Community reacts to death of Jesse Bermudez, ‘the Patriarch of Latin music in Philadelphia’

To Jesse Bermudez, music wasn’t simply music — it was the answer.

Music was a way to amplify the richness of Latino culture, to keep immigrants and their descendants connected to the heritage, to bridge gaps between different communities and show the influences different cultures have on each other, to foster success within marginalized communities, and to keep youth engaged and on the right track. Mr. Bermudez believed that “in the darkest moment of people’s lives all over the world there was music and dance.”

“It wasn’t just us playing music,” he said during a 2014 interview with History Makers Productions. “There was a purpose behind us playing the music. ... It can never change the politics. It can never change the crime. You are never going to stop the drugs. It can never change a lot of the ills of a community, but hopefully it can influence others to think differently about those things.”

Tuesday evening, Mr. Bermudez died at the age of 79 after long-standing health issues, leaving a hole in Philadelphia’s Latino community — but also hope.

“I think Jesse’s legacy will be felt here for a very long time, because he really provided something where he lifted us individually and collectively,” said Marángeli Mejía-Rabell, who collaborated with Mr. Bermudez for decades.

“I consider him a local patriarch of Latin music here in the city.”

With a Puerto Rican father and Cuban mother, Mr. Bermudez had rich musical backgrounds to draw from as he started his own career in music.

“I think that Latin music was in me all along, because my father played guitar and so did my mother. In my family, they were all Latinos,” Mr. Bermudez told AL DÍA News. “The only thing was that when I step out the door I was in this other world. I happened to be raised in an African American community, so, when I stepped out there, I got involved with what was taking place and at that time, in the middle-late ’60s, it was about doo-wop.”

While serving in the Navy in the 1960s he started his own doo-wop band. A decade later, he focused his attention on the city’s Latin music market as both performer and concert promoter. One of his most memorable concerts was at the former Philadelphia Civic Center in West Philadelphia and called “Salsa con Salsa.” It featured legendary artists Celia Cruz, Willie Colón, and Héctor Lavoe.

In the 1980s, Mr. Bermudez began to advocate for better working conditions and organized a strike of nearly 125 Latino musicians that improved their wages. His advocacy led to the Asociación de Músicos Latinoamericanos to advocate for better working conditions for musicians. Later, he formed the Latin School for the Performing Arts (LSPA) to develop artists and musicians and provide presentations and festivals for the community.

In 2006, he partnered with Esperanza Inc. and they created AMLA -- but this time it stood for Artistas y Músicos Latinoamericanos, to help develop young artists and musicians into performers, thus creating the first school of Latin music performance. The idea was to create a community school for youth who have talent but haven’t had the opportunities to develop their skills. It created an illustrious alumni list including Edgar Joel, Anthony Colón, Ray Viera, Carlos Sánchez, Luis Figueroa, Elio Villafranca, Elvis Bonilla, Pablo Batista, and Foto Rodriguez.

Through his work, Mr. Bermudez elevated Latino music outside the community — a particular challenge in his generation, when Latino music had not yet infused mainstream American music as widely as today. He pushed institutions across Philadelphia to understand and appreciate the worth of Latin music, community members said.

“Philly’s not a music city for salsa — it never took off,” said David Cruz, a Philadelphia photographer and the photo editor of Temple University Press’ 200 Years of Latino History in Philadelphia. “But Jesse still was there, regardless.”

Mr. Bermudez also used Latin music to showcase the links between Latino culture and other cultures across the world, bridging gaps between communities by highlighting their influences on each other.

“He really provided something where he lifted us individually and collectively.”

“He used our music to show others that our society is not monolithic,” said Israel “Izzy” Colón, a community policy analyst and former director of multicultural affairs for Mayor Michael Nutter. “We have music that has roots in Africa, we have music that has roots in rock — he was able to make those connections. There were very few people that have the ability to do that. To me, that is part of his legacy.”

By 1986, Philly had its first dance program when Mr. Bermudez founded the Latin School for the Performing Arts in Fairhill. Three years later came Philadelphia’s first studio, when partners Evelyn Figueroa and Edwin Muñoz created Salseros Internacional Dance Studio. But by 2019 dance studios were shutting down or relocating.

But Mr. Bermudez made his musical career about everyone else in the community, breaking down barriers that are disproportionately faced by people of color through the relationships he built throughout his lifetime.

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“You could speak to any musician, any band of that era, and they’ll point fingers directly to Jesse as one of those people that helped them with marketing, helped them advance their work, connected them to professional producers, whatever they needed — because they had no access,” said Colón.

Mejía-Rabell was one of Mr. Bermudez’s many mentees, looking to him for wisdom and support as she grew her creative career. Today, she is the director of the Philadelphia Latino Film Festival and cofounder of AFROTAINO.

“At the end of the day, his focus was building long-term relationships, understanding the impact of the relational aspect of our work, but also seeing it as part of our service to our communities, to our culture, to our souls,” she recalled. “Feeding our souls with camaraderie, how that sense of kinship and unity is really something that is critical when it comes to the work.”

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Mr. Bermudez recognized the power of music, and spent his life providing access to it — particularly for younger people. He knew early on what was later proven by a body of academic research: that the arts and music are correlated to student performance and behavior.

“He knew that young people make choices based on the space that they occupy and the opportunities that they have,” said Colón. “He saw music as one choice. I don’t care who you are, I’m going to try to grab you, and I’m going to take you in another direction.”

He often called music “nourishment” and a necessary ingredient for the community.

“I consider him a local patriarch of Latin music here in the city,” said Colón. “He contributed to the practice of multiculturalism and diversity in this city.”