For a man who usually plays a supporting role in his bands, Puerto Rican born Yahuba Jose Garcia-Torres has earned a lot of name recognition and respect in the greater-Boston music scene. And it’s not just because he has a really cool sounding Spanish name. His hands mover faster than the eye can keep track when he’s coxing, patting, or tapping out an intricate rhythm on his myriad of percussion instruments.
Garcia-Torres is currently on tour with the Ryan Montbleau Band and was reached on the road for this interview. Last year this time, Garcia-Torres was on tour with Martin Sexton, which was a special tour for the percussionist. “Prior to that, I had always just been a fan of Martin Sexton, then we got the opportunity,” the percussionist said. “We had the opportunity to be his back up band on a whole tour. Basically, the arrangement was we would do an opening set, and then we could come back out and be Martin’s back up band. It was just a unique set up, and we got to play a lot of bigger venues than we’re used to playing. When we go out on tour, we play clubs that fit maybe 200 to 400 people. With him, we were playing places like the Fillmore and the House Of Blues in New Orleans.”
Yahuba is the percussionists given name. It means music or musical scream in Taino. The Tainos are the native people of Puerto Rico, which is part of the Iroquois Indians. “My father gave me that name when I was born,” Garcia-Torres said. “Him and my uncle Irving are both musicians and they both were in a band in Puerto Rico called Haciendo Punto en Otro Sona, which means making a point in a different sound. They were kind of like a protest band, kind of what you would consider the equivalent of Crosby Stills and Nash. They were a pretty big band in Puerto Rico in the early 60s into the 70s and even into the 80s. The surviving members still get together every once in a while and have reunion concerts.”
His father’s played what was referred to Nueva Trova, or ‘new troubador music.’ A lot of the rhythms were traditional to Puerto Rico but they were not traditional in their lyrics. Their lyrics were more leftist politically and anti-establishment protest music.
Learning to walk and talk while on the road with his father’s band is where Garcia-Torres gained his love of rhythm and percussion. “My youngest, oldest memories are definitely being on the road with my father’s band,” he said. “My mother used to be the lighting director. Both of my parents were involved with that. My mom was in theater in my entire childhood, and then she later went back to school and became a psychologist. Back in those days, my mom used to do the lights. My uncle and my father were both in the band. I spent my first few years as a baby on the road with them. Pretty much as long as I can remember, I’ve always played a musical instrument or studied some kind of musical instrument.”
Garcia-Torres played trumpet, violin, upright bass, and in the latter half of his grade school education he played saxophone, majoring in saxophone in college in his first years. “All along I always played around with percussion on the side. At some point I was so frustrated with my horn playing that I put the horn down for good and just started playing percussion and just made it my focus.”
Latin music, rumba and salsa, has that rhythm he is drawn to. It was what he had grown up listening to in his home. His mother was also a DJ in college, Umass Amherst, and she made sure there were awesome records in the house. “I still have those records now in my collection,” he said. “I got a bunch of records from my mom. At the time, I didn’t even know what I was listening to. I just thought it was all amazing music. Now, when I look back in hindsight, it was my major influences in music. It was the greatest musicians that are out there, people like Herbie Hancock, bands from Cuba like Irakere, and Ruben Blades from New York.” Today, Garcia-Torres brings his Latin and jazz influences to bands.
His mother was a true bohemian during his childhood, and he was constantly surrounded by artists. When he realizes now who his parent’s friends were, he is blown away. “They’re definitely people who are considered legendary musicians from Puerto Rico, actors and actresses, and people who work in the industry to this day still,” Garcia-Torres said.
Both parents had a hand in guiding his early tastes. Aside from influencing young Yahuba with their Puerto Rican music, they also had tapped into the music of the mainland USA and from around the world. “They had me listening to music from Brazil. They had me listening to rock and roll. My dad used to sit me down and make me listen to The Beatles. He wanted me to hear their harmonies.”
Supporting Ryan Montbleau Band gives Garcia-Torres a chance to focus on the actual song, as opposed to taking off on funky solos and showing off his chops. “
“To be given this opportunity to play music with somebody who’s writing songs and to compliment someone else’s songs in that fashion,” he began, “the other thing playing in a lot of jazz outfits, a lot of time we’re not playing original music. We’re playing someone else’s music. To be part of someone’s creative process and songwriting and in a band putting together a song, for me, is a blessing, a part of music that I always wanted to be involved in and never really had the opportunity to work on an original tune. I feel like I’m part of a bigger thing. It’s not so much on me as a conga player but more as a foundation of the song that we’re playing. What I like to bring to those songs is what I find would to compliment those songs. It is also a group of musicians. We share and we listen and analyze everything we do regularly. We’re personally revising some of things we’re doing. We’re essentially telling each other things that we’re doing. It’s a constant creative process.”
Garcia-Torres, now though, doesn’t get to play as much of his beloved Latin music. He only has time to play along to records to keep his rhythms honed. “When I’m home from touring, if I get the opportunity to play, I’ll take it. A lot of times I have that urge, that want, that need to play that kind of music more.”
Garcia-Torres is known locally in greater-Boston for performing with many others, including Jen Kearney And The Lost Onion. “That’s an awesome band. She’s an amazing songwriter,” Yahuba said. “I had the opportunity to be part of the writing process with her too for some of her earlier stuff. I’ve got a lot of myself invested in her songs too. That, for a long time, that was my Latin music fix, really. Her music has a lot of Latin influence in it. I also had the opportunity to sing along with her. I did some backup singing with her. I also do some backup singing for Ryan Montbleau band..
Kearney was equally generous in her admiration for what Garcia-Torres brought to her project. “Yahuba is a pleasure to work with musically and personally,” Kearney exclaimed. “Beyond his amazing and obvious talent, he has a really great vibe. He’s always enthusiastic and breathes life into performances with any band he plays with.”
Garcia-Torres put some time in with keyboardist Ron Levy. At first, Yahuba didn’t know the extent of Levy’s career and all of the big names he had worked with in the blues and R&B world. “Just a great guy; a good influence on my listening,” the percussion man said. “When I played with him, it was always real scaled down. He was playing bass parts on the organ. We had a drummer. We had a guitar player. There was a lot of space. It was very groove oriented as well. It gave me a chance to work on groove with drummers. Ron put me to work in the studio a lot. Over time it came out on five or six albums. There were influences from Japan.”
Garcia-Torres’s discography shows 49 albums of him playing percussion for other artists. Some day, he may make one of his own. “That’s the big pipe dream for me,” he said. “I have a couple of things in the works that I’ve started and put on the shelf and never completed. I would eventually like to get back to finishing. I actually started two years ago fancying myself a rapper. I recorded some hip hop tracks. I’ve got like eight or nine put together that are almost done. I had some help with some of my friends. Jen actually sang on some tracks for me.”
The percussionist has also recorded some tracks for a Latin jazz project of his. “When I have some time and some money, I’ll go and get it done,” he said.