JUAN AZARIAS PACHECO KNIPPING aka JOHNNY PACHECO â R.I.P
LATIN MUSIC LEGEND and FOUNDER OF FANIA RECORDS
March 25, 1935 â February 15, 2021Â
Juan AzarĂas Pacheco Knipping known as Johnny Pacheco died on Monday, February 15, 2021 at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey at the age of 85 from complications stemming from pneumonia. Johnny Pacheco was a Dominican musician, arranger, composer, bandleader, and record producer. He became one of the leading exponents of a new dance in the late 1950s called the pachanga, a blend of Cuban rhythms and merengue, which propelled him to worldwide notoriety, and had an important role in the evolution of for decades.
EARLY MUSIC CAREER
Juan AzarĂas Pacheco Knipping was born on 25 March 1935 in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. He inherited his passion for music from his father, Rafael AzarĂas Pacheco, who was the bandleader and clarinetist of the Orquesta Santa Cecilia, one of the leading Dominican big bands of the 1930s, famous for being the first to record Luis Albertiâs merengue âCompadre Pedro Juanâ. Rafael was the grandson of a Spanish soldier who arrived during the Spanish reannexation of Santo Domingo. His mother, Octavia Knipping Rochet, was the granddaughter of a French colonist, and the great-granddaughter of a German merchant who was married to a Dominican woman born to Spanish colonists.
In 1946, when Pacheco was 11, his family moved to New York City. He continued polishing his musical skills, learning to play accordion, violin, flute, saxophone and clarinet. He also graduated in electrical engineering at Brooklyn Technical High School in the 1950s, but he quit his job as an engineer due to the low salary. He studied percussion at the Julliard School.
In 1953, Pacheco played percussion and sang with Gil SuĂĄrezâs band and, in 1954, he formed The Chuchulecos Boys with Eddie Palmieri on piano, Barry Rogers on trombone and other future figures of renown in the New York salsa scene: Al Santiago, Mike Collazo and Ray Santos. They played at weddings and other social events. He later played percussion for several bands, including late-night shows, Lou PĂ©rezâs band The Mambaleros, and the popular orchestras of Tito Puente, Xavier Cugat and Dioris Valladares.
LA DUBONEY
In October 1958, Pacheco met pianist Charlie Palmieri and he joined him to record the Latin jazz album Easy Does It, released by Gone Records. Pacheco played congas and bongos. Palmieri and Pacheco then formed the charanga La Duboney in 1959, where Pacheco played flute. However, he soon grew dissatisfied with his role in the group; Palmieriâs name was featured on the cover of the LPs but not his, despite his role as lead arranger and co-director. Moreover, Palmieriâs style was more sophisticated and less marketable, while Pacheco favored simpler son-based arrangements. After only one LP, Letâs Dance the Charanga, Pacheco left La Duboney to form his own charanga in 1960.
Pacheco y su Charanga
Pachecoâs first recordings as a leader were the songs âEl gĂŒiro de Macorinaâ and âĂyeme mulataâ, recorded as a promotional single which enjoyed significant airplay in New York thanks to DJ Rafael Font. This led to Al Santiago, owner of Alegre Records, offering Pacheco a record deal. His first album on the label, Pacheco y su Charanga, sold 100,000 copies within the first year of its release. Pachecoâs success was the result of a new dance fad, the pachanga, a fast-paced mix of merengue and cha-cha-cha created by Eduardo Davidson in 1959 and popularized by JosĂ© Fajardoâs charanga in Cuba.
The pachanga had reached New York in the summer of 1960 and Pacheco became its leading exponent. He became an internationally renowned star and toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. His charanga was the first Latin band to headline the Apollo Theater in New York City in 1962 and 1963.Between 1960 and 1963, Pacheco recorded four more albums for Alegre Records (Vols IIâV), as well as the 1961 jam session Alegre All-Stars which he co-directed with Charlie Palmieri, and several tracks for the collaborative album Las charangas. Al Santiagoâs financial troubles led to Pachecoâs exit from the label.
    Johnny Pacheco with Charlie Palmieri
In late 1963, Pacheco met Jerry Masucci, a lawyer, and soon they co-founded Fania Records. Pacheco was the VP, A&R creative director and musical producer of the new label. At Fania, Pacheco launched and solidified the careers of many popular salsa artists. He named the label after the song âFanĂaâ by Reinaldo Bolaños, made famous by  in Cuba in 1960.
           Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci
Pacheco reorganized his charanga and transformed it into a conjunto by adding trumpets instead of violins. His first album with his new band, Pacheco y su Nuevo Tumbao, was Cañonazo, the first release on Fania Records. Featuring Pete âEl Condeâ RodrĂguez on vocals, the album was the first of many recordings by the âcompadresâ (literally, âgodfathersâ), as Pacheco and El Conde were later known. Except for the closing song on the album âDakar, punto finalâ, all the songs were covers, including the aforementioned âFanĂaâ, the title track and âEl kikirikĂâ by Evaristo Aparicio, Eduardo Anguloâs âCabio sile yeyeoâ, Cheo Marquettiâs âPinareñoâ and Walfrido Guevaraâs âLabrando la tierraâ, all by popular Cuban artists of the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1965, Pacheco recorded three albums, two of which featured Monguito el Ănico as lead vocalist, Pacheco at the N.Y. Worldâs Fair and Pacheco te invita a bailar, and a third album consisting of instrumental descargas (jam sessions), Pacheco, His Flute and Latin Jam. In 1966, Pacheco worked with Monguito and Chivirico DĂĄvila to record another album, Viva Ăfrica, named after the fact that Pacheco had recently toured the continent. He then reverted to the charanga format for one album, aptly titled Pacheco y su Charanga: By Popular Demand.
