♪♪ Wow.

That was phenomenal.

I didn't expect anything less than Daniel Villarreal and his combo.

We're missing a percussionist, right?

Yes.

Yes.

Danjuma.

He couldn't make it for this lap of the tour, but he be with us.

And, in the East coast.

and midwest for the rest of the shows.

Sometimes it takes a while to travel across the country with our quintet.

Then, we we trying to manage, the time to make these appearance.

You know, as, as an ensemble, you know, as, as as legit as we can be you know, to keep the intrigue, integrity of the band, you know?

Absolutely.

I think it sounded amazing.

I saw Cole in there with some little small percussion and trying to do his thing.

Yeah, yeah.

That's Cole.

Yeah.

So now one thing, if folks are new to your your background and your band, I was talking to someone about you, Daniel, and, they were like, saying how tight the band was.

And I said, well, basically everybody in the band plays in the Chicago scene in a lot of different configurations.

You're in like 36 bands, you know, includin but not limited to Dos Santos, which I love.

Great band.

What made you decide to create your own, like, band led thing?

Like to be a band leader?

It was back in 2019.

I was just like thinking about, like, different ways to, to create and come together with a community of musicians out of Chicago, like to create somethin like to put something together.

And we started doing some some jam sessions in local bars like the Orient and the jaz series that, the Freehand hotel.

And then we started like messing aroun with some ideas and some songs.

But it wasn't until the pandemic hit, like, okay, I really need to do that because now I have time.

Instead of being a sideman, I'm always playing with different bands.

It's like, now I have time for myself and I can like, nurture that.

And that's where, like, I drove to L.A.

and I got a session with Jeff Parker and the Borders, Bato Martinez and other musicians from over ther in the middle of the pandemic.

And that's how everything started.

So one thing I love about your music is that it's pushing the music forward, but it also is really deeply autobiographical.

I remember the first time I saw your performance from the first album, was Thalia Hall?

Yeah, that was the first time we played record.

It was the album release show.

Yes.

So what I remember was in th background, there was, footage.

Yeah.

Can you.

I know this is, you know, tell me a little bit about, like, how you selected what you wanted to showcase.

Those footage were, our friend, Charlie Garcia, he, had an idea.

And I had also a vision, like to put some footage from Panama, and they were, like, buse and kind of like the different neighborhoods of Latin America and mainly Panama.

And that's how everything, And also like adding some psychedelia into it and adding some elements of, like, the Caribbean and adding some elements of like, it feels inviting, like you're watching some kind of like you're walking in the middle of the street in some countr in Central America.

Absolutely.

So tell me a little bit about that, because I think in the United States, people are less familiar with Panamanian culture.

Like what does that contribut to sort of your overall outlook.

Yeah.

Well, mainly I'm born and raised in Panama that I couldn't take that out of me at all.

Like always, wherever I go, the first thing that happened when I open my mouth is like, where are you from?

It's just like the thick accent from the Caribbean, especially from Panama.

But, it's a big influence on me.

Like growing up in Panama, I was exposed to different kinds of music.

And my da also being, a musician by hobby.

Also, like, he played the orga and he always was playing music in the house and like, folkloric music from Panama.

And I was influenced by him a lot and, became kind of like my upbringing, being around music and musicians and also exploring different sounds of what was what was happening in my country and then moving to the US.

I wanted to, of course, I wanted to learn jazz, I wanted to learn funk and all that stuff, which I learned on my own.

But I always kept my tradition as part of it because I didn't want to lose that essence like, oh, I want to be like a full gringo, you know?

And I want to be like, okay, I'm from Panama.

I want to represent my country.

And also like, where Im at too, you know, I'm both you know.

I think your musi definitely reflects that, right?

Like, I mean, there's bits that feel like they're like, takes from, like a B-side of James Brown, but then at the same time, with the way that organ will come in on Ophelia, it just feels very, very like of that space and time, like 70s, like it feels right.

So.

But it feels it doesn't fee like it's not braided together.

You know what I'm saying?

Like everything feels uniquely you.

Exactly.

It's like I said, like th influences from from my country.

There's a lot of bands down in Panama.

There's these composer, which I play a tribute on my first album, Panama 77.

Avellino Munoz.

The song Patria.

That song is a haunted me like for years and that has a very specific organ sound, a Leslie sound.

And you know that you can hear tha all vintage organ, kind of like, you know, part of of, of the tune, but also like Panama is very funky and yeah, I remember like listening to some funk, Latin, salsa and things like that and boogaloo and, and calypso and all that stuff is very funky and, you know, all kinds of cultures down there, like people like from the West Indies people from South America, Central America and also the American influence by the canal and all that stuff.

Everything was there happening.

Yeah, that's the part.

I mean, we don't we don't have to get into a whole geography, history lesson.

But the canal brought a whole lot of cultures to that country that weren't necessarily like indigenous to there.

Exactly, but a lot of Afro-Caribbean.

And then I always explain to people like Panamanians, we all look different.

There's like, a brown a black person, a white person.

They all Panamanians and they born and raised there but its a melting pot of cultures.

Absolutely.

So, okay.

Two albums.

Yeah.

What's coming next?

Well, I want to keep nurturing the band live.

We have planned to record some live sessions in this lab of the tour, probably on the East Coast.

Soulmates and also, Public Records when we play in New York.

I want to capture the band live because its so different, like, than than the records.

The records are awesome.

And they have a lot of, is almost like a snippet of what it is live.

You know, like, he cannot really represent, like, how we are live then everybody that when they listen to us live is like, man, you guys rock on, you guys.

It's like, I didn't expect like to be that, like you say, like that tight or that a lively like that.

Also, you look like you like each other.

Yeah.

And you look like you're having fun.

Yes.

That's an important details.

The main thing.

And we are from Chicago and we are also embedde into the Chicago music culture like Cole plays with different bands.

And Gordon Walter also play with different bands.

The same with Nathan.

He plays with Dos Santos as wel and I recruited to to the group and Danjuma asking if we should go ou for a big project and a lot of, R&B and soul bands around the city.

But we also ingrated like into the music community in Chicago, like, like we are we were ready, lik to present this live, you know?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So thank you so much for coming.

I'm hoping everybody really enjoys it.

Like and subscribe.

Yeah.

Like it.