Son Mayor: The Ortiz family - a true family affair
Latin Beat Magazine, Nov, 2004
by Rudy Mangual

Son Mayor: The Ortiz family--A True Family Affair. Led by older brother Eddie Ortiz (vocalist/guitarist/minor percussion) the Los Angeles based salsa band Son Mayor was formed fifteen years ago with the participation of the older four brothers of the Ortiz family--Julian Ortiz (bass), Oscar Ortiz (piano), Alfred "El Niño" Ortiz (congas) and Eddie Ortiz (guitar and lead vocals). Alfred, the youngest of the four older brothers, was the first of the siblings to start playing salsa with local Los Angeles bands as a teen, when he was baptized "El Niño" by his musician friends.

His oldest brother, Eddie, fell in love with salsa only after hearing the music of superstar Oscar D'León. Born in México, his exposure to Antillean music was initially limited to Cuban artists such as Pérez Prado and Orquesta Aragón. It wasn't until his arrival in Los Angeles that he discovered the vast world of tropical dance music. This exposure was very different for his brothers, who were all born north of the U.S.-Mexico border--in California, to be exact.

It was El Niño who first recommended his older brother Eddie to bandleader Rudy Regalado for a vocalist position in his band, about twenty years ago. Regalado was already using El Niño on conga drums, so he gave Eddie his first break as a singer. After about a year, Eddie went on to sing with Susie Hansen's band, with who he stayed for three years. By the late 1980s, Eddie started thinking about starting his own band. He convinced his brothers Julian and Oscar to learn to play the bass and piano, in order to assist him in the project with the help of younger brother El Niño. Within months, the initial nucleus of the band was formed.

With the aid of up-and-coming musicians of that time, such as Tony Rosa (currently with Manny Oquendo & Libre in New York City), Tiki Pasillas (currently with Marc Anthony), plus local veterans Rantoncito Ramos and George Balmaseda, among others, Son Mayor started working around town, spreading its joyful love for salsa. Of course, the task of maintaining a working band came with many problems: Julian is a police officer and his schedule varies from time to time and El Niño was a member of several other bands (including the very popular Bongo Logic). All the brothers were responsible to their own families for support. These factors created numerous scheduling nightmares.

Eventually, the three remaining younger Ortiz brothers also got the itch to play music, and sat in with the older sibling's band from time to time as they polished their skills. The first to join the band, from this second wave of Ortiz talent was Johnny Ortiz, playing conga drums. This allowed El Niño to play the timbal or substitute for him. A few years later, George Ortiz played the bongó, thus completing the rhythm section for the band. At any given time there were as many as six Ortiz brothers performing in Son Mayor, depending on their availability. The seventh brother shared their joy of making music, but embraced the style of rock en Español instead. Currently keeping Eddie company in the band are Oscar on the piano, Johnnie on the congas and El Niño on timbal. George Ortiz, a current member of Poncho Sánchez's band joins his brothers when he is available.

Like its members, the music of Son Mayor has changed and evolved over the years. The group's early efforts were focused on traditional Afro-Cuban and Afro-Caribbean rhythms primarily as a result of the influence of one of the mentors of the band, Cuban percussionist/ singer/bandleader Perico Hernández, who has assisted the group with his expertise since its formation. In recent years, Son Mayor has performed more contemporary styles, such as timba and salsa brava. Currently, the band has settled for a balanced repertoire of old school and new school salsa selections. Son Mayor is a tribute band, playing the music they enjoy from their favorite bands from the world of salsa. This is one of the reasons they have not recorded as of yet. Eddie Ortiz indicated that the band starred as a hobby for him and his brothers and as ah outlet to enjoy playing the music.

"Everyone of us has a day job of a career and the band is our stress relief." The other mentor of the Ortiz brothers is their "paisano," Poncho Sánchez, who featured their talents in one of his recordings from several years ago (Soul of the Conga, Concord Records). After fifteen years of playing tropical music throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Son Mayor has earned the respect and admiration of most of the salseros in the Southland, especially among the younger generation of salsa lovers.

Latin Beat Magazine salutes and congratulates Son Mayor and the entire Ortiz family for their dedication and love to this music.

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