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20-474: The band was founded by Ernesto Lecuona , whose role was that of a patron-entrepreneur. He did not actually play with the band, but sometimes gave a piano recital before the band played. The core of the band was put together in 1931 as Orquesta Encanto ; the band changed name early in 1934. On tour in Europe, in 1934, Lecuona returned to Cuba, and Armando Oréfiche took charge of the band in Europe. Ernesto gave them

40-564: A Cuban conservatory of music in 1885. During the war, De Blanck was involved with the revolutionaries and was arrested and deported. Peyrellade took over his conservatory and went on to open and operate music schools in Havana and Camagüey as the Carlos Alfredo Peyrellade Conservatories. Peyrellade also wrote several popular songs. He died in Havana in 1908. A number of notable musicians graduated from

60-563: A Cuban mother and a Canarian father. There are inconsistencies surrounding his birthdate, with some sources indicating the year 1895, and others still giving the day as August 6. He started studying piano at the age of five, taught by his sister Ernestina Lecuona , a famed composer in her own right. As a child prodigy, he composed his first song at the age of 11. He later studied at the Peyrellade Conservatoire under Antonio Saavedra and Joaquín Nin . Lecuona graduated from

80-732: A French consul in Puerto Príncipe. Carlos studied music with Nicolás Ruiz Espadero in Cuba, and his father sent him to continue his studies in Paris with Camille Marie Stamaty and Pierre Maleden. He made his debut at the Salle Pleyel Salón Saint Germain and Salón Beethoven with Belgian flautist Delphin Allard, and afterward he conducted a career as a concert pianist in Europe. Peyrellade served as accompanist for

100-748: A collective, but in practice Armando Oréfiche (composer, arranger, pianist) was the leader. Other band members were Ernesto 'Jaruco' Vázquez (trumpeter, guitarist, composer, arranger); Adalberto 'Chiquito' Oréfiche (tenor sax and bongo); Agustin Bruguera (timbales, conga, voice); Gerardo Bruguera (tenor sax and clarinet); Jesús Bertomeu (trombone); Jorge Domínguez (alto sax, clarinet, violin); Daniel González (alto sax, clarinet, violin); Guillermo Hernández (guitar, tumba, guiro, maracas); Enrique López Rivero (trumpet) 1932-34; Alberto Rabagliati (voice) engaged 1934; later Fernando Díaz and Luis Escalante were engaged as replacement trumpeters. In 1947 Bob (Irv) Mesher joined

120-646: A fellow Cuban and Lucille Ball 's spouse. Lecuona's talent for composition has influenced the Latin American world in a way quite similar to George Gershwin in the United States, in his case raising Cuban music to classical status. Ernesto and Ernestina's cousin Margarita Lecuona was another accomplished musician and composer. She was the author of the song " Babalú ", made popular in the Latin American world by Miguelito Valdés , and in

140-526: A split. Armando Oréfiche left with a few members, and started the Havana Cuban Boys ; the rest stayed under the old name, based in New York until 1960. The Lecuona Cuban Boys continued to tour, and finally retired in 1975. "Rhumba Azul" was played at the funeral (1st Oct 1942) of German WWII fighter ace (158 victories) Hans-Joachim Marseille (aged 22) . Marseille "played [it] over and over until

160-592: The Canary Islands he died of a heart attack on November 29, 1963, in the town of Santa Cruz de Tenerife , where he had gone to recuperate from a lung ailment. He was interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne , New York , but his will instructed that his remains be repatriated after the Cuban régime changes. A great deal of Lecuona's music was first introduced to mass American audiences by Desi Arnaz ,

180-605: The 1930s, he helped establish a popular band, the Lecuona Cuban Boys , which showcased some of his most successful pieces and was later taken over by Armando Oréfiche . In the 1950s, Lecuona recorded several LPs, including solo piano albums for RCA Victor . He moved to the United States after the 1959 Cuban Revolution , and died in Spain in 1963. Lecuona was born in Guanabacoa , Havana , Cuba, Kingdom of Spain, to

