Joe Bataan

Joe Bataan is the King of Latin Soul, the originator of the New York style that paralleled Latin Boogaloo, anticipated disco and helped give a record label its name. From street corner doo-wop in the 1950s to one of the first rap records to chart, his career spans more than six decades of genre-bending musical vision.

Self-taught on piano, he organized his first band in 1965 and has been entertaining audiences around the world ever since. His early hits “Gypsy Woman” and “Subway Joe” exemplified the nascent Latin Soul sound, creating dance energy by alternating pop-soul with breaks featuring double-timed hand claps, an early anticipation of the disco formula. His landmark album Salsoul fused funk and Latin influences in slick yet soulful orchestrations, sparking the national explosion of urban dance music and giving a record label its name. Among his most celebrated recordings is a 1975 version of Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Bottle,” released on his album Afrofilipino and promoted to the new disco market, a much-anthologized classic that drives an R&B horn arrangement with a relentless piano montuno. Always in touch with the street, Bataan picked up on rap early, recording 1979’s “Rap-O, Clap-O,” remembered as rap’s debut in the European market. Joe Bataan remains everyone’s Ordinary Guy with a lot of sweet soul.

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