By Benji Nichols

Passion. Grit. Soul. Rhythm. Truth. Stories. History. David Gonzalez is a man of words. Born of Puerto Rican and Cuban parents in the Bronx, Gonzalez embodies that which America is made of. With over eight original productions in his repertoire, a career in music therapy and public radio, and a steady performance schedule, Gonzalez’s tales of growing up in both Cuba and “la republica de Bronx” prove to be just as provocative as musically gripping.

Brought up by his grandmother and mother, along with a sister, brother, and two cousins, Gonzalez recalls his neighborhood as diverse as one can imagine. Irish, Italian, Latino, Jewish, and African American cultures were all woven through his Bronx block – and yet he not only identified, but also embodied and clung to his Latino upbringing and culture. Music, as diverse as the cultural make-up of his neighborhood, was strung all throughout his childhood. When Gonzalez was eight, a crafty Uncle, José, made him a guitar as well as a puppet theater where the creative youth could put together shows. By age 13 he had learned to play the guitar from his cousin Victor, and never slowed down.

A brief stint at the Berklee College of Music helped Gonzalez realize he needed to be back in New York, not Boston, and led to enrolling at NYU to follow his passion in music and beyond. “Working with people, the intimacy and collaboration – the energy from that is the wind beneath my wings. The creative process with a person – it’s not about entertainment but development and transformation, that’s what my work is about – a sense of that transformative intimate contact.”

 That collaborative path brought him to deep experiences in volunteering with developmentally disabled people, and eventually to a decade-long career in the bourgeoning field of music therapy. The music, he discovered, brought understanding.

“It made my life – to play music. It is a grossly capacitated means of communication. Music can make a bridge and I found a meaning into that – I followed that stream into an ocean of experience,” he says.

Through those early-life cultural and personal experiences, David Gonzalez began to weave a unique combination of words, music, and feelings into performances that are unlike anything that most audiences have ever seen. “I’m a good entertainer, but what’s driving me is the relationship of what can be created – the journey together,” he says. “Story telling conjures an experience that has connectivity, on stage and with the audience. You discover things together, and that esthetic comes from my soul building years in music therapy.”

David Gonzalez’ show “City of Dreams” blends spoken word poetry and a hot Afro-Cuban jazz quartet with a cutting edge multimedia experience. Gonzalez says the show is “a catalog of impressions, a kaleidoscope of images of New York. It’s about the place we’ve chosen to make our lives – the wild wonder of the city, and its enchantment. The music surrounds the words with a soundscape of groove and tone – poetry you can dance to.”

 He goes on. “The sounds of the street, and the people of the street – jazz, blues, salsa – the groove is there, rooted in the aesthetics of funk. That’s a big part of living in a city; you are exposed to those rhythms. The best, the hardest and funkiest – come from the street. There is a place where embodiment and intellectual curiosity come together. And living in the city is about that – being able to flow intellectually and physically.”

David Gonzalez will not only bring his show to the stage of the Center for Faith in Life in February, but will also facilitate three workshops on the Luther College campus. Tanya Gertz, director of campus programming says that the workshops will vary from “Merging spoken word, poetry, theatre, and jazz to create a passionate, creative and distinctively unique art experience,” to utilizing “a variety of exercises to help folks claim their own creative juices around the stories they are living in our community.”

“The idea,” sums up Gonzalez, is to “encourage other people to discover their own creativity.” 

Through his work in New York, Gonzalez has had the fortune to discover plenty of creativity, utilizing the talents of some of Afro-Cuban music’s biggest names like Larry Harlow, and Yomo Toro of Fania Records fame (one of the most successful Afro Cuban / Latin record labels ever.)  The Poetic License Band joining Gonzalez in Decorah has been described as “a quartet of New York’s hottest players setting David’s compelling poetry like a diamond in a mambo/funk music box.”

Those players include Erik Lawrence on Sax, Louis Martinez on Drums, and Daniel Kelly on piano. Gonzalez and the ensemble will be coming off a week-long run at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, part of Jazz at Lincoln Center, just days before coming to Decorah.

The opportunities to interact with Gonzalez and his Band are too good to miss out on, and luckily, the creative workshops are geared to students, staff and faculty of Luther, and the general public as well. The “City of Dreams” show featuring The Poetic License Band will perform as part of the Center Stage Series Friday, February 12, 2010 at 7:30 pm.

For tickets, more information on workshops, or general inquiry about the Center Stage Series contact the Luther College Box office at (563) 387-1357, or visit: www.luther.edu/programming/centerstage/.

Benji Nichols has long been a fan of a wide variety of Afro-Cuban and Latin music – and has most enjoyed discovering some deep and hard grooving cuts from the live recordings of the Fania All Stars while working on this story. He welcomes a little bit of NYC to NE Iowa with enthusiasm!