200-695: The Círculo de la Unión Artística de París and replaced Louis Moreau Gottschalk in New York as professor at the piano academy. In 1865 Peyrellade returned to Puerto Príncipe, where he played a number of concerts that helped pay for the redemption of slaves. He worked from 1866 to 1871 as professor for the Benemérita Popular Santa Cecilia, and eventually settled in Havana. Before the Cuban War of Independence , Dutch pianist Hubert de Blanck located in Havana, and went on to establish

220-551: The National Conservatory of Havana with a gold medal for interpretation when he was 15 years old. He performed outside of Cuba at the Aeolian Hall (New York) in 1916. In 1918, he collaborated with Luis Casas Romero, Moisés Simons, Jaime Prats, Nilo Menéndez and Vicente Lanz in setting up a successful player piano music roll factory in Cuba producing Cuban music and also copies from masters made by QRS in

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240-787: The US. The brand label was "Rollo Autógrafo". He first traveled to Spain in 1924 on a concert tour with violinist Marta de la Torre; his successful piano recitals in 1927 and 1928 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris coincided with a rise in interest in Cuban music. His popularity brought him to concert halls in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Lima in South America, as well as Paris, Nice, Barcelona, Madrid, and London in Europe, followed by more engagements in New York. María la O , Lecuona's zarzuela , premiered in Havana on March 1, 1930. He

260-658: The United States by Desi Arnaz. Carlos Alfredo Peyrellade Conservatory Carlos Alfredo Peyrellade Zaldivar (1840–1908) was a Cuban classical pianist and music educator. He is best known as founder of the Carlos Alfredo Peyrellade Conservatory of music in Havana , Cuba. Peyrellade was born in Puerto Príncipe into a musical family. His brothers Emilio, Eduardo (1846–1830) and Federico were also musicians. His father had been

280-461: The close of day". Ernesto Lecuona Ernesto Lecuona y Casado ( Spanish pronunciation: [eɾˈnesto leˈkwona] ; August 7, 1895 – November 29, 1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as well as pieces for piano and symphonic orchestra. In

300-484: The full range of Cuban popular music, but their speciality was the conga . Though it was perhaps Eliseo Grenet who first composed a conga in its ballroom dance style, it was certainly the LCB who took it round the world and made it famous. The LCB was therefore the first conjunto to use the conga drum regularly in its performances, and not Arsenio Rodríguez , as is often supposed. The band initially organized itself as

320-606: The gift of his name, which, at the time, was a property well worth having, and the right to use a number of his compositions. The LCB was exceptionally strong in arrangements, compositions and instrumental quality (most of them could play two or three instruments). Their only weak spot was the lack of a really first-rate Cuban singer, but that was not so important as might seem because they played so often to non-Latin audiences. Some of their pick-up singers could sing in English, and many of their numbers were instrumentals. The band played

340-512: The group after a brief stint with Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez and Pupi Campo. Irv took over the lead chair when Jaruco Vazquez left the band... The band toured throughout the world: the USA, Latin America and Europe were the main tours. When World War II broke out, the band went to Latin America and continued their touring there. After World War II there was a dispute within the band, which ended in

360-478: The use of his name to the popular touring group, the Lecuona Cuban Boys , though he did not play as a member of the band. He did sometimes play piano solos as the first item on the bill. In 1960, unhappy with Castro's new régime, Lecuona moved to Tampa, Florida and lived on West Orient Street in West Tampa with his relative, singer Esperanza Chediak. Lecuona lived his final years in the US. While traveling in

380-653: Was a prolific composer of songs and music for stage and film. He scored some of the film music for The Cuban Love Song , Always in My Heart , and One More Tomorrow . The entire musical score of the film Carnival in Costa Rica was penned by Lecuona. His works consisted of zarzuela, Afro-Cuban and Cuban rhythms, suites and many songs which are still famous. They include " Siboney " ("Canto Siboney"), " Malagueña " and " The Breeze And I " ("Andalucía"). In 1942, his hit, "Always in my Heart" ("Siempre en mi Corazón")

400-632: Was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song; however, it lost to " White Christmas ". Lecuona was a master of the symphonic form and conducted the Ernesto Lecuona Symphonic Orchestra, employing soloists including Cuban pianist and composer Carmelina Delfín. The Orchestra performed in the Cuban Liberation Day Concert at Carnegie Hall on October 10, 1943. The concert included the world premiere of Lecuona's Black Rhapsody . Lecuona gave help and

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