Craft Latino is proud to announce an audiophile edition of Joe Bataan’s classic 1967 debut, Gypsy Woman. The album, which includes such hits as “Gypsy Woman” and the first-ever recording of “Ordinary Guy,” has been newly remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Memphis Record Pressing. The LP is housed in a classic tip-on jacket, replicating the album’s original design. In stores on September 16th and available for pre-order today, Gypsy Woman will also be released in hi-res digital audio for the very first time. In addition, a Canary Yellow color, limited to 1,000 copies, vinyl exclusive is being offered at our store with exciting bundle options that include a limited-edition navy blue NYC Latin Soul T-shirt.
In the ’60s and ’70s, East Harlem native Joe Bataan epitomized the melting pot of New York City, both musically and culturally. Born Bataan Nitollano in 1942 to an African American mother and a Filipino father, Bataan began singing as a teenager, performing doo-wop on street corners. While a gang-related prison sentence at 15 could have ended his musical dreams, the experience turned Bataan’s life around instead. Six months after his release, in 1965, he formed his first band, Joe Bataan and the Latin Swingers. Combining Latin beats, R&B, and a mix of English and Spanish lyrics, the group was instrumental in establishing the “boogaloo” sound that would become hugely popular over the next few years.
Bataan served as the bandleader, the pianist, and the English vocalist, while Spanish-language vocals were handled by Joe Pagan. The band also included trombonists Joe “Chickie” Fuente and Ruben Hernandez, bassist Louis Devis, conguero Victor Gonzalez, timbalero Eddie Nater, and percussionist Richie Cortez. Thanks to regular gigs at venues like the Tropicoro Ballroom in the Bronx, the band caught the ears of the newly founded Fania Records, who signed them in 1966. One year later, they released their debut album, Gypsy Woman.
Featuring musical direction by the great Johnny Pacheco, the album was led by the title track, a nod to the Impressions’ 1961 hit of the same name. However, as Pitchfork points out, the song was far from a traditional cover. “Beyond an opening line that riffed on Curtis Mayfield’s songwriting, Bataan changed everything else… Whereas the Impressions’ mellow original had more in common, aurally, with a bachelor pad exotica record, Bataan’s song was ferociously uptempo and unmistakably Afro-Cuban, opening with a lively piano montuno and background singers yelling, ‘She smokes, hot hot, she smokes!’”
The album also features one of Bataan’s signature hits, “Ordinary Guy,” an emotional English-language ballad, which the artist would revisit on multiple records over the next few years. Other boogaloo-style, English-language tracks include “Chickie’s Trombone,” “So Fine,” “Too Much Lovin’,” and the dynamic “Figaro.”
In the album’s original liner notes, Bataan’s “Personal Manager” George Rosas wrote about his client’s unique sound: “In this troubled world that we are living in today it has become invariably evident that the media of music is one of the most important factors in the cultural exchange among nations.… Today however, music has gained a new ingredient…[that] has become a binding force of youth and music throughout the world…This ingredient, as you must have gathered by now, is called ‘Soul.’” Rosas continues, “it is difficult to indicate the type of ’Soul’ which expressed, so beautifully, by Joe Bataan. It is a hypnotizing, yet a swinging and vibrant sound.”
Yet, Gypsy Woman wasn’t a straightforward soul or boogaloo record by any means. In fact, the band took a more traditional route with several of their Spanish-language songs. Among the highlights are two high-energy mambos (“Fuego” and “Campesino”) and “Sugar Guaguancó”—a joyful, Cuban-influenced rumba.
Gypsy Woman launched Bataan’s career, making him one of the biggest stars of the boogaloo era and one of Fania’s most prolific artists (he would release a total of eight albums over a five-year period with the label, including the best-selling Riot! In 1968). Yet, after the boogaloo craze faded away in the early ’70s, Bataan successfully parlayed his talents into other emerging genres, including disco (his 1973 album Salsoul helped establish a new style of dance music) and, later in the decade, was a pioneering force in hip-hop, thanks to 1979’s “Rap-O, Clap-O,” which was a Top Ten hit in Europe. During the ’70s, Bataan also established his own label and branched out into producing for other artists. While the ’80s and ’90s found Bataan stepping away from the spotlight to focus on his family and serve as a youth mentor, he returned to the studio and the stage in the new millennium. Today, with nearly 20 albums in his catalog, Bataan continues to be an active and influential force in music.
