News & Updates — Mongo Santamaría

Happy birthday to the great vibraphonist Cal Tjader! A gringo who contributed greatly to the development and popularity of Latin-jazz and was an architect of what became known as "Latin rock". He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and learned to tap-dance and play piano & drum kit at an early age. He played Dixieland as a teenager and formed a group with then-unknown Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, with Tjader playing kit. He cut his first disk with Fantasy in '52 and soonafter joined George Shearing's group. Tjader and bassist Al McKibbon encouraged Shearing to hire percussionists...

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...