Larry Harlow (given name: Lawrence Ira Kahn) is a big shot in the world of salsa. Born to a family of Jewish musicians in Brooklyn, he is not Cuban, but embraced Cuban music as a teen and ultimately dropped out of college to move to Havana and take music classes. (I am trying to imagine what would have happened if I played that card with my parents. Hm. Yeah.) The Times has an awesome (and short) profile of him in their arts section, and it mentions that his nickname is “El Judío Maravilloso” (“the marvelous Jew”).
According to Dominican band leader: “He used to take incredible solos. You could tell he had really listened to Peruchín and all those guys in Cuba. The scales he used to play, I was flabbergasted. He really was El Judío Maravilloso.”
This guy is for real. Go read the profile, and enjoy the video of his work below.
