Marlow Rosado didn’t like school, but he didn’t like being idle either. What saved him from a possible life of conflict on the streets, first of Puerto Rico and then of Miami, was his great love: his piano.
“I grew up with my mother; “She worked because my parents were divorced,” he said. “But I always had the piano as a friend, I was always able to sit down and practice two or three hours a day; “That saved me from taking other paths.”
Over time, Marlow became a piano prodigy. But he didn’t know it until he realized that he had learned this instrument without ever having taken a class or used sheet music.
“I’ve been playing it since I was 6 years old,” said the musician. “It wasn’t until I got to university that I learned formally; teachers said, ‘this guy is crazy,’ because he played with the university jazz band without knowing how to read music; I learned to execute and then the names of things.”
Now, the talent of this pianist, once a member of the legendary salsa group that recorded at Fania Records, is captured in “Borincuba”, an album he recorded alongside Baby Lores, one of the most influential urban music artists in Cuba. .
The album compiles eight songs that combine hard salsa with the most modern of the movement known as cubatón, the name given to Cuban reggaeton due to some of the characteristics that distinguish it from Puerto Rican ones, including the instruments used to perform it.
“This album brings that element that I was looking for because my thing is to make salsa,” Marlow said. “Although I have worked with artists that have nothing to do with salsa, such as Snoop Dog, Idina Menzel, Noelia, Yolandita Monge and others; about him and [de] What comes out of mine is a very unique thing.”
Marlow refers to Baby Lores using modern synthesizers and sounds to create their music.
In addition to this project with Lores, Harlow is working on an album dedicated to Larry Harlow called, “Larry Harlow, the Wonderful Jew.” This celebrity, who was also a pianist, was the founder of La Fania Records and produced more than 400 albums in which figures such as Celia Cruz, Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades and Willie Colón participated.
“I was very close to Larry Harlow; “He was very supportive of my career and gave me many opportunities,” he said. “The last album he made was with me.”
The album will be a tribute to Harlow on the occasion of the naming of a street in his honour; He died three years ago and his widow asked Marlow to record a classic salsa album.
Marlow is also working on a Latin jazz album called “Time to Say Goodbye,” which is dedicated to his mother, who passed away two years ago.
In this way, the pianist would complete twelve albums in his career. For the top ten he has received 16 Grammy nominations and was awarded twice. But it’s time to change that number, he said.
“I’m tired of that,” he said. “I have to get out of that number now.”