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Angel Fernandez
Born: August 2
Birthplace: Santiago, Dominican Republic
(Salsa Musical Director, Trumpeter, Guitarist)

Tracey: When did you join The Marc Anthony Band? 

Angel: Don’t remember the month, but I think it was late in 1993.

Tracey: How did that come about? 

Angel: The band needed a trumpeter and both Bobby Allende and Arturo Ortiz, then the music director and long time director for Ricky Martin, recommended me.

Tracey: What is it like playing in the band? 

Angel: My first impression of the band was how loose it was on stage, yet how tight the arrangements were.  Marc impressed me with his passion as a performer.  The other thing that was obvious from the beginning was how big a female following Marc had.
I’d been with pretty popular bands before, but had never seen that kind of female fan adulation for a performer with whom I played.

Tracey: At what age did you start playing an instrument?

Angel: I was 10 years old when I began playing the snare drum in elementary school. 

Tracey: Do you play any other instruments besides the guitar and the trumpet? 

Angel: No.  I know the basics of a few instruments, having had to study them while going for my Masters in Education Degree.  This has served me well as an arranger because I know what is playable and what is not on these instruments, so I write accordingly.

Tracey: If you had to choose one instrument over the other, which would you choose and why? 

Angel: I would choose the guitar.  It doesn’t require as much physical maintenance as the trumpet – one has to be a slave to that instrument in order to play it well.  As with the piano, you can use the guitar as a vehicle for composing and arranging, and
you can also perform solo.

Tracey: I too moved from my country of birth, London, England to the USA at a very young age.  It was indeed a culture shock for me.  How was it for you?

Angel: The cold whether was a shock, as were the drab brown buildings – in Brownsville, the architecture was all brick, tenement buildings.  At the time, there were also many blocks where most of the houses had burned down.   The houses in the Caribbean
are very colorful.

Tracey: Was there something that you thought about that helped you get through your days? 

Angel: Yes, I lived and breathed baseball.  I loved to play the game – it was what I’d done in Santiago.  A couple of days after I got here, in late November of 1966, I remember going to the park with my friend in the middle of a snowstorm to play baseball. 
I also watched as many games as I could on TV and kept up with the Dominican ballplayers in the majors.  It was my way of maintaining a connection. 

Tracey:  TV was my companion too.  I became a Soap Opera junkie and inherited the name “walking TV Guide”…LOL!  

If you had to give up being a musician what would you do and why? 

Angel: There are many things I’d like to do if I had other lives to live.  I’d like to be a Historian/Anthropologist.  Even though I’m nowhere near being either one of these, I am intrigued by human development and by how we are all connected.  In that same vane, I wouldn’t mind being a Psychologist/Psycho-therapist.  I’m interested in human behavior and in what drives us to do what we do.

In another life, I would probably devote more time to composing.  Oh, and I would have tried to make more money (ha,ha).

Tracey: LOL!  Of the entire list of great artist (Celia Cruz, Roberto Barretto, David Bryne, Pete “Conde” Rodriguez, Millie y los Vecinos, etc.) you have worked along side which one has had the most influence on you? 

Angel: Influence?  I’ve taken a little out of everybody I’ve been with.  But with the Ray Barretto Band, I got to write in different styles – Salsa for the dance floor, “Progressive” Salsa, Jazz, Latin Jazz - and I got to travel the world for the first time. 

There was a time, around 1990, where I was contemplating leaving music as a career. I had become saturated with Salsa and Merengue, where we are often confined to writing for the same instruments and in often-similar styles.  But the opportunity to play
and record with David Byrne, where I could be creative and experimental, gave me new impetus to continue in music.  David was all about being creative.  I got to write for Strings, Woodwinds; I got to write Merengues, Sambas, Rock, Bomba, etc.  Also, I got  out of the Club scene.  Ironically, the Club scene is slowly disappearing, and now I wish I were doing it more.
 
Tracey: Do you find it difficult wearing more than one hat in the band?  If so, how do you deal with it?  If not, why? 

Angel: I’m kind of used to doing what I do.  So, on the one hand, it is difficult because there’s pressure to always sound good and there’s not much of a margin for error, especially in a band as high profile as Marc’s. On the other hand, I have a one track mind when I’m on stage.  My focus is on the music and the band.  That doesn’t give me time to be nervous or worried.  Although I do a lot of worrying, in anticipation of the performances - when we’re going to prepare to tour, for example.

In general, I like “wearing different hats,” but invariably it takes a toll on my playing because I don’t get to practice the trumpet as much as I need to.

Tracey: Are there any personal musical projects that you are working on right now that you care to share with us? 

Angel: I’m very happy with the things I’m doing now.  My perfect scenario is to be involved in things that keep me on my toes, things that are different.  I am involved in about 5 or 6 projects right now, each of which has very little to do with the other.  I prefer to talk about them once they’ve been released.

Tracey: If you had the opportunity to change something in the music industry, what would that be and why? 

Angel: I would change almost everybody who is in a position to run music, from the club owners to the radio station programmers, from the managers to the record label executives.  Unfortunately, that is a purely idealistic view that a lot of musicians share.  We often feel this way, but those in a position of power are also the ones who invest monetarily, and who will lose their jobs or businesses if they don’t make money.  So, many times they are more concerned with the bottom line than they are “art” or
creativity.  In some ways I can’t blame them.  I guess we can’t exist without them or they without us.  Or maybe we can…

Tracey: Well said!! What other genre of music are you interested in? 

Angel:  Almost anything.  What don’t I like?  Forgive me, ‘cause I know there are a lot of you out there who like this stuff, but I can’t stand dance music or techno stuff.

Tracey: LOL!  I can live without TECHNO too!  Have you had the opportunity to play in those genres and if so with who? 

Angel: I am a member of the Harlem Festival Orchestra, which is a Symphonic Music Orchestra made up of a mixture of people, but mostly “minorities” – Blacks and Hispanics.  I enjoy that when it happens, which is a couple of times a year.  I also perform with and arrange for Bryant Wilder, a bassist who has a gospel music group.  He performs in churches, mainly.  The music is everything from Blues to Gospel to Funk to Latin.

Tracey: What is the one thing that you have not yet accomplished with your career that you strive to achieve? 

Angel: I want to be a Rock and Roll musician!

Tracey: Hey it’s never too late.

Thanks for allowing us the opportunity to learn more about your musical background.  It has indeed been a pleasure seeing and hearing you perform live throughout the years and we look forward to many more performances.