Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo laughing as he plays the conga

1915–1948 · Havana, Cuba

The Cuban conguero, composer and dancer who brought Afro-Cuban drumming to the front of Dizzy Gillespie's big band and helped give birth to Latin jazz.

Played with
Dizzy Gillespie, Machito, Miguelito Valdés, Arsenio Rodríguez

At Havana's carnival, Luciano "Chano" Pozo (1915–1948) wore a white tailcoat. He debuted it with the Dandys de Belén, one of the city's comparsas. According to his biographer Rosa Marquetti, it lifted the street carnival to the same level of sophistication as high-society events. Chano wrote for the comparsas, and he could sing, dance and drum at the same time. Later he took that showmanship to New York, to Dizzy Gillespie's big band, and helped give birth to Latin jazz.

From the Solar to the Carnival

Chano was born on January 7, 1915, in Havana, and grew up poor in the África solar, a crowded tenement, selling newspapers and shining shoes to get by. As a teenager he spent time in the reformatory at Guanajay. The drumming he grew up around was sacred as well as social: he practiced Santería and was a member of the Abakuá, the Afro-Cuban men's society whose rhythms stayed with him for the rest of his life.

The carnival comparsas gave him a stage. Soon his songs gave him a name. By the late '30s he was writing guarachas, and "Nagüe," "Blen, blen, blen" and "Parampampín" became hits. Miguelito Valdés and Machito's Afro-Cubans recorded his songs. In 1941 he recorded with the orchestra of the Hotel Nacional. Through the early '40s he worked in radio at RHC Cadena Azul and with the singer Rita Montaner.

Two Trips to New York

His songs got to New York before he did. He first traveled there in 1946 and settled in 1947, encouraged by Miguelito Valdés. That year he recorded with Valdés and Arsenio Rodríguez. For producer Gabriel Oller's Spanish Music Center label he cut Afrocubano Rhythm 1–4, considered among the first commercial recordings of rumba, columbia, guaguancó and abakuá.

Dizzy Gillespie was looking for a conguero for his new big band, and Mario Bauzá brought Chano to him. The two had no common language, but Gillespie later credited Chano with teaching him the fundamentals of Afro-Cuban rhythm. Within weeks, on September 29, 1947, the band played Carnegie Hall. Out front, singing, dancing and drumming, was the man from the Dandys de Belén. The program included George Russell's "Cubana Be, Cubana Bop," a suite built around Chano's drums. The night is remembered as a milestone in the development of Latin jazz.

Chano Pozo playing conga with Dizzy Gillespie's big band

Chano Pozo at the conga with Dizzy Gillespie's big band.

"Manteca"

On the road in California, Chano brought Gillespie an idea for a tune. He had the introduction and the layered riffs of the A section; Gillespie wrote the bridge, and arranger Gil Fuller filled out the horns. "If I'd let it go like he wanted it, it would've been strictly Afro-Cuban all the way," Gillespie said. The band recorded "Manteca" for RCA Victor on December 30, 1947.

Gillespie's bassist Al McKibbon remembered thinking the Apollo's balcony was going to come off its hinges when Chano played. Offstage he had big plans of his own. As his biographer tells it, watching the Cadillacs cruise through Harlem, he told friends that when he made enough money he'd skip the Cadillac and buy a Lincoln Continental, to be the top dog uptown.

In early 1948 Chano toured Europe with the band. In Paris they recorded a live performance of "Cubana Be, Cubana Bop." That October he recorded "Tin Tin Deo," which he wrote with Gil Fuller, with James Moody and His Bop Men for Blue Note. Back in New York, on December 2, 1948, he was shot and killed at the El Rio Bar, on 111th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem. He was 33.

Timeline

  1. 1915Born January 7 in Havana

  2. Late 1930sWrites guarachas and plays in Havana's carnival comparsas

  3. 1941Records with the orchestra of the Hotel Nacional

  4. 1946First trip to New York

  5. 1947Settles in New York; Afrocubano Rhythm sessions; joins Dizzy Gillespie's big band

  6. 1947Carnegie Hall, September 29; records "Manteca," December 30

  7. 1948Tours Europe with Gillespie; records "Tin Tin Deo" with James Moody

  8. 1948Dies December 2 in Harlem, at 33

Selected Recordings

  • Afrocubano Rhythm 1–4 (Spanish Music Center, 1947): produced by Gabriel Oller; among the first commercial recordings of rumba, columbia, guaguancó and abakuá

  • Diz 'n' Bird at Carnegie Hall (Roost, released 1997): the September 29, 1947 concert, with Chano in the big band set

  • "Cubana Be, Cubana Bop" (Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, RCA Victor, 1947): George Russell's suite built around Chano's drums

  • "Manteca" (Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, RCA Victor, 1947): written by Chano, Gillespie and Gil Fuller

  • "Tin Tin Deo" (James Moody and His Bop Men, Blue Note, 1948): written by Chano and Gil Fuller, with Chano on the session

Awards & Recognition

In 1978 Chano and Mon Rivera were named to the Hall of Fame in the Latin NY Music Poll. Gillespie's recording of "Manteca" was selected for the Library of Congress's 2004 National Recording Registry. In 2015 Cuba marked Chano's centennial at the Fiesta del Tambor in Havana. He is a character in the animated film Chico and Rita (2010), the poet Jayne Cortez recorded "I See Chano Pozo" on her 1982 album There It Is, and in 2011 Poncho Sanchez and Terence Blanchard paid tribute to Chano and Gillespie on Chano y Dizzy!

Legacy

"Few percussionists have played as integral a role in shaping Latin music as Luciano 'Chano' Pozo González," wrote pianist and scholar Rebeca Mauleón. His compositions "Manteca" and "Tin Tin Deo" became Latin jazz standards that bands still play today.

Chano was buried at home in Havana, in the Colón Cemetery.

Chano Pozo's story is the origin of so much that followed in Latin percussion. If it has you curious about the drum at the root of it all, CongaChops.com is where to start.

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