Finally after 35 years out of print, the swinging band that performed all over New York City including The Village Gate, Hunts Point Palace, The Cheetah & the Corso...La Orquesta Dee Jay.
ORQUESTA DEE JAY - FORGET IT (2007)
DISCOGRAPHY Orquesta Dee Jay – “FORGET IT” Year
Released: 1971/2007 LATIN SOUL RECORD LABEL
1 Mi Son 2 Calunga
3 Forget it 4 Maniatica
5 Yemaya Y Obatala
6 Dile Que Vuelva
7 Dona Paula
8 Buena Suerte
Thanks to the research and promotions performed by Jerry Hernandez on the Internet this remarkable band has once again gained popularity with the Salsa dance and collectors community in South America, Europe and Asia. You can now witness the revival of this incredible Salsa Dura Band known as “La Orquesta Dee Jay”. Jerry Hernandez, the Trombonist of the band, by popular demand throughout the Salsa World has reformed the band and is the current director and leader of La Orquesta Dee Jay.
The original band was started back in 1968 by George De Jesus and was one of the most popular swinging Latin bands with some of the youngest musicians in the Latin Music industry. The band performed with all the legendary salsa bands of the 70’s and had the crowds swinging’ and dancing to their vibrant New York sound. The band also performed in all the famous NYC nightclubs including The Cheetah, The Psycho Room and “The Village Gate” which only featured headliners. In addition to their great performances on the New York Club scene, the group also appeared on the Miguelito Valdez TV show.
The name Dee Jay was derived from De Jesus thus the band was named Orchestra Dee Jay because Orquesta De Jesus sounded like it had religious connotations. Cuban Latin music producer Ralph Lew who spoke English came on board and nicked named the band “La Dee Jay” which was derived from “La Orquesta Dee Jay”. Although most of the band members with the exception of George De Jesus were born in New York City, the sons of Brooklyn loved the idea of keeping the group name in Spanish even though they could not speak Spanish well. The band was also not into the Boogaloo craze of the late 60’s & early 70’s and wanted to keep their music and name as typical as possible. However, In order to conform to record companies’ request, “Black Shadow” was created and this was the only Boogaloo tune recorded by this hard-hitting Salsa band.
The first LP was recorded in 1970 on MGM Latino and was called “Pa 'Alante Con La Orquesta Dee Jay” (Straight Ahead with Orq. Dee Jay) was a big hit for the group and approximately a year later, another masterpiece album was created called “Forget it” on Lewgas Records. Orquesta Dee Jay was a unique band who did not put any of their music on paper. Their music was original and arrangements were created from jam sessions they had before rehearsals in the basement of De Jesus Bridal shop. “If it sounds good and it’s swinging, the heck with it, let’s record it” said George De Jesus. Orquesta Dee Jay looks forward to coming back into the scene bringing their talent and music to the international world of salsa.For more information e-maill Jerry Hernandez at Jerrytb1@aol.com or OrquestaDeeJay@aol.com
ORQUESTA DEE JAY 
