The Bass player (and I think Musical Director) is Gerardo
"Lalo" Carrillo. 'Lalo' acquired his first Smith bass from Melvin Davis. It was the same bass Melvin played in the Eddie Murphy movie 'Coming to America'. The band in that movie was headed up by the movie's co-star Arsenio Hall. This was a BT6G Quilted maple bass. Melvin had about 6 of them when he parted with it. I think they were good friends and there was some begging involved on Lalo's part to pry it from Melvin's hands.
When I saw them in New York at Radio City about 10 years ago or more it looked as if he was leading the Band. Some of the intro's were played on the 6-string Smith Bass in place of the normal Guitar intro's you would normally see and hear.
That was the last of about 3 nights they played in NY and they had a small party back stage after the show. While waiting in a fairly long line with other invitees, some one came to the inside stage door and called out 'Ken Smith'!?!. Many people were saying 'hey say I'm with you' and they escorted us in, my wife and I. No one else holding backstage passes that night were allowed backstage after the show because Luis was sticking around for the party and didn't want any other people than the band in the dressing room where the party was. When we were introduced my wife Claudia and I to him by 'Lalo', Luis said to me "He's nothing without your bass" with a smile and a face to face 'ribbing' to 'Lalo'. It was very funny at the time. I guess you had to be there to share the laugh but, no one was allowed in! I guess you will just have to take my word for it!
I want to thank Hajime, my Japanese distributor and good friend for over a decade now for posting these videos. In the Latin world of music,
Luis Miguel is as big as it gets. Adding all of his accomplishments he sits beside
Julio Iglesias. I thought I would mention this with the links for those of you that are not so familiar with Latin Popular music. No doubt, these are two of the Kings in Latin music of our time.