INTERVIEW SHO's Oscar Hernandez (The Latin Jazz Corner)

Thursday April 08, 2010

from The Latin Jazz Corner

Pianist Oscar Hernandez started the road towards becoming one of the most distinctive voices in Latin dance music and jazz early in the his life and kept evolving through many different experiences. As a child in the Bronx, he showed an early aptitude for musical performance, and moved through a variety of different instruments. Access to a family piano eventually steered him towards a focus, and the existence of an active set of musical peers helped instigate his development. Hernandez jumped into professional performance while still a teen and found himself in the midst of the booming Fania era of Latin dance music. His piano skills served him well, and before he hit twenty years old, Hernandez became a busy professional on the New York scene. He always maintained an open mind for new experiences though, and soon found like-minded musicians in Andy and Jerry Gonzalez. The brothers introduced Hernandez to a world of important music, ranging from early Cuban recordings to the whole spectrum of jazz approaches. Their shared appreciation of these different genres led to Hernandez’s involvement in two important Gonzalez anchored groups: Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquiño and Libre. Still at a young age, Hernandez left an unforgettable impact upon the Latin music world through recordings with these groups. His strong skills grabbed the attention of one of the salsa world’s biggest stars, conguero Ray Barretto, who recruited Hernandez for his band. The pianist proved to be an important piece of Barretto’s group, helping in the recording of some classic albums, including Rican/Struction. All these experiences served as the building blocks for an important career that had only just begun.

As Hernandez developed into an influential musical figure and an insightful bandleader, he made major contributions to the world of Latin dance music and jazz. These early experiences not only helped shaped Hernandez, but they influenced the continual evolution of Latin music. In the first piece of our two-part interview with pianist Oscar Hernandez, we discuss his early musical development, his involvement with the Gonzalez brothers, and his time in Ray Barretto’s band.

Read the entire interview here

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