Raphy Leavitt: 40 years of “A Recorded Inferno”

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Back in 1975 Raphy Leavitt released “A Recorded Inferno”, a Salsa album that although not successful, revealed a lot about his musical vision as an artist.

La Selecta Tweaks its Sound

For his 5th album with “La Selecta”, Raphy Leavitt decided to tweak the sound of the band, modernizing it by making it a faster-paced Salsa rhythm with influences of soroco and calypso (even one song is titled “Soroco”). You can hear the difference from the very opening of the album, with the 1st song “Voces del Africa”

I found that Raphy Leavitt conserved the trademark sound of La Selecta, but with a faster twist. Perhaps he got the idea from one of his hits in the previous album “Herido”, where the hit “Ambiente” starts at a normal pace, but then moves into a speedy coro as the song progresses.

But this was not the first or the last album in which Raphy Leavitt infused a faster paced to some of La Selecta salsa songs. However, it is the one where the soroco-calypso influence was highlighted the most.

Where is The Message from La Selecta?

Raphy Leavitt had us used to his strong messages and stories, like “La Cuna Blanca”, “Herido”, “Jibaro Soy”, and others. In “A Recorded Inferno”, Raphy and La Selecta bring us “Despertar”, a song that perhaps references La Selecta or even our Latin music, as English pop music was starting to dominate the preference of the younger generation of music fans in Puerto Rico and Latin America.

So despite having the main pieces of his previous success formula, the small tweaks made in “A Recorded Inferno” where enough to separate this Salsa album from La Selecta previous albums, and even from the next one.

Raphy Leavitt in a Continuous Search for Excellence

Raphy Leavitt with La Selecta
Raphy Leavitt and Orquesta La Selecta around 1975.

Raphy Leavitt (you can read my blog on him HERE) went back to making Salsa hits with La Selecta in his very next album “De Frente a la Vida” (1976). That album had “El Buen Pastor”, “Falsedades”, and other hits. When you check the many compilations there are of the music of Raphy Leavitt and La Selecta, there are rerely any songs of “A Recorded Inferno”.

When you hear the songs of “A Recorded Inferno” you almost want to think that they are not that different from other La Selecta songs, but yet, they are not remarkable. They have something missing. But Raphy Leavitt was looking for something new; something innovative. He didn’t want to

Raphy Leavitt in "A Recorded Inferno" cover art
In “A Recorded Inferno” Raphy Leavitt experimented with the sound of La Selecta.

be a one-trick dog, like so many artist are today, playing it safe to not compromise their commercial value. Raphy wanted to push the envelope and see what else can be accomplished. You can only do this by taking risks.

After regaining his Salsa hit-making muse with “De Frente a la Vida”, he returned to the experimental trail yet again with “Con Sabor A Tierra Adentro” (1977), an album that highlighted Puerto Rican folk music (although ironically it contains two “merengues”), and had better reception than “A Recorded Inferno”.

“A Recorded Inferno” (I must wonder why Raphy named it that way) will remain a more obscure album in the late Raphy Leavitt’s repertoire, but it’s showcases the musical creativity and curiosity that drove him to become a Salsa music legend.

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2 Comments
  1. Héctor L. González says

    Raphy Leavitt one of the best composers of conscience in the most recent times, a poet if you will.
    ***A poet, who brought it to another level on the piano, who decided to put his writing into musical verses and to make his own arrangements for a people in a bold and honest way ,and was very successful in his writing .
    ***He got inspiration from the pain he experienced in his life , and from the people he loved .
    His love for his people brought constant inspiration to his soul , spirit, heart and mind.
    He was sensitive to the pain of others. That pain allowed him to touch the hearts of the masses in his music.
    He had the ability to see pain in his peoples lives as a whole and was able to transformed pain into arrangements and musical compositions that brought happiness to lives . This transformed him into the great the band leader that departed last Friday..

    ***At the beginning Raphy was rough jewel of el barrio” Puerta de Tierra” San Juan P.R. , looking to shine with compositions and arrangements before His beloved people.
    His compositions have always had an abundance of Social substance ,although his musical breakthrough was a little rough , he dared to take that next step into the musical arena as a pianist and band leader.
    True, that his first musical projects lacked todays technology and sound, Yet he still shined.
    He, like everyone else, started at the beginning learning from his errors as an accordion player, but always looking up to heaven for his inspirations.
    Down they poured in abundance!
    But what a composer, arranger , musician and band leader and human being , he turned out to be !

    I dare say that all His his musical poetic verses have left a print in musical salsa history.

    His social description of a people ,couldn’t have been more on the money . Actually, in my estimation I think Raphy hit the nail on the head right from the get go.
    A humble man, musician that eventually conquered the hearts of Latin populations in existence through the continents.
    ***A teacher , a poet, composer, arranger , a musician (Pianist),a band leader, A maestro of the language of musical genres, but above all a great talented human being .

    ***My respects to you , Mr. Leavitt , rest in peace!It’s to bad that in life many did not recognize you as they should have .
    ***You will always be recognized by your peers as the complete package, some of the best work ever written, arranged and composed and put out there to be enjoyed in the dance floor..

    *** You are the author of some of the best work ever out there for a Latin people. I suspect there is more to come. Before his untimely death his last musical project was about to come out under the direction of Maestro Isidro Infante.
    ***People like Raphy always write to their musical perfection, and what is not right for the moment is always stored for the future. Their best unpublished work is always for a rainy day . So yes, you parted but will always be present and live for ever in the hearts of true salsa connoisseur and lovers.

    My most sincere thanks to my tocayo Hector Aviles, for allowing me the privilege of sharing my love for Music in Latino Music Café.

  2. […] bet Raphy would’ve been more than happy to see his ex-bandmates continue to carry the torch of his […]

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