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Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez

Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez - percussion

'El Negro' Hernandez was said to be the most talented and innovative percussionist in the world, even before being awarded a Grammy in 1997. Whether performing with jazz-legends like McCoy Tyner or Michel Camilo, rock-stars like Carlos Santana and Stevie Winwood or in notable Latin American ensembles like the Tropi-Jazz All Stars of the late Tito Puente, 'El Negro' has also shown himself to be one of the most forceful and versatile musicians in the international music scene today.

Horacio Hernandez was born into a very musical family: His grandfather played the trumpet in, for instance, the famous Septeto National, and brought the traditional Cuban influence into the family. His father listened to jazz programs on Cuban radio, and his elder brother was fond of rock-music from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin. Horacio got his nickname 'El Negro', The Black, even before birth as an affectionate reference to his brother's best friend, who lived in the neighborhood.

Already in his earliest youth Horacio showed a talent and preference for percussion. He began with the percussion instruments in the family, practiced later on a lent drum-set and finally took lessons. These were at first with Fausto Garcia Rivera, who had been trained in America, then with Enrique Pla, the percussionist of the legendary Cuban group 'Irakere', to which Arturo Sandoval and Paquito D’Rivera likewise belonged. Horacio Hernandez began studying at the National School of Arts in Havana, but even during his years of study he began to play with the saxophonist Nicolas Reynoso, to whose band belonged also the pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba.

A big chance of letting off musical steam and showing his versatility came, as Horacio Hernandez worked as resident percussionist for EGREM-Studios, one of the biggest groups of studios on Cuba. Here he drummed for many rehearsals, sometimes for as many as 20 hours a day, traveling between studios and snatching intervals of sleep on an old mattress rolled up in an adjacent room. At last he became the full-time drummer in the Rubalcabas group 'Proyecto', with which he appeared for the first time abroad and made an international reputation for himself in music circles. For seven years he toured the world with this group and recorded seven albums, astonishing his hearers both with his unusual way of playing as also with his unusual set of drums. Horacio Hernandez is truly ambidextrous, being able to play the leading pattern with either hand or to play the basic rhythmic figure of Afro-Cuban music, the clave-beat, with his left foot on the high-hat or the cowbell with the foot-pedal, while his right foot supports the base line, and his hands quite independently play highly complex rhythms on the bongos and timbales, which he often includes, instead of the classical toms, in his drum-set.

Irving Flores: Armando Mi Conga

Read "Armando Mi Conga" reviewed by Bridget A. Arnwine

by Bridget A. Arnwine
September 2, 2025

Every now and again an artist releases an album that is so striking, so stellar, that it cements their legacy forever, not in a way that the artist can never grow beyond the album's greatness, but in a way that propels them beyond it. Pianist Irving Flores and his all-star Afro- Cuban Jazz Sextet have created such an album. Armando Mi Conga (Amor de Flores) consists of eight breathtakingly beautiful original compositions plus a bonus track (a solo piano version ...

Album Review

John Beasley, Jose Gola & Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez: El Trio Live in Italy

Read "El Trio Live in Italy" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
January 15, 2024

El Trio Live in Italy features the impressive line-up of Grammy Award-winner John Beasley on keyboards and synthesizers, José Gola on electric bass, and Horacio El Negro" Hernandez on drums. Described as a “dream threesome" of renowned musicians, this album is a product of their summer tour of Italy in 2022. The album's essence is a journey of three friends allowing the music to guide them. All three artists have a rich history, having toured with the maestro of Afro-Cuban ...

Album Review

Hilario Duran: Cry Me A River

Read "Cry Me A River" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
September 27, 2023

Hilario Durán is a renowned Cuban-Canadian jazz pianist and composer known for contributing to Latin jazz. He does not release big band efforts often, but with the release of Cry Me A River, he has reconstituted his Latin Jazz Big Band to take us on an extraordinary musical journey, effortlessly blending myriad genres into his singular style. Durán's Afro-Caribbean cultural attachment informs the nine works of both originals and covers in this outing, resulting in a unique tapestry of sound. ...

