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Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo (1915–1948) was the Cuban conguero, composer and dancer who brought Afro-Cuban drumming into Dizzy Gillespie's big band, co-wrote "Manteca" and helped give birth to Latin jazz.

Ray Barretto

Ray Barretto

Ray Barretto (1929–2006) heard “Manteca” as a GI in Germany and went on to play with Charlie Parker and Tito Puente, lead some of the defining bands of the Fania years and come back to jazz as an NEA Jazz Master.

Cándido Camero

Cándido Camero

Cándido Camero (1921–2020) was a Cuban conga player and jazz pioneer who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Tony Bennett, and by his own account was the first to play three congas at once.

Carlos "Patato" Valdés

Carlos "Patato" Valdés

Carlos “Patato” Valdés (1926–2007) was a Cuban conga player who went from Conjunto Casino and La Sonora Matancera in Havana to Tito Puente, Machito and Herbie Mann in New York, and helped develop LP’s Patato Model congas.

Mongo Santamaría

Mongo Santamaría

Ramón “Mongo” Santamaría (1917–2003) brought the sound of the conga drum from Havana to the world stage. His work with Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, and Herbie Hancock helped define Latin Jazz and Afro-Cuban percussion for generations to come.

Tata Güines

Tata Güines

Tata Güines (1930–2008) is hailed as the godfather of modern conga playing: a Cuban master whose sound, vocabulary and technique shaped generations of congueros.

How to Tune Your Conga Drums

How to Tune Your Conga Drums

One of the first, and most important steps in learning to how to play congas, is learning how to tune them properly. Tuning a conga drum, like tuning any drum, is an oft-overlooked art form, despite the fact that it can be the difference between sounding like a seasoned conguero vs. sounding like a complete beginner.

Conga Drums: What They Are, History and Origins

Conga Drums: What They Are, History and Origins

Along with learning how to play the conga drums, or any instrument for that matter, it’s important to have a general idea about where those instruments come from, and how they’ve evolved over time.