“THIS GUY DOES NOT LOOK LATIN”

This chapter covers the overlooked legacy of the Panamanian musical community of Brooklyn and the greater New York metropolitan area. It explores how Panamanian musicians positioned themselves and were positioned both musically and socially by their Latino and non-Latino colleagues in New York. As Latinos of Black West Indian descent, the New York Panamanians encountered racism among both Latinos and African Americans, but worked with these groups of musicians and others in a variety of settings. The chapter presents numerous Panamanian musicians who successfully negotiated classical, jazz, Broadway, Caribbean, and Latin music scenes (often simultaneously) and created a considerable body of work that has not been previously analyzed or contextualized. Ultimately, the chapter demonstrates a number of the themes discussed in the introduction, including engagement with jazz, musical biculturalism, inter-ethnic collaboration, emphasis on music education, and family lineages of musicians.