Sometimes it’s impossible to predict how a risk could pay off, or if a gamble is worth taking. Fortunately this year the unknown was underlined by known factors, namely from my past experiences crewing on ships as a piano player on the high seas. This made flying to San Juan Puerto Rico in January 2025 a gamble that was worth leaving New Orleans before a snap snow storm and traditional Mardi Gras festivities in the Crescent City.
Before I left the swamp on the mainland there were no guarantees except a sunny research trip to the beach, but in my experience fortune can dramatically change just by locating myself directly in the path of blind luck. So it unfolded upon following the suggestion of an acquaintance to visit TheGalleryInn.com established in 1961, which now has not one, but seven Steinway pianos used regularly by world class performers including Yo-Yo Ma and Doc Severinson. As the boutique hotel’s 91 year old owner Jan D’Esopo explains in an interview, just one rare 1940s instrument was enough to get the Steinway company’s attention and designate her salon style venue as the SteinwaySocietyPR.org. This foundation sets the tone for hundreds of local pianists to practice our craft, but it was a complete surprise for everyone last week that there was a job I could do immediately at this unbelievable venue during the biggest local festival of the year.
Fiesta de la Calle San Sebastian is Old San Juan’s equivalent to Mardi Gras in New Orleans’ French Quarter, yet the Ciudad Viejo predates the Vieux Carré by nearly two centuries. Without exaggeration, a million people danced, sang and played traditional Puertoriqueño rhythms all weekend on bright, colorful and loud streets made of hand crafted, weathered blue bricks. People with trumpets, güiros and tambourines on the street accented the gigawatts of sound on stages big and small with legendary Latino musicians performing for participants. Majority attendees were dressed to impress, some topped with oversized, cartoonish paper maché heads.
The terrain rising from the Puerto Rico Trench is not only ideally situated for tourists between the Northern Atlantic and Caribbean Sea, but also is historically and strategically important to nations and pirates alike since it lies directly in the path of the trade winds & currents flowing from Europe and Africa. The San Juan National Historic Site houses authentic cannons used to protect the rich port from enemy ships entering the natural harbor, now managed by the United States National Parks Service. Like all of Puerto Rico’s most popular destinations however, the U.S. is only the most recent caretaker of the fort at El Morro.
No wonder U.S. imperialists aimed to claim Puerto Rico as its territory in 1898 following the bloody, rapid-fire Spanish American War. The entire island is a pearl of peaceful paradise in the best of times, notwithstanding the reputation of its La Perla neighborhood which is known as a notorious pirate haven on the doorstep of the world.
Across the street and up the cliffs from La Perla lies the street which is the epicenter of Puerto Rico’s annual street festival, La Calle San Sebastian. There is located the Gallery Inn, more accurately described as a complex of interconnected buildings which house the many Steinway grand pianos collected over a half century by world famous painter and sculptor Jan D’Esopo. Her visual artwork is displayed worldwide, perhaps most prominently her bronze sculptures outside the Puerto Rican capitol.
When I entered the Steinway Society’s headquarters unannounced looking for a gig, it was immediately apparent the meeting would have inevitably occurred sooner or later. Inviting me for an audition just two days after landing, the society’s founder instead reeled me in following an extended performance of “Rhapsody in Blue.” The weekend festivities passed eventfully, when D’Esopo found out I could blast my own trumpet to attract visitors from outside into the multi-piano venue. Once there, guests were treated to fine food and cocktails, plus a Jazz quartet anchored by Puertorriqueño musicians from a world class music conservatory.
As if this combination weren’t already the picture of paradise for pianists, the proprietor enters the salon nightly, adorned with rare tropical birds who greet guests with an ear piercing “Hola!” while rufflng their feathers in song and dance atop the grand piano.
In a year marked with change for better or worse, at least now I can rest easy knowing there exists a haven of kindred spirits in music and the arts. The festival and five century old city situated on idyllic beaches notwithstanding, this tropical paradise was bound to be my new home at least until hurricane season. And until some other sun kissed pirate takes me away from here, I think it’s safe to say you’ll find me nearby practicing piano, whenever the sun doesn’t lure me to a certain fate of relaxing in the piano shaped pool overlooking the turquoise waves and prevailing Northeasterly winds.
David Hull, Piano Entertainer, AFM Local 174-496/ +1 (504) 881-3345 FunkNoise.com, ProhibitionRecords.org, Patreon.com/ProhibitionRecords, Facebook.com/PreservationHull Facebook.com/ProhibitionRex, YouTube.com/DehaMusicCo, Twitter.com/DehaMusicCo, Instagram.com/FunkNoise
