Junior Mayol is a Dominican saxophonist, arranger, composer and producer from Higüey, born on 27 July 1980. He sings as well, though the horn is what he is known for.

The horn section

He has played in a number of the country’s important orchestras. That is the working life of a Dominican wind player: merengue is built on its horn section, and a good saxophonist moves between bands for decades without ever fronting one.

Higüey is in the far east, a long way from where the orchestras rehearse. Getting from there onto a merengue bandstand takes the journey most Dominican musicians of his generation made.

Llegó el Hombre

In 2012 he put together a project of his own and produced Llegó el Hombre, seventeen tracks including two tribute pieces. He has described it as something that started as a game and turned into a full production, which is how a sideman’s first record usually happens.

He has kept working since across all four of his trades — writing, arranging, producing and playing — and has collaborated with other artists on the current merengue circuit.