La Guapa Papa: Red Beans & Writhe

Posted 31 May 2010, 10:28

During my 10-year sojourn in New York City (1978-1988), one of my best musical experiences was playing as a member of Bill Obrecht’s group La Guapa Papa. Guapa played a kind of danceable jazz/latin/funk/punk instrumental hybrid with two to three horns, guitar, bass, drums and percussion. We had great charts, the majority of which were written by Bill. We played at places like the Mudd Club, CBGB, Danceteria, and other cool but long-gone venues. The band was originally called The Smoking Section, but someone else was already using the name, so Bill came up with La Guapa Papa (which can be variously translated as “the sexy potato” or “the beautiful Pope” — I believe Bill preferred the former interpretation). The membership of the band shifted from time to time over the course of the 2-3 years we were together, but it was always a great crew, notably including the great Ralph Carney for a short time before he left NY — I still remember an amazing bass sax solo that Ralph played on one early live date.

We never released anything (these were the pre-Internet days before it was so easy to release one’s own music), but we did make at least one studio recording, a four-song demo (I don’t remember the exact circumstances) for which I still have a cassette copy. The recording was made on February 1-3, 1983 at Hi Five Studio in NYC by Scott Lehrer. The personnel was:

Here is the first cut, which I wrote and arranged, called “Red Beans & Writhe”. Sorry about the sound quality, but it’s not too bad considering that I ripped it from at 27-year-old cassette!

La Guapa Papa: Red Beans & Writhe

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  1. much fun here~


    — kraig grady    3 June 2010, 01:57    #
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