, the band was known as the Rafael Muñoz Orchestra. It remained at the Escambrón Beach Club until 1942. Then the orchestra moved to the Normandie Hotel, and later to the Condado Beach Hotel, until it was disbanded in 1944.

The original band that Muñoz inherited from Don Rivero included Rufo Oben and Luis Cardona (violins); José Torres Silva, José María Henríquez and Alfredo Hirsch (saxophones); Jorge López and Arcadio Ruiz (trumpets); trombonist Samuel Rivera; pianist Rafael Petitón Guzmán; drummer Juan Pratts; bassist Rafael Muñoz; and singer Deogracias Vélez.

Muñoz was a perfectionist and always sought to recruit the best musicians available for his band. When the Mario Dumont Band broke up, Muñoz recruited trumpeter Miguelito Miranda, bassist Gonzalo Duchesne, and saxophonists Rafael González Peña, Luis González Peña, and Paquito López Vidal. Noro Morales was a member of the band for a short while. From the Mickey Mouse Orchestra (led by Rubén Berríos), Muñoz hired accordionist/pianist Rafael Elvira and his brother, violinist Pablo Elvira. Other additions to the band were: drummer Tony Sánchez, tenor saxophonist Baltasar Echevarría, trumpeter Juan Torres and bassist Robert Cole. When Deogracias Vélez left the band, Muñoz recruited Félix Castrillón, a singer that would be associated with the group on and off until it broke up.

In 1936, the Rafael Muñoz Orchestra left by steamship for New York to make some recordings for RCA Victor. Once they reached New York, they found that the American Federation of Musicians would not allow them to record. They had to return to Puerto Rico without making any recordings. Most of the band's recordings were made in the studios of radio station WNEL in San Juan. Many of them were recorded using a single microphone and trying to avoid the street noises that reached the studio.

In 1938, a teenage singer named José Luis Moueró joined the band. Eventually, he became the most popular vocalist the orchestra ever had. At the start, the Muñoz Orchestra played the boleros in the Cuban style, at a rapid tempo and frequently with a faster montuno section at the end. However, Muñoz had a dream of playing boleros as a slow, romantic ballad. It wasn't easy for him to persuade his musicians to adopt that rhythmic approach. Neverthe less, the leader was persistent and by 1940, the band was playing boleros the way he wanted. It was an instant success. The dancers and listeners enjoyed the relaxed tempo that allowed them to savor the music and the romantic lyrics crooned by vocalists such as José Luis Moneró. The proper setting was provided by arrangements featuring a melodious string section. That style of music became the trademark of the Rafael Muñoz Orchestra.

Muñoz patterned the orchestra and himself after the famous Paul Whiteman Band. He had a slight resemblance to Whiteman, and like him, he was always dressed in a white dinner jacket. Most of the orchestra's repertoire and musical arrangements were produced by members of the band. The Muñoz bolero titled Espera served as the band's theme song. Rafael González Peña wrote many of the charts and significant contributions were made by Rafael Elvira, Paquito López Vidal, Miguelito Miranda, Luis González Peña, Roberto Cole and Baltasar Echevarría.

In order to drum up business for their dancehall, the management of the Escambrón Beach Club contracted what was considered to be the best Latin American orchestra of its time, Cuba's Casino de la Playa.

Their plan was to stage a battle of the bands between Cuba's best orchestra and Puerto Rico's finest band. On the second week of April 1939, the two bands faced each other in front of an audience of close to 1,000 people. Each orchestra played the best of its repertoire and according to newspaper reports, it ended in a draw. Casino de la Playa clearly won their share with son-afros, congas and guarachas, featuring Miguelito Valdés on vocals.

Muñoz matched them with romantic boleros vocalized by José Luis Moneró. What was expected to be an embittered battle ended up as a cordial, friendly joint performance by two great orchestras. When Casino de la Playa completed its tour of Puerto Rico, the group took some of the best arrangements of the Rafael Muñoz Orchestra, and in turn, left behind some of its top charts.

During the late 1930s and early '40s a rivalry developed between the two leading orchestras in Puerto Rico: Pepito Torres' Orquesta Siboney and the Muñoz orchestra. Each band had its own group of devoted fans. It was much like the competition between baseball fans with each group memorizing the team's lineup and dreading the moment when one of their favorites was traded. So it was between the Siboney and Muñoz fans. The day the news went out that favorite vocalist José Luis Moneró and fabulous trumpeter Miguelito Miranda had switched to the Siboney orchestra was a sad one indeed. Muñoz was left without a lead trumpeter and lead vocalist.

Fortunately, he was able to hire Pete Rivera, whose place was taken by Miguelito Miranda in the Siboney Orchestra. Moneró was replaced by a young singer with a very sweet voice whose name was Víctor Luis Miranda. As luck would have it, the latter was to record the band's all-time bestseller, Olvídame.

The orchestra's discography amounts to a total of 1,440 recordings. Its RCA records sold and continue to sell by the thousands in and outside of Puerto Rico. As mentioned above, the band's biggest seller, Olvídame (Forget Me) was a bolero written by bassist Roberto Cole. As of today, over one million copies of this record have been sold. The band recorded other big hits, such as Mi loca tentación, Ensueño, Matiz de amor, Claro de luna, Pétalos de rosa, Dí corazon, Que sabes tú and Esperanza.

In 1944, when the Muñoz Orchestra was enjoying its highest level of popularity, the bandleader abruptly decided to leave the band and more to New York.* In the Big Apple, Muñoz organized a new Rafael Muñoz Orchestra and was contracted to play at the Bronx Tropicana Ballroom. Again, he recruited the best musicians available, such as saxophonists Leslie López and Annibal Herrero, pianist Charlie Palmieri, drummer Monchito Muñoz and singer Charlie Figueroa. Most reports indicate that Rafael Muñoz returned to Puerto Rico in 1955. Shortly thereafter, he organized still another Rafael Muñoz Orchestra, in which he included his sons, vocalist Raffi Muñoz and drummer Monchito Muñoz. The band remained active until Rafael Muñoz's death on September 2, 1961.

• One late evening in the Spring of 1955, Rafael Muñoz came to visit me at the WHOM studios in New York City during my show "Fiesta Mambo." We chatted on the air for the duration of the three-hour show. During the course of our conversation, he revealed to me the real reasons he had to leave Puerto Rico. He admitted that he had foolishly become involved with a young girl. Her father was furious and sent him several threatening letters. Muñoz didn't pay attention to the warnings and continued to meet with the girl. One early morning, as he returned home from the Hotel Condado, where his band played, he was shot as he left his car. Fortunately, the bullets missed their intended target, but that was enough for Muñoz to hastily pack his belongings and leave for New York. He took with him all the band's musical arrangements. The stunned band members quickly reorganized as a cooperative group. Through the dedicated, hard work of Rafael González Peña, Luis González Peña, Roberto Cole and Rafael Elvira, the repertoire was rewritten.