Radio & Podcasts

Phil Woods, Tito Puente and More

by Joe Dimino
August 12, 2019

This week we start with a cat straight outta Cuba. Horacio “El Negro" Hernandez does his magic on the drums with his Italuba Big Band followed by the great Dizzy Gillespie and Tito Puente. We then hear a mix of Django Reinhardt, Melissa Aldana and Longineu Parsons. We profile the great Montreal cat Jacques Kuba Séguin and the talented South Korean-born Pureum Jin. As the show begins to wind down, we feature Miles Brown and Putte Wickman to round out ...

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Album Review

Esperanza Spalding: Esperanza

Read "Esperanza" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
July 9, 2008

From a guest appearance on Stanley Clarke's The Toys of Men (Heads Up, 2007) to her self-titled debut, Esperanza Spalding is turning heads, and opening lots of ears. After an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, the host called the 23-year-old vocalist/bassist/composer “the coolest guest" he'd ever had. Spalding is indeed cool, having enrolled at Berklee College of Music at 16, and ultimately becoming the institution's youngest professor in its history. She landed gigs with Patti ...

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Album Review

Esperanza Spalding: Esperanza

Read "Esperanza" reviewed by Ernest Barteldes

by Ernest Barteldes
June 4, 2008

On this major label debut, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding demonstrates plenty of eclecticism, taking on styles ranging from samba, hard-driving jazz and R&B, a risky combination in less confident hands. However, Spalding revels in the multiple directions without ever sounding pretentious. The Berklee College alum opens the disc singing in fluent Portuguese, with a small hint of an accent, on “Ponta de Areia," a Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brandt composition originally featured on Wayne Shorter's Native Dancer and often covered ...

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Album Review

Esperanza Spalding: Esperanza

Read "Esperanza" reviewed by Jeff Winbush

by Jeff Winbush
May 17, 2008

For the purist who wants to know what all the excitement is about Esperanza Spalding, they can skip directly to track 11--"If That's True"--of her sophomore album Esperanza, where she works out on the acoustic bass in an all-out jam with Donald Harrison on alto saxophone and Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet. It flat-out smokes, and showcases the Berklee-trained bassist as potentially one of the more promising young talents in jazz. First though, she's going to have to ...

Recording

'El Maestro' Irving Flores Readies Thrilling Afro-cuban  Jazz Sextet Project With Giovanni Hidalgo & Horacio “El Negro” Hernández; 'Armando Mi Conga' Arrives August 26

Source: 1888 Media
August 10, 2025

Acclaimed pianist, composer, and arranger Irving Flores is set to release his most ambitious project to date, ;Armando Mi Conga (Amor de Flores Productions), available on CD and all streaming platforms beginning August 26, 2025. A vibrant celebration of Latin Jazz and Afro-Cuban Jazz, the 9-song album blends virtuosity with soul — and features an all-star lineup of Grammy-winning legends. “This is a love letter to Latin America,” says Flores. “It’s my journey and a tribute to the rhythms that ...
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Recording

'El Trio - Live In Italy' with John Beasley, José Armando Gola, Horacio El Negro Hernández available on January 19, 2024 on Challenge Records

Source: Vivo Musique Internationale
December 2, 2023

El Trio Live in Italy featuring John Beasley on piano, José Armando Gola on double bass and Horacio El Negro Hernández on drums. “El Trio touring in Italy in the summer of 2022 is about ‘eat, music, love’.” Three friends on stage letting the music play them. “To our godfather Chucho Valdés who has inspired each of us, given us a helping hand along the way, and put us up on stage alongside him. We are eternally grateful.” Street Date: ...
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Recording

Marcus Shelby Places Suite Exploring Negro League Baseball At The Heart Of "Transitions," Set For June 7 Release By MSO Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity
April 28, 2019

Bassist, composer, and bandleader Marcus Shelby brings together three of his greatest passions—African-American history, baseball, and big-band jazz—on Transitions, the latest work by his 15-piece Marcus Shelby Orchestra, set for a June 7 release on his own MSO Records. While the album offers Shelby’s lush arrangements of classic tunes by Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, and Cole Porter, its centerpiece “Black Ball: The Negro Leagues and the Blues” is an original four-part suite inspired by the history of Negro League Baseball. ...
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Recording

