When Union City Police Sgt. Lionel Ortega is not fighting crime in Union City, he is at the piano playing tradition Cuban music in New York and New Jersey nightclubs.
Ortega, a Union City resident who has spent half his life in West New York, has played the piano for Chico Alvarez, a well-known Cuban performer, for the past 20 years.
Ortega plays with Alvarez and Afro-Caribe, an 11-piece band, and Alvarez and Tropiconbo, a seven-piece band.
Ortega has been a police officer for 17 years, three of them assigned to the chief’s office.
Starting young
Ortega played piano since the age of 4 and was chosen at 11 to play piano at Carnegie Hall.
"I still remember. I was nervous like a wreck," said Ortega. "It was the small hall. I didn’t make it to the big hall. Not yet."
Even though Ortega was a pianist, his first job in a band featured him playing the 12-string guitar. At 15, Ortega had his first on-stage performance with a Latin band called Casino International, at a dance in St. Augustine’s in Union City. Ortega played the 12-string guitar until the end of that year, when the band’s piano player moved to Florida.
Then, Ortega became Casino International’s piano player. He played piano with them for the first time in Connecticut.
"I did a real lousy job," said Ortega. "I was trained in classical music. I had no idea what popular music was like."
Ortega had been listening to traditional Cuban music his whole life. Ortega’s family was always involved in music. His parents both played the guitar, his aunt sang on Cuban radio, and even his grandmother used to write songs.
"It was totally different," said Ortega. "Classical music is very methodical. You learn to read the music. What you play is what is on the paper."
Ortega added, "In Cuban music, most of what you play is not written." He explained the technique in Cuban music called tunbao: "They’ll give you the chords and you do what you want with it."
After Casino International, Ortega moved on to play with other bands, including one that performed purely Dominican music.
"That wasn’t what I was used to playing," said Ortega.
Meeting Chico
Ortega met Chico Alvarez while playing with another band called Zafra that played all different types of Latin music.
Alvarez has recorded three albums in his career and one album with Ortega in 1989. Ortega and Alvarez still perform together in New York City and New Jersey clubs.
Ortega said that Cuban music is gaining popularity with other ethnic groups in New York City, not just Cuban and other Latin communities.
"In the city, there are clubs every night that offer Cuban music to their patrons," said Ortega, who added that he still performs at least once or twice a week.
His next show will be at Nells at 246 W 14th St. in New York City on Sept. 4. A $10 admission fee will be charged.
Writing jingles
Ortega, along with his uncle, Sergio Sori, also writes campaign jingles for most of the local politicians. Many of these jingles have aired on the radio and on television.
Ortega’s first jingle was written for Rep. Robert Menendez (D- 13th Dist.). Since then he has written two more jingles for Menendez and other jingles for former West New York Mayor Anthony DeFino, West New York Mayor Albio Sires and Perth Amboy Mayor Voz.
Ortega recently graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice from Thomas A. Edison College and plans to continue to study music.
"I would like to go back and study some more," said Ortega. "You never stop learning in music."