News & Updates — calypso

The great Cuban conguero and bandleader Mongo Santamaría brought some spice to the American popular music scene. He had been bandleader for the prestigious Tropicana house band in Havana in the '40s before coming to NYC in 1950. He was the composer of "Afro Blue" and had a huge hit with Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man". In addition to his own groovy ensembles, he played with Cal Tjader, Tito Puente, Perez Prado, Fania All Stars, Willie Bobo, Dizzy Gillespie and others. It's always a pleasure to hear his Afro-Cuban arrangements of popular soul tunes, as well as his Orisha-guided rumbas. He...

Joe Meek may very well be rock's first independent producer/auteur. He is like an early rock & roll Lee Perry, a man with a strong artistic inclination and a home studio, eccentric tendencies and behaviors, and experimental processes to create otherwordly results. He had a background as an electrician and started cutting his own records in the '50s. He set up perhaps the first home recording studio in rock (he loved to bother his neighbors). He produced "Tornado", a major international hit by the Telstars in '62, becoming the first British group to top the US charts. He utilized separation...

Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros is my favorite of the great Cuban trumpeters. He had a powerhouse sound that could be brash and forceful, or sweet and lyrical. He got his professional start while still in Cuba, cutting his first sides in '49 with René Álvarez. The '50s saw him busy with Arsenio Rodriguez and Beny Moré. He also played with Nat King Cole on the pianists' Cuban sessions. He came to NYC in 1960 and got a lot of work doing sessions and playing in several bands. He played consistently with Eddie Palmieri from the late '60s through the '70s. In...

Jose "Chombo" Silva was a veteran Cuban musician who hit the NYC scene in the '60s, playing charangas and descargas. Versatile as both a saxophonist and violinist, he played with Johnny Pacheco's charanga, Ray Barretto, the Alegre All Stars, Kako, Mongo Santamaría, Peruchín, Charlie Palmieri, Chocolate Armenteros, Típica Ideal, Africando, Nestor Torres' La Sensual and the Panamanian group Los Exagerados, with whom he contributed the blasting descarga "Panama Esta Bueno Y... Ma". He learned violin at an early age, playing in church groups. In the late '30s he was playing with pianist Peruchín. In '48 he started the Swing Boys...