Latin Lover

Aaron Levinson cha-chas his way from Philly to the world

by a.d. amorosi

It's no fun talking to someone who's in sunny Puerto Rico if you're stuck in Philly and it's below freezing. When local Latin music aficionado Aaron Levinson phones me from the sandy island—all 85 degrees of it—he's taking a break from negotiating with modern salsa band Plena Libre. He's about to sign them to RykoLatino, his contemporary Latin music label which is a subsidiary of Rykodisc.

I work on a black metal desk and have a dog panting at me all day. Levinson is "working" on a Caribbean island surrounded by "nothing but incredibly beautiful, half-naked, nubile women lounging around on the beach."

I hate him.

But my hate for the 34-year-old label magnate is not new. Though lately he's been known as the DJ/promoter behind soirees at The Five Spot, Gothum and the old Milkbar, he's been living an envious musical life for some time now. For starters, he grew up in Germantown in the shadow of Sun Ra's Arkestra, seeing (and playing trumpet with) '70s Arkestra members Ra, June Tyson and John Gilmore on a daily basis as well as hanging with the avant-garde god at Elaine's (also known as The Red Carpet) on Baynton Avenue.

"Ra used to play there several nights a week for free. Usually, the band outnumbered the audience by a factor of two or three." Rather than studying for school, Levinson boogied with Ra and other Germantown jazz cats such as Byard Lancaster, Rufus Harley and Monette Sudler. That led him to a non-jazz gig at Temple's radio station WRTI covering City Council meetings.

"Whenever John Street and his brother would start fighting," Levinson laughs, "we'd lose microphone to studio contact, so I'd get to announce the DJ playing Horace Silver instead." While all this was happening he began hanging at jazz boîtes such as Arch Street's Just Jazz, Grendel's Lair, Bacchanal, Painted Bride and the original Long March Coffee House.

Levinson's interest in Latin culture began with his childhood idol, Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente. (Having spent my youth at first-base with the goofy nickname "Poncho Herrera"—after the Phillies' whizz kid- I can relate.) In the early '80s, when he was living in New York, Latin music came into his life. His time there was laced with the sounds of a Puerto Rico transplanted.

"I heard salsa music from morning till night, living on 122nd and Amsterdam. It was so insistent, so relentless. It drove me nuts." The music infiltrated his brain and soul like an infection. One glorious spring morning on his way to the bodega to pick up a six-pack Levinson had an epiphany: "I heard this fucking funky record by Louis Poreco Ortiz. I met members of Ruben Blades' band. I got turned onto other Latin music like merengue. It was incredible music with beautiful singers and poetic, political lyrics. There was something fetching about the sweet sonority of Puerto Rican voices."

Angry young men with angelic voices appealed to Levinson's political and emotional sentiments. He continues to search for that blend, which he's found in Plena Libre and Nuyorican Jimmy Bosch (musical director for salsa sensation Mark Anthony). This is salsa music that addresses race, identity, history and sexuality with humor and sadness.

After returning to Philly in '85, Levinson formed the funky Gutbucket as a joyous reaction to West Philly hip-hop and later played as a part of Silk City's house band until '95. During that time, he began spinning salsa at Silk City and Milkbar and booking the "stick to your ribs"-type music he learned to love in New York.

"The non-Latin crowds loved the 'golden age' '60s stuff like Eddie Palmieri that I played. But the Puerto Ricans pulled my coattails and made me feel like a grandpa, a moldy oldie playing Tito Puente records from the Catskills."

The reason: Levinson was not yet hip to contemporary Latin music like Orchestra Libre and the lively sounds coming from Philly's Felton Supper Club and AMLA. He brought that fervor for the new Latin wave to the Milkbar and eventually his steaming hot Five Spot nights featuring Caesar and his Latin Playboys.

"And these people made me realize that they—Anglos, Latinos, et al—were responding to salsa's musicality," says Levinson. "You can't be a hack and play salsa. And these people appreciate that." The RykoLatino label came to be under the auspice of local music lawyer Brad Reubens. Like Levinson he's also a salsa enthusiast and he offered to co-author a proposal for a Latin music label.

"Brad figured we could at least enjoy the music we're attempting to make a business out of, that stick-to-your-ribs stuff." They went with Ryko because of the Salem, MA, label's reputation for bringing international music to a wider audience.

"They have a great concept," says Levinson of Ryko. RykoLatino's first wave of contemporary Latino CDs out this week is magical: the throbbing, eponymous debut from Tambo featuring Johnny Almendra and Louis Bauzo, the rickety whirlwind of Bongo Logic's Tipiqueros and Son De La Loma's Regalo Del Ciego-Blindman's Gift.

"Our imperative is to take this wondrous music to non-Latino masses and educate them about the differences in the culture. When people go into HMV or Tower [and ask about Latin music], the staff rarely knows what they're talking about. The Gipsy Kings are lumped next to Spanish Monks. There's no organization."

While RykoLatino's Web page offers to help the inquisitive listener (www.Rykodisc.com), the label magnate is looking to help himself: "When I see these sexy young women approaching the DJ booth with smiles on their face I know I'm doing something right."

I hate Aaron Levinson.

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