Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Angel ‘Cachete’ Maldonado was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico on Oct. 16, 1951 to a father who was a respected orchestra bassist. He began his musical studies with formal piano lessons, but had an early inclination to percussion and went under the tutelage of drummer Julio ‘Maco’ Rivera. His curiosity of Afro-Cuban music led him to the batá drums, and their religious and spiritual connotations, then to conga and bongo.
While on the island, he joined the popular band of Johnny El Bravo, then relocated to New York in the early 1970s. Once there he played with Carlos “Patato’ Valdés and Julito Collazo. This led him to become the featured bongo player with La Conspiración, then teamed up with pianist Larry Harlow. He remained for extensive tours of North and South America, and established his standing as a top tier percussionist. He performed with Eddie Palmieri, Louie Ramirez, Conjunto Libre, and Tipica 73, and recorded with Machito and Dizzy Gillespie.
Maldonado went on to play with Gato Barbieri, Weather Report, Freddie Hubbard, Jorge Dalto, Airto Moreira among others. In 1980 he started his seminal group Batacumbele, blending the Cuban songo beat with bomba and plena. Batacumbele had a compact but highly regarded recording output of five albums including a compilation disc. The release of the self-titled record was an instant hit and solidified his standing as a percussionist and bandleader.
Suffering a debilitating stroke in 2005, Cachete curtailed his performances which led to further complications. However, he regained much of his vibrancy and in 2010 Cachete Maldonado y Los Majaderos released Rumba Boricua Campesina to much acclaim on the island and in New York.
Percussionist Cachete Maldonado continues to lead his band at the local gigs and advance Afro-Caribbean music.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,percussion
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Adam Rudolph was born September 12, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois and grew up on the South Side among jazz and blues musicians. In 1988 he met Yusef Lateef, and the two would collaborate and perform together for the next 25 years.
In 1992 Rudolph helped found the band Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures, a group of improvisers He has been the artistic director of and composer for Hu: Vibrational with Hamid Drake, Vashti International Percussion Ensemble and Go: Organic Orchestra. He has performed as half of the Wildflowers Duo with Butoh dance innovator Oguri.
Rudolph has released several albums as leader and has also recorded with musicians Sam Rivers, Omar Sosa, Wadada Leo Smith, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell, Herbie Hancock, Foday Musa Suso, and Shadowfax
Composer and percussionist Adam Rudolph continues performing in the post-bop and world fusion medium.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,percussion
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Carlos Salazar was born on September 11, 1955 in Havana, Cuba. Raised there he discovered his love and passion for percussion at a very young age. It wasn’t long before his curiousity led him to great opportunities, studying music at the National School of the Arts (ENA) in Havana. He learned the basics and principles of percussion while at the same time acquiring an additional degree in electronics from the University of Havana.
His love of percussion shifted to conga drumming, a key instrument in the Afro-Cuban street scene. Carlos then learned the discipline of the musical language and rythym of percussion through African teachers, teachers of the streets, considered the fathers of Latin percussion.
His musical style consists of a contemporary jazz flavor, making music interesting to play. After leaving Cuba in 1980 he has toured throughout the U.S. and has remained active within the musical scene in South Florida.
Percussionist Carlos Salazar who has not recorded and devotes himself entirely to his music and Afro-Cuban roots, spends his days content with the valued fact that he still has two hands to make music with.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,percussion
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Edwin John Prévost was born June 22, 1942 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England of Huguenot heritage. Brought up by a single parent mother in war-damaged London Borough of Bermondsey. He won a state scholarship to Addey and Stanhope Grammar School, Deptford, London. Enrolled in the Boy Scouts Association’s 19th Bermondsey Troop to join the marching band and as a teenager began to get involved with the emerging youth culture music, first skiffle, then introduced to a big jazz record collection of a school friend with rich parents.
Prévost worked part-time after school, purchasing his first snare drum from the Len Hunt Drum Shop on Archer Street. Leaving school at 16, he took various clerical positions, while continuing his musical interests. Immersed in the music of bebop, his playing technique was insufficient, however, New Orleans trad jazz offered scope for his growing musical prowess.
He played in various bands mostly in the East End of London. It was during a tenure with one of these bands he met trumpeter David Ware, who shared a passion for hard-bop jazz. Together, while in their early twenties they formed a modern jazz quintet which included Lou Gare, who was a member of the Mike Westbrook Jazz Orchestra.
In 1965 AMM was co-founded by Eddie, Lou Gare, and Keith Rowe and were shortly joined by Lawrence Sheaff. All had a jazz background and were soon augmented by composer Cornelius Cardew. They stayed together until 1972 when some split and others took their place.
Over the years Prévost has conducted many improvised music workshops. However, as a result of a seminar he conducted at The Guelph Jazz Festival, Canada in 1999, Prévost began to formulate a framework for a workshop based upon a more thorough working of AMM principles and practice.
Percussionist Eddie Prévost, who has recorded twenty albums as a leader, twenty-eight with the free improvisation group AMM, and another thirty as a sideman with Derek Bailey, John Wolf Brennan, John Butcher, Cornelius Cardew, Chris Corsano, Sachiko M, Jim O’Rourke, Bruce Russell, David Sylvian, Telectu, Ken Vandermark, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Christian Wolff, Marilyn Crispell, continues to perform and record.
More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,percussion
Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jose Mangual Sr. was born on March 18, 1924 in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico. He began playing percussion at the age of ten and by 1938 moved to New York at the age of 14. In 1952 he began playing timbales and percussion for Machito’s Orchestra.
In the 1950s Mangual played with the godfather of modern-day salsa Arsenio Rodriguez and with Latin jazz pioneer Cal Tjader. Then he joined Erroll Gardner’s band with whom he traveled the world, playing jazz for international audiences. During this time he performed and recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Sarah Vaughn, Herbie Mann. and appeared on Count Basie’s April in Paris, Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain, Dizzy Gillespie’s Talkin’ Verve, Tito Puente’s Babarabatiri, Willie Bobo’s Spanish Grease, Gato Barbieri’s Viva Emiliano Zapata, as well as on multiple Charlie Parker’s compilations.
He has also performed with Dexter Gordon, Carmen McRae, Jorge Dalto, Stan Getz, Louis Jordan, Ray Charles, Tito Rodriguez, Xavier Cugat, Tito Puente and Chano Pozo.
In the 1970s, Mangual recorded two instructional albums Buyú and José Mangual* & Carlos “Patato” Valdez* – Understanding Latin Rhythms Vol. 1 with Carlos “Patato” Valdez for the drum maker Latin Percussion.
In 1986 he co-wrote and recorded Los Mangual – Una Dinastia with his sons Jose, Jr. and Luis Mangual. In 2001 he was posthumously inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.
Percussionist Jose Mangual Sr., world renowned for his bongo drum performances and recordings during the 1940s and 1950s, died on September 4, 1998 in New York City.
More Posts: bongos,history,instrumental,jazz,music,percussion