Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Ray Barretto was born on April 29, 1929 in New York City of Puerto Rican descent. Raised in Spanish Harlem he was influenced by his mother’s love of music and the jazz of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. At 17 he was in the Army, met Belgium vibist Fats Sadi and realized his true calling when hearing Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gillespie play Manteca.
After his return in 1949 Barretto started joining in on jam sessions perfecting his conga style, played with Charlie Parker, Jose Curbelo and Tito Puente, with whom he would play for four years. He was soon sought by other jazz bandleaders and as a result of Ray’s musical influence, Latin percussionists started to appear in jazz groups.
By 1960, Barretto was a house musician for the Prestige, Blue Note, and Riverside labels. He also recorded on Columbia Records with jazz flautist Herbie Mann. New York had become the center of Latin music in the U.S. from which “pachanga” arose as the Latin music craze of the time. In 1961, Barretto recorded his first hit, “El Watusi” that became the first Latin song to enter the Billboard charts. He would go on to record 41 records as a leader, 11 with the groups Guarare and New World Spirit and seven as a sideman working with Dizzy Gillespie, Yusef Lateef, Herbie Mann, Celia Cruz, Red Garland and Kenny Burrell.
Ray became musical director of Fania All Stars, played with the Rolling Stones, and Bee Gees, was nominated for three Grammys, won one for Ritmo en el Corazon was crowned Conga Player of the Year in 1980 and inducted into the International Music Hall Of Fame. On February 17, 2006 conguero and percussionist Ray Barretto passed away from heart failure.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Candido was born Candido de Guerra Camero on April 22, 1921 in Havana, Cuba and learned to play percussion as a child listening to the music of his native land. Early in his career, Camero focused on conga and bongo, recording in his native Cuba with fellow jazz musician Machito. Although he has been credited as the first person to use the congas in jazz music, both Diego Iborra and Luciano “Chano” Pozo Gonzales preceded him in the 1940s.
Moving to New York in 1952 he started recording with Dizzy Gillespie and from 1953-54 he was in the Billy Taylor Quartet. The next year saw him performing and recording with Stan Kenton. During the Seventies Candido enjoyed success during the disco era, most notably with the Babatunde Olatunji-penned track “Jingo” from his Dancin’ and Prancin’ album on the Salsoul Record label, that has been acknowledged as a precursor five years prior to the birth of the house music genre.
He has performed and recorded Errol Garner, Gene Ammons, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, Elvin Jones and Lionel Hampton on the short list of jazz luminaries. Percussionist Candido was honored with the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2008. At 96 years of age he is residing in his home in Cuba.
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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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