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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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Pat Patrick was born Laurdine Kenneth Patrick Jr. on November 23, 1929 in East Moline, Illinois, to Laverne and Laurdine Kenneth Patrick. He first learned piano, drums, and trumpet as a child, and then switched to saxophones. He attended and studied music at DuSable High School in Chicago, Illinois where he met fellow students and future musicians bassist Richard Davis and saxophonists John Gilmore and Clifford Jordan. While still in school he was baritone saxophonist for the Regal Theater’s house band.
1949 saw Pat enrolled at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, but soon returned to Chicago to study at Wilson Junior College. Around 1950 he first played in one of Sun Ra’s bands as part of a trio and occasionally in Sun Ra’s Arkestra. By 1954 he became a regular member of the band. He moved to New York City in 1961, spent several years in the Arkestra’s communal residences in the East Village and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He went on to play and record with John Coltrane, Blue Mitchell, Mongo Santamaría, Thelonious Monk, and Babatunde Olatunji. In 1972, Patrick co-founded the Baritone Saxophone Retinue, which featured Charles Davis and recorded two albums for Saturn Records.
He toured Europe with Sun Ra in 1970 and 1976, and was part of some other Arkestra performances in that decade, but he also devoted time to teaching at the State University of New York at Old Westbury.>
Baritone and alto saxophonist, bassist, flutist, percussionist and composer Pat Patrick, who is known for his 40-year association with Sun Ra, died from leukemia in Moline on December 31, 1991.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rolando Matias was born on November 20, 1957 in Cupey Alto, San Juan, Puerto Rico. A self-taught musician, he applies his formal training as an architect into his musical education. He started playing percussion at a young age at the local Bembes, a neighborhood gathering where rumberos jam and improvise together.
Rolando has performed or recorded with Chuchito Valdez, Benny Maupin, Leon ..Ndugu.. Chadler, Azar Lawrence, Othello Molineaux, Mimi Fox, Bobby Matos, Bobby Sanabria, Bill Summers, Lenny Castro, Eddie “The Chief” Clearwater, Kenny Neal, Duke Robillard, Cleveland Roberto Ocasio, David Sanchez, and the list goes on and on.
His projects vary from Rolando Matias & The Afro-Rican Ensemble, Afro-Latin-BeBop, Latin-Soulsa & Jazz RM:Intrin-x-ico, Afro-Jazz Rolando Matias & Cuba-son Salsa na ma!, and Afro-Latin-Hip/Hop.
Percussionist Rolando Matias, who plays congas, bongos, cowbells, bata drums, hand percussion, claves, guiros, and maracas, etc, continues to perform and explore music from the African Diaspora.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Tupac Mantilla was born October 21, 1978 in Bogotá, Columbia. Holding a Master of Music Honors Degree from the New England Conservatory, he won first prize at the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra’s Classical Soloist Competition in 2002.
As a scholar, Mantilla is associated with Stanford University and the Berklee College of Music. He gives workshops and lectures and runs rhythm/percussion oriented programs worldwide, through Percuaction’s Global Rhythm Institute (GRI), of which he is founder, CEO and artistic director.
Mantilla has appeared at festivals, institutions and venues and several percussion-oriented workshops and lectures for multi-national companies and organizations around the world.
Mantilla has collaborated and performed with artists including Bobby McFerrin, Bill Cosby, Esperanza Spalding, Zakir Hussain, Savion Glover, Danilo Perez, Tia Fuller, Julian Lage, Reinhard Flatischler, Kenny Werner, John Patitucci, Bob Moses, Cecil McBee, Medeski Martin & Wood, Lisa Fischer, Selene Muñoz, Jamey Haddad, Anders Koppel, and the Bogotá’s Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.
Drummer and percussionist Tupac Mantilla, who is the artistic director of the percussion group Tekeyé, continues to devote much of his time to his solo percussion project.
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