The Bronx Horns

Formed during the middle of the 1990s, Bronx Horns quickly gained a following through its hard-hitting strain of Latin jazz. Tenor saxophonist and flautist Mitch Frohman assembled the ensemble after logging roughly twenty-five years in Tito Puente’s band. Over that same stretch Frohman also served as featured soloist with Mongo Santamaría and performed with the Machito orchestra, Joe Cuba, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, and Blood, Sweat And Tears, among numerous others; he leads La Tropica Orchestra as well. In addition, Frohman contributed to various film and television scores, including the saxophone solo on the Sex and the City theme.

Early membership also included two further Puente sidemen, trumpeter and flügelhornist Ray Vega and alto saxophonist Bobby Porcelli. Because Frohman, Vega, and Porcelli all lived in the Bronx, the band adopted that name. Its rhythm section comprised pianist Oscar Hernández, bassist Bernie Minoso (another Puente alumnus), drummer Willie Martinez, and percussionists George Delgado, Wilson “Chembo” Corniel, and Johnny Rodriguez—the last of whom later became director of the ongoing Tito Puente Orchestra after the leader’s death. Trumpeter Pete Nater, who replaced Vega, also played with the group; Nater’s résumé includes work with Puente, Machito, Cruz, and Barretto, and he co-founded and led Grupo Fascinación. In 2000 the Bronx Horns appeared at New York’s 9th Annual Milt Hinton Jazz Perspectives Concert and have performed at the San José Jazz Festival, the Marciac Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival, and the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival.