Luis Quintero y su Conjunto Alma Cibaeña - Merengues, Vol. 1 (1958)

Luis Quintero (born Luis José Germosen, 1916-1980) was a Dominican percussionist and bandleader who was considered “El Rey de la Tambora” in New York City during the mid-to-late 1950s. He is remembered for playing tambora with Ángel Viloria y su Conjunto Típico Cibaeño and for his classic style on tambora and command of straight-ahead merengues as well as pambiches. Quintero was born in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. At fifteen years old, he had already dedicated himself to mastering percussion instruments such as the tambora, bongos, conga, and timbales. He began his career in the mid-1940s in Santiago performing with the orchestra of Professor Manolo García alongside Dominican saxophonist, composer, and arranger Ramón Quesada who recorded with Luis years later in New York City. Quintero migrated to New York City in 1952 and made his debut with Viloria’s Conjunto Típico Cibaeño that same year. He used a tambora made out of wood with metal rings and screws instead of a tambora made with goatskin and tuned with cabuya or white sisal rope, which is what was traditionally used in the Dominican Republic. In 1954, Ralph Pérez’s Ansonia Records offered Quintero the opportunity to form his own band called “Luis Quintero y su Conjunto Alma Cibaeña.”-Jhensen Ortiz