Aaron Gonzalez Signed Sheet Music Collection (Beverly Hills Rumba, Tu Cariño, & Latin Jazz Ephemera), Circa 1937–1953 🎼✍️🌴

This is a rare collection of vintage sheet music singles compiled by Aaron Gonzalez, a significant Mexican-American composer and orchestra leader in the mid-20th century.

The collection is a primary source document of the Latin Music Craze that swept through Hollywood and American ballrooms in the 1930s and 1940s.

Its value is secured by the verifiable handwritten signature of Aaron Gonzalez himself, dated 1940, making it a unique association piece connecting the artist directly to his music.

2. About the Artwork/Book/Object 📖✍️✨ This lot contains a substantial body of work composed by or featuring Aaron Gonzalez, with titles spanning various Latin rhythms, including the Rumba, Tango, and Conga. Key titles include "Beverly Hills Rumba," "Amargura," and "Tu Cariño".

The music sheets themselves are highly valuable as period graphic ephemera, featuring stylized covers that reflect the exoticized glamour of Latin music in American popular culture. The collection contains material copyrighted from 1937 to 1953, providing a substantial bibliographical record of the genre's evolution over two decades.

3. About the Artist/Author/Maker ✍️🏛️ Aaron Gonzalez was a key figure in the Los Angeles Latin music scene who received his education at the University of Southern California (USC). His orchestra was the house band for over a decade at the famously luxurious Beverly Hills Hotel, making him a fixture in Hollywood’s high society.

His work successfully fused traditional Mexican and South American rhythms with American pop sensibilities, achieving widespread commercial success. The cover of "Tu Cariño" features a photograph of the great bandleader Xavier Cugat, underscoring the high-level connections and cultural stature of Gonzalez within the era’s musical elite.

4. Historical/Political Era Context 🌍🕰️📜 This collection originates from the 1930s–1950s, a period defined by the Latin Music Boom in the United States, driven in part by President Roosevelt’s "Good Neighbor Policy" toward Latin America.

Hollywood stars and the American public enthusiastically embraced dances and songs from Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico. Sheet music like "Beverly Hills Rumba" and "Brazilian Holiday" explicitly documents this cultural and commercial fusion, marketing Latin dance rhythms directly to the American consumer. The music itself serves as a time capsule of the sophisticated, often glamorous entertainment culture of the pre-war and post-war night club circuit in Southern California.

5. The Ideal Collector 💡🧐🏛️ This collection is an essential acquisition for a curator of 20th-Century American Musical History, Latin Jazz Ephemera, and Los Angeles Cultural History.

It is ideally suited for a collector who specializes in documented association pieces from the mid-century entertainment industry. The verifiable signature and the material's strong link to the Beverly Hills Hotel and Xavier Cugat’s circle make this a unique and tangible asset for researchers and dedicated musicologists.

6. Value & Rarity 💎✨🏛️ This collection of original sheet music spans over 16 years of American musical history and is signed by the composer. The average age of the collection is approximately 78 years old.

Its Bibliographical Scarcity is high because the lot contains multiple pieces by one composer, including one with a unique, personal inscription and signature. The value is secured by the Signature Premium and the Historical Context Premium of documenting the work of a prominent Mexican-American musician in the glamorous Hollywood scene.

7. Condition 🔎📚✨ The physical condition has been assessed directly from the provided high-resolution photography. The objects are deemed to be in Fair to Good Vintage Condition, with expected wear consistent with antique paper ephemera.

• Signature: The handwritten signature and inscription by Aaron Gonzalez is clear and fully legible on the cover of "Tu Cariño".

• Media: The collection consists of multiple individual sheet music singles.

• Wear: There is significant wear, edge chipping, and patina fading on the paper covers and internal sheets.

• Integrity: The musical notation is fully legible on all sheets, confirming the value as a usable score.

8. Fun Facts & Unique Features 🤓📜🤩

• Beverly Hills Fixture: Aaron Gonzalez was famous for leading the orchestra at the Beverly Hills Hotel for a decade, providing the soundtrack for Hollywood's elite.

• Cugat Association: The cover of "Tu Cariño" explicitly features a photograph of bandleader Xavier Cugat with a caption, underscoring the strong cross-promotion within the Latin music industry.

• Early Signature: The signature date of 11/10/1940 places the inscription just before America's entry into WWII, during the peak of the Latin music craze.

• Copyright Scope: The sheet music copyright lines document a complex global publishing network, listing publishers in New York, Hollywood, Cleveland, and Barcelona, showcasing the international reach of these popular songs.

9. Supporting Information 🏷️📦💰

• Object Type: Collection of Vintage Sheet Music Singles (Signed)

• Title: Aaron Gonzalez Signed Sheet Music Collection (Multiple Titles)

• Author/Maker: Aaron Gonzalez, Jr., et al.

• Year/Period: Circa 1937–1953 (Signed 1940)

• Publisher/Foundry: Various (Azteca Music Publishers, Peer International Corp., Sam Fox Pub. Co., Southern Music Publishing Co.)

• Place of Origin: Hollywood, New York, Cleveland, USA

• Format/Binding: Unbound Sheet Music Singles

• Rarity: Signed Association Piece / High Scarcity

• Verbatim Transcription (Inscription on "Tu Cariño"): "From 'Me to You' Aaron Gonzalez 11/10/40"

"Brazilian Holiday" (Sim - Sim - Sim) 
Copyright 1952

"Amagura"
Copyright 1948

"Beverly Hills Rumba" (Rumba-Ba! Rumba-Ba!)
Copyright 1953

"Ayer, Hoy Y Mañana" 
Copyright MCMXXXCII (1937)

"Tu Carino" 
SIGNED "From "Me to You" Aaron Gonzalez 11/10/1940"
Copyright MCMXXXVIII (1938)

"Luna Salvaje" (Tango) 
Copyright MCMXXXVII (1937)

"Two Shadows In The Moonlight"
Copyright 1942

"El Marranito"
Copyright 1950 

Timbalero (Conga) 
Copyright 1919

Aaron Gonzalez was born in Puebla, Mexico, educated at USC and the Colleges of Music and Engineering. His orchestra performed at the Beverly Hills (California) Hotel for over a decade.