The Legend
In the mid 1820's, a prominent nobleman from Madrid named Don Ricardo De La Vega relinquished his position in the Spanish Royal Court and emigrated to America. He and his family journeyed to what is now California, settling the arid Los Angeles basin and establishing a dynasty as wealthy landowners and ranchers in the New World.
Don Ricardo was a childhood friend of Antonio Armijo, a Spanish explorer and merchant. The De La Vega family traveled with and helped fund Armijo, who was leading the first commercial caravan party across newly acquired American territory towards the west coast of America in the 1820's. Armijo named an area of Nevada in honor of his friend Don Ricardo, and the Las Vegas Valley became known in 1829. Mexican travelers began calling the area "Las Vegas," which is Spanish for "the meadows." after following a tributary up from the Colorado River. The city of Las Vegas owes its name to these two pioneering Spaniards.
As the De La Vega family became economically and socially important in the hacienda culture of Southern California, they became famous too for their remarkable musical abilities. In 1859, Don Ricardo's grandson, Salvador, established the first Orchestra De La Vega, ingeniously fusing Spanish classical and folk music with newfound Mexican influences to create an original and unique genre of acoustic guitar-based music.
The family continued to prosper with California's annexation by the United States, and when railroads opened up the American West, the Orchestra began to travel on concert tours, north as far as San Francisco, then gradually eastward to perform in virtually all ofthe emerging cities of America. As the older members of the Orchestra passed away, the musically gifted sons, nephews and cousins of the De La Vega Clan replaced them.
Though they continued to flourish musically and financially, primitive technology kept Orchestra De La Vega recordings from the early 20th century rare.
But in 1922, anticipating later fusions of classical music and jazz, De La Vega band leader Don Felipe composed his visionary jazz-influenced concerto in D minor, "Piramides Del Sol," a landmark that predated George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" by a full two years, and is considered by some aficionados to be the superior work.
In 1933, Don Felipe composed the exquisite "La Cacion de Los Angeles," to be performed with theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore. Tragically, the recorded master disappeared along with Leon Theremin when he was abducted and repatriated by Russian agents.
As they traveled as far east as Philadelphia, New York and Boston, the Orchestra soon retraced Don Ricardo's ship route back to Europe, where they enjoyed great critical acclaim performing across the Continent. But the year was 1937, and members of the Orchestra had made a decision that would have dire consequences for the Orchestra and the Family.
Felipe's brother, Don Fernando, was leaving the band to fight with the "International Brigades" that had mobilized to combat the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. A cousin, Alejandro, was going to Spain as well. To make matters worse, Felipe's step-brother, Javier, fell in love with a woman in France and left to live with her in Cannes. With tears in the hearts and prayers for the three departed members, Felipe and the Orchestra returned to America.
In 1953, the Orchestra again entered the recording studio to record their classic Mariachi dirge, "El Nino Cisco Come Castor," which Don Felipe dedicated to his friend, Leo Carillo. Continually drawing on old and new ethnic styles, blending and sometimes breaking genres, this unique and multi-generational ensemble continued to travel and perform more or less uninterrupted until the year 1967. This was the watershed year, when two prodigies arose within the Orchestra, Don Felipe's son, Jorge Luis, and Jorge's cousin, David Hull, whose mother, Marisol, was Don Felipe's sister.
At the age of twelve, Jorge, already acknowledged as a master of the guitar, had not only begun performing as a full member of the Orchestra, but was considered the most likely to succeed Don Felipe as maestro. Jorge and David had begun to assimilate modern influences, with Jorge's becoming enamored of the electric guitar and Italian composer Ennio Morricone, after seeing Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." But a year prior to this, the young cousins had seen an entirely different type of guitarist, blues great Freddy King.
In all his travels with the Orchestra, Jorge had never experienced anything like the blistering force of this great bluesman. Profoundly moved, Jorge had purchased an old, used electric guitar, not a large ES-335 like King's, but a Fender Stratocaster more suited to his young hands.
The cousins became intrigued not only by the blues, but also by much of the other guitar music that was exploding in the musical world of the late 1960's. Freddy King became Jorge's guiding light and before long, the young guitarist felt an all-consuming need to incorporate the new music that possessed him into his performances with the Orchestra De La Vega.
Yet before he could reveal his vision to the Orchestra, the era came to an end. Tragcially and ironically, on New Year's Eve 1967, Don Felipe, who suffered from chronic insomnia his whole life, passed away in his sleep. During the next few years, the cousins remained closer than ever and then in 1971, at the age of 16, Don David was hired to play bass with music icon Buddy Miles. Jorge anglicized his name and found his niche as a bluesman while traveling and performing with one of Freddy King's mentors, Jimmy Rogers.
With the passage of time, Jorge and David have traveled the world performing with a shared passion. The had sworn to a promise that they would one day fulfill. They would let Orchestra De La Vega pass with its time. But the day would come when they would re-form as The De La Vegaz.
In the spring of 1997, while performing in Cannes, they met with Don Javier. Upon returning to the U.S., the cousins began a fifteen year odyssey, Don Jorge writing no fewer than thirty-five instrumentals, with Don David producing and playing bass, piano and organ, and Jorge playing multiple guitar parts.
Their soon-to-be-released debut CD is breathtakingly eclectic, incorporating new interpretations of styles they have embraced at nearly every stage of their careers. This historic recording is fifteen years in the making. It reveals them at their peak, simultaneously more youthful and more mature than they have ever been.
Don Jorge and Don David, along with the other members of the band, have created the great masterpiece of their career.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Damas y Caballeros...
"AQUI VIVIEN LOS DE LA VEGAZ!"
"HERE COME THE DE LA VEGAZ!"