Percussion Profiles

Manny Oquendo

Manny Oquendo

Manny Oquendo (1931–2009) was one of the most respected timbaleros and bongoseros in the history of Latin music — a master of the old-school tradition whose understated, deeply rooted playing anchored Eddie Palmieri's La Perfecta and his own celebrated band, Conjunto Libre.

Percussion Profiles: Willie Bobo

Percussion Profiles: Willie Bobo

Willie Bobo (1934–1983) was one of the most versatile percussionists of his generation — a timbalero, conguero, and drummer who moved effortlessly between Afro-Cuban jazz, R&B, boogaloo, and pop, and whose recording of "Evil Ways" became a breakthrough hit for Santana.

Tito Puente

Tito Puente

Tito Puente (1923–2000) was a timbalero, bandleader and composer born in New York to Puerto Rican parents. He brought the timbales to the front of the stage, wrote “Oye Como Va” and won six Grammys.

Johnny "Dandy" Rodríguez

Johnny "Dandy" Rodríguez

Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez (1945–2024) was a New York bongosero who played with Tito Puente for more than 30 years, co-founded Típica 73 and recorded with Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Tito Rodríguez and Machito.

Percussion Profiles: Francisco Aguabella

Percussion Profiles: Francisco Aguabella

Francisco Aguabella (1925–2010) was one of the most revered Afro-Cuban percussionists ever to bring the sacred and secular drumming traditions of Matanzas to the world stage — a master conguero and batá drummer whose depth of knowledge Dizzy Gillespie once compared to John Coltrane.

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.

Percussion Profiles: Armando Peraza

Percussion Profiles: Armando Peraza

Armando Peraza (1924–2014) was one of the most traveled and widely heard percussionists in the history of Latin music — a Cuban master of conga and bongo whose career spanned nearly seven decades and ranged from Havana's conjunto scene to the stadiums of Santana.

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.