Fahir Atakoglu's "Live At Umbria Jazz" Featuring Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez & Alain Caron

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations
January 6, 2016

Fahir Atakoğlu's Live at Umbria Jazz Featuring Horacio “El Negro" Hernandez and Alain Caron Release Date: January 19, 2016 New 2016 Release Integrates Cuban Rhythms & Middle Eastern Melodies—World Tour Planned Fahir Atakoğlu releases his latest CD Live at Umbria Jazz (Far & Here label) on January 19, which is the 17th album in Fahir's vast catalogue of music with plans for a 2016 world tour underway. Atakoğlu has worked to blend his own native music ...
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Recording

Stew & the Negro Problem Finish First Album Since Tony-Winning 'Passing Strange'

Source: conqueroo
October 7, 2011

Making It, due out January 24 through Redeye Distribution, revisits joy of being in a band for Stew and Heidi Rodewald NEW YORK, N.Y.—"It's a love and pain thing, a no one can explain thing, it's simply complicated folks," goes a line from “Curse," one of the central pieces on Making It, not only the new album by the Negro Problem, but the first collection of new songs by the collaborative partnership that is Stew and Heidi Rodewald since Passing ...
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134

Performance / Tour

The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Presents the 2011 Annual Benefit Concert starring Top 10 Billboard Jazz Veteran Alfonzo Blackwell

Source: One Creative Publicist & Management
August 14, 2011

Saturday, September 17th at 6pm is the date to save for an evening of jazz presented by the United Negro College Fund's (UNCF) annual benefit concert event. This year's musical guess star is veteran jazz saxophonist Alfonzo Blackwell. The event is held annually to sponsor young adult's college education from the New Jersey area. Tickets are on sale now. Please contact the New Jersey region chapter of the UNCF at (973) 642-1955 or [email protected] The event will feature a lot ...
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Recording

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig (2010)

Source: Something Else!
December 1, 2010

By Mark Saleski Sometimes, the history of music is full of surprises. Another way of looking at it: I'm surprised by my own ignorance. When I think of the South and old-time music, the blues, whites, and blacks, I tend to think of the musics as being mostly separated, with old-time music being a purely white phenomenon while the obvious African influence makes the blues a black specialty. Except that 'obvious' influences don't necessarily lock the outcomes into the simplest ...
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134

Book / Magazine

Photographer Juan-Carlos Hernandez's Book "Estelas de Jazz" Now Available in Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Source: Juan Carlos Hernandez
November 3, 2010

After seven years of visually capturing jazz musicians around the world, Juan-Carlos Hernandez has compiled his first book of photos entitled Estelas de Jazz, available worldwide through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Hernandez collaborated with Spanish writer Belen Carmona Moreno whose literary writings accompany 100+ black and white photographs. Though the photographs are in the universal language, the text is in Spanish. Another important detail: Estelas de Jazz is not just about the stars of jazz like Ornette Coleman and ...
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164

Performance / Tour

Stew & The Negro Problem Back on the Road

Source: conqueroo
September 30, 2010

STEW & THE NEGRO PROBLEM RETURN TO ROCK: BAND EMBARKS ON FIRST NATIONAL TOUR IN SIX YEARS FOLLOWING STEW AND HEIDI RODEWALD'S TONY-WINNING BROADWAY SHOW PASSING STRANGE

Kicking off on October 20 at Brooklyn Academy of Music, tour spans band's hometown Los Angeles plus Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Davis and Ann Arbor

Los Angeles, CA: First there was the Negro Problem, a band that rose through the ranks of L.A.'s indie scene in the late '90s and early aughts. ...
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Recording

Stew & the Negro Problem Are Back on the Road

Source: conqueroo
September 30, 2010

Kicking off on October 20 at Brooklyn Academy of Music, tour spans band's hometown Los Angeles plus Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Davis and Ann Arbor LOS ANGELES Calif.—First there was the Negro Problem, a band that rose through the ranks of L.A.'s indie scene in the late '90s and early aughts. Deemed “L.A.'s best band" by the L.A. Weekly in 1992, the unit—propelled by Stew and Heidi Rodewald—recorded three critically acclaimed albums: Post Minstrel Syndrome (1997), Joys & Concerns ...
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