Developing his groove Tropical band gets a Grammy nomination By Fernando Diaz Daily Herald Staff Writer Posted 1/27/2005 Every dance begins with a step. For Chicago's Angel Melendez and the 911 Mambo Orchestra, a trip to the big dance next month at the Grammy awards in Los Angeles began with the release of their first self-titled studio album. Tonight, Melendez and his 21-piece outfit will bring down the house with a rare performance at the VooDoo Nightclub in Schaumburg, where Latin music has made a home in the Northwest suburbs for years. Melendez, a music teacher at Farragut High School in Chicago, began his career as a young trombonist after seeing his cousin handle the horn. "I was into baseball and I was really good," Melendez said, "But when I saw my cousin play, that was it. I knew that's what I wanted to do." Fast forward through college, a full-time job as a teacher and stints as the leader of five different bands in Chicago and a record was about all that was left uncharted by Melendez. "Up until now he was the top local music director, the only guy from Chicago" in an industry where most heavyweights hail from Puerto Rico, New York City or Los Angeles, according to Andres Meneses, who met Melendez in college and in October 2003 decided to produce the album through Latin Street Dancing, his independent record label. On the album, Melendez wanted to record the band's raw energy on original arrangements and numbers by Tito Puente, Perez Prado and the band Fania. In three, 12-hour sessions at the Chicago Recording Company, "We did it live," he said. "There was an immediate response," said Meneses. The recording took off after Meneses shopped the album around the college circuit and on public radio. "The CD started playing nationwide, eventually reaching 180 stations and satellite radio," he added. "When he (Melendez) plays on stage, he makes you feel what dancers want to feel," Meneses said, "He knows a lot about tropical music, and he has his own ideas about how things need to sound." That sound is what drove Melendez to record the CD live. "I wanted to portray what the band really sounds like," adding that many groups record section by section, not allowing "for the groove to develop." Melendez admits "the competition is fierce" in the Best Traditional Tropical Album category at the 47th annual Grammy awards, which is scheduled for Feb. 13, but said he didn't record the album for the fame or the money. "It wasn't about making money as it is about producing good music," he said. Angel Melendez and the 911 Mambo Orchestra, which gets its name from Sept. 11, 1991, when Melendez started the band, will perform tonight at the VooDoo Nightclub, 601 Mall Drive in Schaumburg. The doors open at 7 p.m. and the band is scheduled for 10 p.m. The night will also feature a Latin dance lesson by Lisa La Boriqua, autograph signing by Melendez at 9 p.m., and an amateur dance contest at 11 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. For information, call (847) 969-1602.