Hall of Fame Honorees - Horacio Roddriguez

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Horacio "Cola" Rodriguez
Inducted: 2009
(1954 - 2004)

Horacio “Cola” Rodriguez was born in Buenas Aires, Argentina, where he grew up and lived with his family until early adulthood.

Cola was blessed throughout his life with a rare sweetness of disposition that was evident to all who met and knew him. As a musician and bass player, he was also blessed with an unerring ear for music and an almost unequaled sense of pitch, which allowed to work throughout his career with a wide variety music acts, and most especially with jazz bands

He was entirely self-taught, which made his musical talent all the more striking.

Having started his career playing in Argentina, he eventually found his way to Europe where he worked for some years, touring regularly with various jazz ensembles. In the late 1970’s he settled in Switzerland, and found steady work playing with bands in Swiss resorts.

In Switzerland, Cola met and began playing with a fellow Argentinian, jazz pianist Angel Sucheras. When Sucheras was engaged, in 1979, by a group of Austin club owners to relocate to Austin and lead the house band at a new jazz club and restaurant called the Treehouse, Cola came with him as the bassist for the Angel Sucheras Quartet.

Cola and Sucheras were also accompanied to Austin by Chilean sax & flute player, Vicho Vicencio, who performed at the Treehouse with the Sucheras Quartet and the Flute Circle for much of 1979 and 1980 as the house band at the Treehouse. During their time playing at the Treehouse, Vicencio and Cola developed a close friendship and musical rapport. Vicencio remembers Cola as one of the finest bassists with whom he ever had the good fortune to perform.

When Cola’s house band gig at the Treehouse ended in late 1980, Cola remained in Austin and joined the Sandy Allen Trio where he played six nights a week for 4 years with Sandy and Rob Fedson. By the time that residency ended, he had become very much in demand by Austin jazz bandleaders to work in their bands.

For considerably more than the next decade, Cola became one of the most active players in Austin’s jazz scene, and a favorite of local bandleaders. He was so easy to work with, and so unassuming, given the immensity of his talent, that employment opportunities came easily and naturally to him and he was constantly in demand to perform.

For some years he was a regular player in Austin’s Creative Opportunity Orchestra and he was also a regular part of Hedwig Gorski’s East of Eden Showband.

Cola was 50 years old when he passed away from a heart condition in 2004.

After his passing, Vicho Vicencio spoke for many of the musicians who had worked with Cola over the years. “Cola”, Vicho said, “had the unique capability of blending seamlessly in with the music of any band he performed with. His musical sensibility and intelligence was so adaptable and nuanced that he could instantly pick up the beat of a band and fit in with its style and rhythm as though he’d been part of the band for years.”

One of the wonders of Austin jazz is that players the caliber of Cola Rodriguez find their way to Austin and over the course of years enrich the city’s jazz community with their artistry and talent, and when they’ve gone what’s left behind is a legacy of beauty that continues to enhance and energize both the city and its music.

AUSTIN JAZZ SOCIETY

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