extraordinarius albums of ray rodriguez. recording on ghetto records in 1971
vocal by the tremendes papo felix produce by jose madera and joe bataan Owner of ghetto Records
track including
side A
para puerto rico voy
workout part 1
hechate pa' ya
senor flauta
sideB
felix the cat
workout part 2
solo me admiras
bob and bill in e minor
here joe batann tall about ghetto records. a interview by oliver. of youtalkme .com
Joe Bataan talks to Oliver Wang about Ghetto Records
OLIVER: Tell me about Ghetto Records — you started it while you were still signed to Fania but not recording for them, right?
JOE: Yeah. I started Ghetto Records to show that it could be done. It was out of rebellion, of course, like most of my life was. That's when I became a threat to the industry, especially [to] Morris Levy with Roulette Records and Jerry Masucci of Fania.
OLIVER: What was the first album on Ghetto Records?
JOE: Paul Ortiz [Y La Orquesta So]. I produced them and Paul Ortiz became a big hit, because the guy sounded like me. I had a big hit with Oritz: "Tender Love."
OLIVER: This was sweet soul?
JOE: Very, very, very romantic cha-cha ballads, yeah.
OLIVER: How many albums did you end up overseeing on Ghetto?
JOE: I think three: Ortiz, Papo Felix, and [Eddie] Lebron.
OLIVER: As in the Lebron Brothers?
JOE: No, totally separate.
OLIVER: If you were still signed to Fania, how did you manage to get distribution for your records? Couldn't Masucci have shut you down?
JOE: Yeah, he tried to put a wrench in it, but of course [the distributor] didn't care, as long as they could sell a record. I learned that in this business, if you're selling records, nobody cares, they'll take it. They'll probably get threatened by the other guy, but they'll sneak it, they'll take 100 [units] here, and 200 there.
OLIVER: Where did you get the capital to get this done?
JOE: I started the label with this guy who was a drug dealer, George Febo. Of course, I ain't ask where [the money] came from.
OLIVER: How did you know Febo?
JOE: Through the streets, like anybody else, you bump into one guy... We knew everybody in the streets. We knew the drug dealers, and the pimps... that was just a way of life, it was nothing strange about it.
OLIVER: What was Febo's interest in starting a label?
JOE: I think he just wanted popularity; his thing was just to be noticed, and a way to watch his money probably. Of course it backfired. When he got smart, he tried to ease me out of it...sort of bought me out. Like a lot of people, he took my ideas and decided to do it himself.
OLIVER: Did he continue to release records on the label?
JOE: Yeah, I think he had Candido, Richie Ray, and I think there were a couple other albums. He had some success, then it started folding. That's when he gave it back to me...it was sort of a setup because I didn't know the phones were tapped and all that. He was involved with a lot of drugs, and apparently he got hot and I think was under federal investigation. I wasn't involved [in the investigation], thank God.
OLIVER: Did you end up releasing more on Ghetto?
JOE: No, it was in total shambles financially. [Trying] to make ends meet without any capital was just too difficult.
[read this interview in its entirety at http: //waxpoetics.com/content/?article=bataan]
santropez production presents montrealsalsaconvention
March 12-15, 2009 toronto international Winter Salsa Carnival
