ORQUESTA DEE JAY

many thanks to the latin soul show

Finally after 35 years out of print, for the first time on CD, the swinging orquesta that performed all over New York City including The Village Gate, Hunts Point Palace...La  Orquesta Dee Jay.

Bandleader and founder George De Jesus began a rock band in the mid 1960’s called The Ravens that had a similar style of music much like the Beatles. Latin music especially in the Salsa genre was becoming more popular in the late 60’s. DISCOGRAPHY Orquesta Dee Jay Forget it Year Released: 1971/2007 As a result, in 1968 George started one of the most swingin’ Latin bands with some of the youngest musicians in the Latin Music industry called Orchestra Dee Jay. They had the crowds swingin’ and dancing to their vibrant New York sound. The band performed in all the famous NYC nightclubs including The Cheetah, The Psycho Room and “The Village Gate” which only featured headliners. In addition to their great performances on the New York Club scene, the group also appeared on the Miguelito Valdez TV show. While in the army, George’s fellow soldiers had difficulties pronouncing his last name “De Jesus” so they nicknamed him Dee Jay. Cuban Latin music producer Ralph Lew who spoke English came on board and formed a Spanish name for the group “La Dee Jay” which was derived from “La Orquesta Dee Jay.” Musicians from top performing bands such as Alfredo (Chocolate) Armenteros called them “La Dee Jay”. Although most of the band members with the exception of George De Jesus were born in New York City they loved the idea of keeping the group name in Spanish even though they could not speak Spanish well. The band was not into the Boogaloo craze and wanted to keep their music as typical as possible. In order to conform to record companies’ request, “Black Shadow” was created and this was the only Boogaloo tune recorded by this hard-hitting Salsa band. One may not notice Black Shadow’s opening has a slight arrangement from the theme song to the science fiction movie “2001 Space Odyssey.” Their first LP recorded in 1970 on MGM Latino “Pa 'Alante Con La Orquesta Dee Jay” (Straight Ahead with Orq. Dee Jay) was a big hit for the group. Approximately a year later, another masterpiece album was created called “Forget it” on Lewgas Records. The sweet Latin Soul tune and the title track of the LP “Forget it” written by Armando Manzanero and sang by the late trombonist and vocalist “Joe Rivera” never peaked to a top ten position on the Latin American Hit Parade Billboard. However once you listen to the sweet velvet sound of Joe Rivera with his stunning English soulful lyrics, backed up with La Orquesta Dee Jay’s Latin ballad arrangement, one can not imagine why this single “Forget it” never peaked to number one or made it to the top ten. Orquesta Dee Jay was a unique band who did not put any of their music on paper. Their music was original and arrangements were created from jam sessions they had before rehearsals in the basement of De Jesus Bridal shop. “If it sounds good and it’s swingin’, the heck with it, let’s record it” said George De Jesus. Orquesta Dee Jay only recorded two smashing hit albums in the 1970’s. Thanks to the research and promotions done by Jerry Hernandez on the Internet with various salsa web sites such as The LatinSoulShow.com & La Voz del Mambo.com, this remarkable band once again is starting to gain popularity with the Dance and Classic Salsa community in South America, Europe and other parts of the globe with their swingin’ classics. Will we ever in our generation witness a reunion of this incredible Salsa Dura Band known as “La Orquesta Dee Jay?”

ORQUESTA DEE JAY - FORGET IT (2007)

Latin Salsa and Latin Jazz

LATIN SOUL RECORD LABEL

review by Dj Gury Gury: ORQUESTA DEE JAY - FORGET IT (2007)

recensione di Roberto Rabbi: ORQUESTA DEE JAY - FORGET IT (2007)