Sometime in late 1973 Los Mozambiques split into two groups, both using the same name: Los Mozambiques de Oscar de Leon, and the Murrell-led Los Autenticos Mozambiques/Los Mozambiques de Jaime Murrell. During this period litigation began over who had the rights to use the name Los Mozambiques, which had gained currency with the Panamanian public.
Most of the original band stayed with Murrell, while Carlos Martinez, who was closer to timbalero Oscar de Leon, went over to record a 45 with Los Excelentes (“Todo Esta Sabroso” on Taboga) , who already had a singer of their own in budding star Carlos “El Grande” Ferrer. Murrell took the band into the studio – still with Discos Ismeños – to record a full-length LP, which was released in early 1974.
The result was the now much sought-after LP Los Autenticos Mozambiques! Marcado. Tumbero Santiago Small remained as did Roberto Dominguez (who would go on to form Roberto y su Zafra) on guitar, while Cortijo Atherley had now taken over from De Leon as timbalero/drummer. Murrell and Atherley added horns in Dario Rodriguez and Hermogenes “Toty” Pino (trombone). Toty Pino would go on to be a well known name on the combos scene as well, leading Los Excelentes.
Here are two songs people particularly enjoy off the Marcado LP: “Marcado” (which has some of the Western Movie vibe the cover displays) and “Lonely Soldier”
Because of that “inquietud” that musicians talk about, Murrelll continued to try to find a new sound, adding a young pianist and arranger we’ll hear more about later, David Choy, to his Los Mozambiques de Jaime Murrell. Recall that all the previous incarnations of Los Mozambiques had been guitar-led, as was the case with most of the smaller combos of the time.
This iteration of Murrell’s band entered the studio to record for the Happy label, run by Alcides Almanza. The result was a lovely bilingual soul tune (a Murrell specialty) called “I Like To Be With You”, where Choy’s work on piano stands out:
Murrell’s vision was morphing into something new – meanwhile legal action was apparently being resolved in Oscar de Leon’s favor, meaning he would be able to use the Los Mozambiques name going forward.