Robert Heredia photo.
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Popular radio show Fusion Latina co-host and band leader, Robert Heredia, died last week in Miami at the age of 71. Neither his family nor WDNA has publicly disclosed the cause of death, but multiple sources tell New Times that he was found dead at his home by his wife last Tuesday.
Heredia, was a bass player from New York who came to Miami in the nineties after a career that included stints with salsa greats like Ismael Rivera and became a programmer and co-host for the WDNA Latin Jazz show. Here, he also founded his band, Orquesta La Tradicion, becoming a mentor to many young Miami musicians.
“He was a fellow musician who had a tremendous knowledge of Latin Music, a very good Latin Jazz bass player, and a great friend”, Andy Harlow, a famous multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and co-host in Fusion Latina for over 20 years, tells New Times during a phone conversation.
Heredia played for Harlow’s band in New York in the seventies as a young bassist, and both reconnected again in the late nineties, when Heredia moved to Florida, where Harlow had become a radio personality. They won the New Times Best Latin-Music Radio Program award in 1999.
“He knew a lot about stuff I didn’t, and vice versa”, says Harlow about how they complemented each other as hosts and programmers. “He was one of those guys who, like me, wanted to keep the history and the tradition of the Latin music going.”
In his quest to keep Latin music’s tradition alive, Heredia founded La Tradicion (The Tradition), in 2010, and those local gigs served as launch platforms for young musicians like Marlon Caro, who now tour with Marc Anthony as a trombonist.
“I want people to know that he was a very dedicated person: dedicated to his craft and to helping others”, says Caro, who met Heredia when he was an 8th grader and played alongside him in venues like The Dolphin Mall. Heredia’s teachings and the taste he passed on to the young trombonist via his rich music collection served him well for his future.
“In many ways, I currently tour with Marc Anthony because of him, because he introduced me to that ‘calle,’ New York style, the exact type of style they were looking for in a trombonist when they hired me”, explains the 27-year-old musician, who has also played for Oscar D’Leon and Willy Chirino.
Lisset Morales, a respected Cuban singer and musical actress, remembers Heredia with “love and gratitude”, highlighting that he always had an open door for her and her music in the radio show.
WDNA will honor him with two special editions of Fusion Latina tonight, Monday, June 15th, and Tuesday, June 16th, in which Andy Harlow will receive friends in the studio to share memories and play some of his favorite records, the station announced in a statement.
