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How did you get into Salsa: As a kid I was always into music and dance; reggae, R&b, jazz, jazzfunk, latin jazz. At the time different kids were into all types of dance orientated music, I tried them all and enjoyed them. We’d meet up in a club or someone’s house and show off our new footwork, it was wicked. At the time it was mainly a guy thing. At some point the scene changed ( and I got older) but I felt the urge to dance. At the time I was heavily into Latin Jazz, Willie Bobo, Cal Tjader, Poncho Sanchez to name a few.
 Anyway for about six months Dave F and my sis Maxine kept pestering me to go to a salsa club. They were going all over the country to dance, I thought they were nuts. They finally got me to a club, believe. I’d never seen anything like it, packed dance floor, sweaty bodies, DJ doing his thing, great tracks. Some of the music I knew from my latin Jazz days. If you could dance you were king, if you couldn’t stay by the bar and look small, and sip coke!!!!
So, yep straight off to salsa classes wid da missess. The rest is history.
So what’s the story behind DJing? Glad you asked. Because of my music experiences (bit of an anorak) I found the music at times bland and dated. The same stuff was being played again and again and again
The music buying bug hit me again, well supported by Dave F(cheers bud) my collection rapidly grew. I had some DJ experience playing house parties back in the day, nothing too big. But I knew how to work a crowd.
I Think(its been that long can’t remember details) I blagged a short guest spot, folks loved my stuff. Bought some gear started doing my own nights and gigs escalated from there.
Who’s your favourite DJ? Ooohhh, us Djs especially in the midlands are pretty tight with each other so I don’t want to upset them. There’s a lot of good guys & gals out there But Ricardo from Nottingham nicks it. Seen him play to hundreds he’s rocked the house, a granny and her cat, he still rocked it. His salsa knowledge is phenomenal. He’s played in American, across Europe. Check him at the UK congress this year. That’s enough about you bro.
What’s the best club you’ve played in? Christ man that’s hard to narrow down. I’ll give you a few. The British Congress in Skegness 2002. My first congress gig, over 2500 dancers, great line up of DJs, half a bottle of Havana rum during my first set with some Cuban dudes, wow the night was magical. Britsalsafest, Blackpool, event launch, good DJ line up, good DJ spots, let rip some hard hat stuff,ran on stage to feel the vibe, good dancers. Again more interval cocktails with some dodgy Columbians, it was all good. On the other scale, my weekly residency at The Wharf café Bar, Walsall, intimate, personal, great crowd, I can try out new stuff, dodgy DJ equipment, it keeps me on my toes.
10 Favourite Tracks? Tricky, here goes, in no particular order....
Mucho Cante - Bobby Valentine
Hatian Lady - Willie Bobo
Mr Latin’s Mambo - Rene Bloch
Clave Mambo - Joe Cuba
No Vale la Pena - Sonoros Poncena
Picadillo - Cal Tjader/Eddie Palmieri
Guaripumpe - Poncho Sanchez
Festival de la cana_ - Mario Ortiz
Shirley’s Guaguancho
Homenje a Mulenze - Orquesta Antifaz These tracks folks are part of what I call ‘ da full nasty collection’ that’s dance ya ass of music. You will hear at least one of these when I’m spinnin.(da full nasty collection is big, trust me)
What’s your one must have CD? That’s hard to narrow down bro. I’d go for Herencia Africana - Yuri Buenaventura. It’s got 5/6 good dance tracks on, that’s a rarity these days; and a good tempo range. I’m gonna sneak in Eclipse-Tito Rodriguez, cos I can. Again 5/6 good dance tracks. Good combo of romantic lyrics over solid music. This one brings back happy memories.
Equipment preference? What!!!! Oh I see what you mean. I’m a CD man. I have experimented with laptop DJ software. Its ok but my eyes are crap so if it’s dark I struggle to see the screen. Also I like to feel the wheels of steel in my hands (weird) and frantically flip through my case searching for da next killa track.
So Siz, what cd have you bought recently? Don’t buy in ones bro, normally multiples, you know how it is. Getting my groove on with Poncho Sanchez right now. So spent dollars on Soul of the Conga, Bien Sabroso, and Sonando. They’re Latin Jazz but got a couple of ‘dance ya ass off ' tracks on them.
Hey Sizzla it’s been great interviewing you, anything you want to add? Yeah, got my little website running now, check it out folks, www.latynvybz.com. We all need to support the Midlands salsa scene; we’ve got some fantastic talent: dancers, Djs, promoters etc. get behind them. Finally, I still have some availability folks(ha-ha) so give me a call 07989798134. Props to Ricardo and Dave F for their support and guidance. I’m gone, take it easy folks.
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