News & Updates — boogaloo

Feliz cumpleaños to the great salsero Cheo Feliciano. Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, his family moved in the '50s to Spanish Harlem. As a teenager he started playing percussion with Tito Rodriguez' orchestra and with Kako's group. As well, he toured as a roadie with Mon Rivera. In 1956 he joined the Joe Cuba Sextet as their baritone-voiced Español-singing counterpart to the velvety English-languaged voice of Jimmy Sabater. The group became hot shit and made several amazing records for Tico and Seeco. In '67 Cheo left the group to join the Eddie Palmieri band. He sang with them until '69,...

Happy birthday to one of NYC's best, Jimmy Castor! He sang doo-wop with Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and the Teen Chords, as well as playing reeds and percussion. He started playing timbales after hearing Tito Puente and in the early '60s became the bandleader for Dave "Baby" Cortez, as well as recording with Bill Doggett. The Jimmy Castor Bunch became a hot item on the NYC club scene with their blend of Latin jazz, boogaloo, calypso and funk. They were sharing a lot of bills with Joe Bataan, Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers and Kool & the Gang...

An underrated name in Latin jazz, Bronx-raised Bobby Paunetto (born to an Italian father and Spanish-speaking mother) only made a few recordings before Multiple Sclerosis disabled him around '79. He was a vibraphonist, heavily influenced by Cal Tjader, who started playing in 1961. After a military stint, he attended Berklee School of Music in Massachusetts, studying with Gary Burton. He played with Clare Fischer, Tito Puente, Buddy Rich, Mongo Santamaria, Armando Peraza, both the Palmieri brothers and his idol Tjader, who wrote "Paunetto's Point" in his honor. Bobby made recordings for Seeco, Roulette, Mardi Gras and his own Pathfinder label,...

Kako was a well-respected percussionist, dancer and bandleader in the Latin music scene starting in the '50s. A Puerto Rican who moved to NYC, he played timbales, congas, bongos & quinto for Tito Puente, Arsenio Rodriguez, Mon Rivera, Mongo Santamaria, Charlie Palmieri, Patato Valdez and others, as well as working in a multi-capacity role (session musician, composer, talent scout, A&R, executive) for Alegre Records. He recorded as a leader and also helped put together the Alegre All-Stars (the format of which was copied from the old Cuban descarga sessions but became more famous for the Fania All-Stars later on), who...

The Cuban-born, West Coast-based hard-hitting percussionist Armando Peraza is best known for his work with the Santana band, George Shearing and Cal Tjader. He played congas, bongos and timbales, was a songwriter and dancer and made a killer album under his own name for Skye Records. Born in Havana, he was orphaned and took to boxing and baseball. After some time as a boxing coach he became a musician at 17, joining the band of Albert Ruiz and other Cuban groups. It may have been just another hustle at first, but it set him off onto a globe-trotting career! He...