Larry Harlow

Lovingly dubbed “El Judío Maravilloso” (The Marvelous Jew), Lawrence Ira Kahn (March 20, 1939), better known by his stage name Larry Harlow, was an American pianist and producer who made a name for himself in the burgeoning New York Latin music scene in the 70s. Born in Brooklyn into a Jewish family of performers (his mother was an opera singer and his father was a bandleader at the Latin Quarter), he mastered several instruments from a very young age and traveled to Cuba in the 50s to study Afro-Cuban music. In 1959, the Cuban Revolution made him return to the United States, where he became involved with the salsa label Fania. Larry Harlow was the first piano player for the legendary salsa supergroup Fania All-Stars and was also the label’s first in-house producer, also working with his own Orquesta Harlow. Some of his most famous releases include Tribute to Arsenio Rodríguez (1971) featuring Ismael Miranda on vocals, Hommy: A Latin Opera (1973), and Latin Fever (1978). During the 90s, Larry Harlow teamed up with salsa legends Ray Barretto, Adalberto Santiago, and cuatro guitar virtuoso Yomo Toro to form the Latin Legends Band, with whom he aimed to introduce Latin music to a whole new generation of listeners. In 2000, he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame and received the Latin Grammy Trustees Award in 2008. Subsequently, Larry Harlow kept performing with his group Larry Harlow and the Fania Latin Legends right up until his death due to heart failure on August 20, 2021.

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