Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría Rodríguez was born on April 7, 1917 in Havana, Cuba and learned rumba as a kid in the streets of the barrio. Mentored on bongos and rumba quinto by Clemente “Chicho” Piquero, Mongo recorded some of the very first recorded folkloric rumbas.
Santamaría began playing bongos with Septeto Beloña in 1937. In the 1940s he worked in the house band of the prestigious Tropicana nightclub. When Chicho could not join a late Forties Mexico tour, Mongo stepped in and opened a wider audience. Then a move to New York proved fortuitous as he joined Tito Puente followed by Cal Tjader’s Latin jazz combo.
In 1959 he composed and recorded Afro Blue that has since become a jazz standard. In 1963 when Chick Corea left the band, Santamaria hired Herbie Hancock and a subsequent backstage conversation between Mongo and Donald Byrd who recommended Herbie play Watermelon Man, led to Santamaria recording the tune that soared to the top of the charts.
He recorded over thirty-six albums as a leader and sideman, established a niche of blending Afro-Cuban and African American music. He was an integral figure in the fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with R&B and soul, paving the way for the boogaloo era of the late 1960s such as the Temptations 1969 hit “Cloud Nine”, on which he played congas.
Mongo Santamaria, rumba quinto master, conguero and percussionist, whose rendition of Watermelon Man has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and whose name has been punned in the classic Mel Brooks/Richard Pryor comedy screenplay Blazing Saddles as “Mongo! Santa Maria!” passed away on February 1, 2003 in Miami, Florida.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rodrigo Villanueva was born in Mexico City, Mexico on March 26, 1967 and began playing drums at age of 15, studying privately and taking classical percussion and jazz studies at Escuela Superior de Musica, Ollin Yolitztly and Escuela Nacional de Musica. In 1987, he joined the jazz group Atri 5 recording Ice Cream Concerto and Flavors of the Stars, touring Mexico and playing in several international new music festivals.
Over the course of his career Rodrigo has performed in several theater bands, television shows and studio sessions; and in the jazz/classical genre with Carlos Prieto, Roberto Limón, Marisa Canales, Ana Maria Tradatti and Takagoshi Yoshioka to name a few. He has been a member of the Contemporary Jazz Trio, Brass Explosion, Fénix and Jazztlán; and has co-led the group Espiral.
Villanueva has toured the U.S., Mexico, South America, Europe and Asia with several jazz and pop projects, has won the National Final Nescafe-Yamaha Pop Music Award Band Explosion with the group Corazón Latino, and has composed and arranged in the jazz and pop idioms including big band. He has played with his alma mater’s lab bands at the University of North Texas, performed with Charles McPherson, Eddie Gomez, Clark Terry, Wycliffe Gordon, Stefan Karlsson, Jimmy Owens and Fareed Haque amongst his list of many.
As an educator drummer and percussionist Villanueva has taught drum-set and percussion courses and master classes at different institutions in Mexico, the U.S., Perú, Korea, & Japan. He is currently an Associate Professor of Jazz Studies at Northern Illinois University, coaches the NIU Jazz Lab Band and continues to play with several groups.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Masahiko Togashi was born in Tokyo, Japan on March 22, 1940 and began his musical education with the violin at age 6. It was some time later that the young man took up drums. He made his debut as a professional drummer at 14 with his father’s swing band and appeared on his first recording three years later with Sadao Watanabe’s Cozy quartet.
Togashi would go on to form his own quartet, releasing his group’s debut album, We Now Create, in 1969. However, a spinal injury in 1970 left the jazz percussionist permanently paralyzed from the waist down, and he would play the rest of his life seated in a specially designed wheelchair.
His physical disability limited his international travels and festival appearances, but frequently played with visiting musicians most notably saxophonist Steve Lacy who performed and recorded extensively with Togashi during his 12 tours in Japan, in particular Bura-Bura featuring Lacy along with Don Cherry and Dave Holland.
Drummer Masahiko Togashi passed away of heart failure at age 67 in his home in Kanagawa, Japan on August 22, 2007. Over the course of his career, which spanned more than 50 years, the percussionist strived to broaden the exposure of Japanese jazz and bridge Western music with the traditional sounds of eastern Asia.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Mino Cinelu was born on March 10, 1957 in Saint-Cloud, Haute-de-Seine and was introduced to music as a child playing percussion in concert halls in the suburbs of Paris. He became interested in jazz, rock, salsa eventually expanded into fado, flamenco, African, Japanese and other varieties.
His first instrument was the bongo drums, which led him to decide to try and live from his music. He often played the bongos in the streets experimenting with improvisation. By the end of the 1970s he became more and more interested in the French jazz-fusion scene working with Jef Gilson, Chute Libre and Moravagine
In 1979 Mino moved to New York, met George Benson, Wayne Shorter, Kenny Barron and Cassandra Wilson, added new instruments to his repertoire, and was soon joining Miles Davis on tour. This recognition led Joe Zawinul asking him to be a part of Weather Report during which time he began composing with the help of Wayne Shorter and Zawinul.
Cinelu also played with Michel Portal prior to beginning his solo career in the 1990s with his self-titled debut album Mino Cinelu was released in 2000, followed by Quest Journey in 2002 and La Californie in 2006. He continues to compose, record and perform.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Alex Acuña was born Alejandro Neciosup Acuña on December 12, 1944 in Pativilca, Peru. He played in local bands such as La Orquesta de los Hermanos Neciosup from the age of ten, then followed his brothers and moved to Lima, Peru as a teenager. At the age of eighteen he joined the band of Perez Prado, and in 1965 moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In 1974 he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and worked with Elvis Presley, The Temptations, and Diana Ross. The following year he joined the jazz-fusion group Weather Report, and while in New York City, Acuña recorded several songs for RCA records. Leaving Weather Report in 1978 he became a session musician in California, recording and playing live with r&b and jazz musicians Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Roberta Flack,Al Jarreau and the list goes on and on.
The Eighties saw Alex recording and touring with the Christian jazz band Koinonia. In 1987 he was summoned back to Perú by producer Ricardo Ghibellini to be the musical producer of Los Hijos del Sol, a group of Peruvians designed to promote Peruvian music worldwide.
Drummer and percussionist Alex Acuña, who has worked as an educator at University of California Los Angeles, and Berklee College of Music, LAMA, Musicians Institute, USC, and CSUN, continues his career of performing and educating.
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