I left Puerto Rico on Wednesday morning for Miami in order to connect with a Avianca flight to Bogota to perform with the Latin Jazz Encounter sextet with Alfredo de la Fe as guest artist. I arrived in Miami and ran to catch the connecting flight. There was a 2 hour layover and I arrived in Bogota at 9pm. After retrieving my oversized yellow suitcase and going thru customs and immigration it was 10 pm when I finally reached the outdoors. I did not see anyone I knew nor did anyone come to meet me. I did not know the name of the hotel I was booked into and my cell phone did not work here. After about 15 minuets of worrying I was met by the promoters from Bogota who run the Ticketmaster outlet and are big promoters that bring Broadway shows as well as Winnie the Pooh, Lion King etc etc as well as Latin acts. I was driven to the Dann Carlton Hotel, A 5 star old fashioned beauty and checked into a beautiful mini suite. Came back to the lobby bar and had a really cold rum and diet coke. It calmed me down and we waited for Oscar and this crew to show up from Medellin. After some introductions we got down to business with the next days schedule. I was introduced to their press / public relations lady and was given a long schedule for Thursday, starting at 8:15 am.

After a good night's sleep, I awoke for a hearty breakfast on the mezzanine. We started by going to our press conference, with tv crews newspaper reporters. I sat at a black Yamaha grand piano(out of tune) and one by one they interviewed me. They all knew my credentials and asked very intelligent quiestions. I t lasted 2 hrs. then I left for the rest of the afternoon doing radio shoes until 7:30pm.

The band showed up at the hotel aboiut 5pm from NYC without problems. We were given our allowance for food and that chilled out the musicians. Alfredo and Baby Isaza, were coming on Friday about noon from Medellin for te sound check. I had a great dinner and fell asleep at 10pm. I awoke and hit the gym for a half hour, had breakfast and started out at 8;30am for the tv stations. I did them by myself and waited for Alfredo to get there for his turn. Got back to the hotel for just enough time to shit, shave and shampoo and leave for the Teatro Gaitan for the sound check. A really big theater for 1800 seats. Nice dressing rooms with refreshments and a decent advance ticket sale with room for 500 walkins. The show went on schedule with about 1200 seats sold. Bogota was having a cold spell and a rainy few days. The band sounded great and we played some salsa, with Alfredo’s vocalist Igor sitting in on 3 songs and picking up the crowd. 2encores made my day. Great publicity.

We all left the Bogota hotel at 9am for the airport to fly to Medellin. The flight was 45 min and we arrived to a sun filled 90degree day. Oscar has 2 vans to pick us up and we drove the 45 min thru the curved mountain roads until we reached the valley of Medellin. We checked into the Dann. Carlton, a beautiful 5 star hotel that I stayed in many years ago. I had a huge suite with 2 baths and 2 large rooms with flat screen tvs and dvd players with surround sound. We rested and had lunch and at 5pm went to the Theatro Metropolitana, 1600 seat beautiful theater. The sound system was great and they had risers for the drums and congas. Appearing with me this weekend were first timer Vince Cherico on drums, Baby Isaza on bass, Alfredo de la Fe on electric violin, Chembo Corniel on congas, Frank Fontaine on Bari sax and flute and Mac Gollehon on trumpet. We had an hour to rest up and change clothes and have some beers and fruit and snacks,. The show started 8:10 for there was a big line go get in. The theater was almost capacity at about 1500 persons with big ticket price. We did a 1 hour 45 minute set and got standing ovations, with fans rushing the stage for the final 3 songs. Once again Igor sang with us the salsa numbers. It was a wonderful evening. I chilled out in my dressing roon for about a half hour, changed my clothes and when I came out there were many fans wanting photos and autographs. I did not realize how popular I am in Medellin! WOW! Next time I should raise my price!

A good time and great performances were had all weekend long. I awoke Sunday am, Had breakfast and went to catch some sun at this beautiful pool with Vince and Chembo. We rested for a few hours and then I went to Latino Stereo for an interview. They are the top station in Medellin and always feature my music over the last 20 years. Good business will be had in the future. We raced at 3pm for the airport and waited on line for 2 hrs and just made the flight to NYC. A lot of security checks slowed everyone down. Had an easy 5 hr flight back to Kennedy. Arrived ay 12:15 am Monday morning , went thru immigration and customs and Taxied to my apartment. Arrived at 2am and was very glad to be home again after 2 weeks away from everyone. My eye is feeling better and I have a chance to rest up until next weekend.

Larry Harlow