Raoul

:'( :'( :'(

I can hear & feel Afro Blue right now!!

:'(

skin on skin is a must have for any afro cuban fan!!!




Jazz Musician Mongo Santamaria Dies in Miami
Sun Feb 2, 8:31 PM ET


MIAMI (Reuters) - Latin jazz musician Ramon "Mongo" Santamaria, a Cuban-born percussionist and bandleader known for his conga rhythms, has died in Miami at age 85, hospital and funeral home officials said on Sunday.

Santamaria died on Saturday at Baptist Hospital.

He was best known for his 1963 recording of Herbie Hancock's song "Watermelon Man," which became his first Top 10 hit. In 1959, Santamaria penned "Afro Blue," which quickly became a jazz standard covered by stars such as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.

Born in Havana, Santamaria performed at Havana's famed Tropicana Club before moving to New York City in the early 1950s, touring with the Mambo Kings and performing with Tito Puente and Cal Tjader.

Santamaria recorded scores of albums in a career that spanned nearly 40 years, mixing rhythm and blues with jazz and hip-swaying conga. In 1977 he was awarded a Grammy for Best Latin Recording for his album "Amancer."

In recent years, he divided his time between Manhattan and Miami. He was to be buried on Monday at Woodlawn Park South Cemetery near Miami, a spokesman at the Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Funeral Home said.

Mongo Santamaria LINKS!

at Rolling Stone.com

http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/...t.asp?oid=7941

real audio interviews with Mongo at Gallery 41

Master conguero Mongo Santamaria and I sat down one afternoon and recorded a lengthy conversation that began with his telling me how his Mother wanted him to play piano or some other melodic instrument, but of course as he told me "...my inclination was always to percussion". I've chosen a few excerpts from that conversation, beginning with Mongo coming to America:

"I came to America in 1950... I used to like Jazz, I used to listen the records in Cuba... Dizzy Gillespie was big... I used to go to movies and see old movies with Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman Quartet...all the while I used to be fascinated".
Real Audio

"...I used to work in one of the big night clubs in Havana, <<The Tropicana Club>>...and besides the typical Cuban band, they used to have a Jazz band over there, and play the American music, y once and a while I used to sit down with them and play. Y as soon as I got in this country, in New York, right away I went to see the Jazz musicians. In Birdland, in the Club Savoy in Harlem, in The Apollo Theater...".
Real Audio

"...I know Chano Pozo in Cuba. He was a good player, he really influenced me in many ways... He was the first one to introduce the conga drum to the American public through Dizzy Gillespie... Here he made a contribution with Dizzy Gillespie to the development of the Be-Bop, and to the introduction of the conga drum in American music...in those days with Manteca, Tin Tin Deo, Cubano Be Cubano Bop...".
Real Audio

go here for audio

http://www.gallery41.com/JazzArtists...Santamaria.htm

from rhino records...

"Long before the genres "fusion" and "world music" reached mainstream audiences there was Mongo Santamaria. Rhino Records celebrates the history of this Grammyreg. winning conga player on April 20, with the 2-CD anthology SKIN ON SKIN: THE MONGO SANTAMARIA ANTHOLOGY (1958-1995),


Consisting of 34 tracks on two CDs, SKIN ON SKIN spans nearly 40 years of Mongo's recorded career. Among the many highlights are the first-ever release of "Panamanian Aire," along with the digital debut of some his early `70s Atlantic recordings. The compilation will sell for a suggested list price of $29.98 and will also be available via the Rhino Web sit at www.rhino.com.


Included on the anthology are such signature songs as "Afro Blue," "Watermelon Man," "Para Ti," "Yambu," and "Canta Bajo," taken from more than 20 albums such as Mongo's Way, Our Man In Havana, Bembe, and Mongo Introduces La Lupe. Also featured in this definitive collection are tracks from Mongo Explodes, Up From The Roots, and other classics albums from Mongo's Riverside and Columbia releases as well as a previously unreleased version of "Sofrito."


The liner notes for SKIN ON SKIN include a remembrance by actor/ conguero Andy Garcia, who was hooked on Mongo at the age of 12, when he heard the great percussionist gigging at the jazz club Johnnie's in Miami beach. Also contributing to the notes are Poncho Sanchez (one of the world's most popular Latin jazz bandleaders), Luis Tamargo (contributing editor to Latin Beat magazine), and Jose Rizo (the host of the nationally syndicated show Jazz On The Latin Side).


Ramon "Mongo" Santamaria was born in 1922 in Havana, Cuba. Before Fidel Castro came to power, he headed for New York, where he met up with such greats as the King of Mambo, Perez Prado, El Rey de Timbal, Tito Puente, West Coast vibraphonist Cal Tjader, and a young Willie Bobo. As Mongo enters his fourth decade as a recording artist, his place in that pantheon remains secure.

http://www.rhino.com/HotPress/75689pr.lasso

and has played with these cats and more

George Shearing
Dizzy Gillespie
Cal Tjader
La Lupe
Willie Bobo
Paul Horn
"Paquito" Echevarria
Pete Escovedo
Armando (Chick) Corea
Marty Sheller
Hubert Laws
Perez Prado
Tito Puente
Toots Thielemans
Herbie Hancock