Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Machito was born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo on December 3, 1909 in Havana, Cuba. He began playing music as a child and started playing professionally in his teens before emigrating to America in 1937 as a vocalist with La Estrella Habanera.
In the late 30s he worked with several Latin artists and orchestras, recording with bandleader Xavier Cugat. An attempt to launch a band with his brother-in-law Mario Bauzá failed, but in 1940 Machito founded the Afro-Cubans and was the front man, singer, conductor and maraca player. The following year he hired Bauzá as his music director, a working relationship that lasted for 35 years.
Under Bauzá’s influence, Machito began hiring jazz-oriented arrangers and his bands of the 40s were among the first to fuse Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz improvisation that greatly inspired jazz giants Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton. Throughout his career he played and recorded with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Mann, and Johnny Griffin, held a spot at the Palladium and recorded Decca, Mercury and Clef labels.
In 1983 he won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording for Machito & His Salsa Big Band ’82. In 2005, his 1957 album, “Kenya”, was added to the list of “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. He played a huge role in the history of Latin jazz and passed away after suffering a fatal stroke on April 15, 1984 while playing on stage at Ronnie Scott’s in London. He was 74. A documentary of the great Cuban musician, Machito: A Latin Jazz Legacy was released in 1987.
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