In 1967, he recorded Sabor Tipico with Pete âEl Condeâ and Pacheco Presents Monguito, the debut album of Monguito el Ănico as lead artist. In 1968, he recorded the instrumental album Latin Piper and Volando bajito with El Conde on lead vocals. Pacheco and El Conde then recorded three collaborative albums: Los Compadres (1970), Perfecta CombinaciĂłn (1971) and Tres de cafĂ© y dos de azĂșcar (1973), as well as five reunion albums between 1980 and 1989.
Fania All-Stars
As the founder and musical director of Fania Records, Pacheco became a leading figure in the New York Salsa scene in the 1960s and 1970s. He popularized the use of the term âsalsaâ and established the Fania All-Stars to showcase the leading artists of the genre. Having recorded Cuban-style jam sessions with both the Alegre All-Stars (1961) and the Tico All-Stars (Live at the Village Gate, 1966), Pacheco decided to record a live album to showcase the Fania roster of salsa musicians. The resulting album Live at the Red Garter (1968) was a success and has been described as an âexcellent and promising start for the supergroupâ. Among the stars featured in the concert were pianist Larry Harlow, bassist Bobby ValentĂn and conguero . The lineup of the group varied over the years, and by the time of their second show, Live at the Cheetah (1971), many members had changed.
Pacheco y su Tumbao Añejo
In 1974, Pacheco replaced El Conde (who went on a successful solo career) with HĂ©ctor Casanova and renamed his band Pacheco y su Tumbao Añejo (âPacheco and his old tumbaoâ, as opposed to his previous band âthe new tumbaoâ). They released El Maestro in 1975 and El Artista in 1977. However, Pachecoâs focus during the 1970s, apart from the All-Stars, was a series of collaborative albums between members of the label, including himself. He collaborated with Celia Cruz, Justo Betancourt, Papo Lucca, Pupi Legarreta, Luis âMelĂłnâ Silva, Celio GonzĂĄlez and JosĂ© Fajardo, among others  With HĂ©ctor Casanova he released another album, Los amigos, in 1979. After his various reunion albums with El Conde, including the Nuevo Tumbao 25th anniversary album Celebration, Pacheco released ¥Sima! in 1993, his last studio album.
Pacheco recorded and composed over 150 songs. Among them are âMi Genteâ, âLa Dicha Miaâ, âQuĂtate TĂșâ (Paâ Ponerme Yo), âAcuyuye,â âEl Rey de la Puntualidad,â Tito Puenteâs âEl NĂșmero Cien,â and Celia Cruzâs Celia y Tito. Pacheco has also been an inspiration to the younger generations. For example, rap artist Mangu asked him to write arrangements, sing chorus, and play the flute in his album entitled Calle Luna y Calle Sol. Pacheco also produced music for feature films; he was the musical director of the film, Our Latin Thing, the first film about salsa and its influence on New York Latinos; he worked on a second film entitled Salsa released in 1974. In the 1980s, he wrote the musical scores and themes for the films Mondo New York and Something Wild. The latter was a collaboration with David Byrne, the lead singer of the group  Heads. Several tracks that he arranged, produced, and/or performed were on the soundtrack of the 1992 Warner Brothers film, The Mambo Kings and  âCarlitoâs Wayâ 1993
Pacheco participated in the AIDS benefit concert âConcierto Por La Vidaâ in November 1988 at New York Cityâs Avery Fisher Hall. He demonstrated his solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Georges (Zhorzh) by collaborating with the Hispanic Federation Relief Fund during âHurricane Georges Relief Fund 1998â. Pacheco also established the Johnny Pacheco Scholarship Fund in 1994, a scholarship fund for students in the United States.
Awards and recognition
Pacheco earned nine Grammy nominations and ten gold records. His contributions to Latin Music have been recognized throughout his career. The following are among the awards that have been bestowed upon him:
In 1996, the then President of the Dominican Republic, , bestowed him with the prestigious Presidential Medal of Honor. A year later, Pacheco was the recipient of the Bobby CapĂł Lifetime Achievement Award, awarded by New York Governor George Pataki. In addition, Pacheco was presented with the First International Dominican Artist Award from the distinguished Casandra Awards. In June 1996, Johnny Pacheco was the first Latin music producer to receive the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, (NARAS) Governorâs Award in New York City.
In 1998, Pacheco was inducted to [International Latin Music Hall of Fame] (ILMHF) during the first Induction and Award of the ILMHF. The ILMHF awarded him The Lifetime Achievement Award, in 2002.
In 2004, Pacheco was awarded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, ASCAP Silver Pen Award. On 5 June 2005, Pacheco was honored by  with a star on the Walk of Fame at Union Cityâs Park. In 2005, the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences awarded Johnny Pacheco with its Lifetime Achievement Award at that years Latin Grammys.Â
On 24 March 2009, Pacheco was awarded âEl Soberanoâ, the highest distinction given by the Association of Art Columnists of the Dominican Republic. In August 2020, Johnny Pachecoâs composition âCelia y Titoâ by Tito Puente and Celia Cruz was featured in the 4th season finale of the NBC TV network program âWorld of Danceâ which is produced and judged by international film and recording star Jennifer Lopez.
