Tony Cabral
A Great Mexican Organist
Tony Cabral was born in the City of Zacatecas, Mexico. As a boy, his parents observed his innate ability for music and his lyrical ability to play the guitar, piano and the accordion. He settled in the City of Guadalajara, Mexico to the Catholic Seminary where he practiced the organ and the piano on a liric way.
Years later, he formed a musical group, integrating his own brothers whom displayed their own unique abilities in performing diverse musical instruments such as the accordion which, he preformed for many years.
Later on, (1959) Tony still being very young, moved to Mexico City, where he found work playing for an organ importer called “Magnum”. During his time there and because of his exceptional talent he was contracted by the Hilton Corporation to perform for the Hilton in Mexico City, being one of the most exclusive hotels at the time.
In 1962 Tony got his first Hammond organ S-100 model being the newest at that time; the sound of this new organ was well received by Hilton visitors. In this same place in 1964 Mr. Ward Fulmer, the President of the Hammond Organ Corporation in Mexico, had the opportunity to listen to Tony, and was profoundly impressed by his ability and unique style, that he decides to contract him to promote the Hammond Organ line in all of Mexico.
The arrival of the Hammond X-66 to Mexico City
It was a big event in the making for the year of 1967. The arrival of the first X-66, a new innovative instrument not only in it’s futuristic design concept, but in it’s impressive sound characteristics. This X-66 was Serial No.76 of the assembly line; a few years later Tony Cabral got that very same organ (76 serial no.)
In 1968 Mr. Jim McLin of the Hammond Corporation of Chicago was invited to promote this new Hammond X-66 legacy with Tony Cabral and Manuel Zacarias through concerts given at the Hilton Hotel in Mexico City and Latin America. These concerts were a complete success for both organists, setting the path for them and the paths of many Mexican organists whom adopted the X-66 as their favorite performing instrument.
Tony Cabral and Television
In 1968, Tony Cabral was invited to perform in Mexico’s foremost variety shows called ”Siempre en Domingo” in which he performed regularly for over a year playing his X-66. The same year he recorded his first LP
International Tours
In 1969, Tony Cabral was invited by Mr. Donald Hace, the President of Hammond Organ International to promote the Hammond X-66. This tour brought Tony to Mexico, The United States, Canada, and South America, the tours were a tremendous success, bringing Tony to repeat some of his performances during this tour dazzling the audience with his style and ability on the X-66.
Tony Cabral has been an authentic fan of the Hammond Organ, but as he confesses, “ To me the best sounding organ in the world is the X-66, it is simply incomparable… the X-66 is my passion!
Tony Cabral, is still in the music business. He operates together with one of his sons, several musical instrument stores throughout Mexico…..but he has not lost the passion he got from that wonderful instrument, the Hammond X-66. To demonstrate this, he has made a new recording recently titled “ Tony is Back” performed with all his mastery, and full of wonderful melodies for all of us to enjoy.