The Conga Kings

The Conga Kings: Jazz Descargas

by Chris M. Slawecki
September 1, 2001

On many levels, The Conga Kings’ Jazz Descargas is authentic Afro-Cuban jazz.

For starters, Carlos “Patato” Valdes and Candido Camero have been Afro-Cuban music pioneers for decades. Patato is recognized as one of the first to tune his congas to a song’s dominant chord, which contributes harmony to the song’s melody as well as to the rhythm of a song (noteworthy because there is no piano, and therefore plenty of melodic space, on Jazz Descargas ), and has played with ...

Jazz and Global Music Mix: Conga Kings with Tiempo Libre and John Patitucci, Rufus Reid and Danilo Prez at the Kimmel Center, May 8 and 9

Source: Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
May 8, 2009

The Kimmel Centers final weekend of jazz concerts for the 2008-09 season includes Miami-based, Cuban-born and internationally renowned artists bringing their own flair of global rhythms to jazz.

Click on the name of the artist below for more information on each Kimmel Center performance:

Jazz Fridays culminates with Conga Kings and Tiempo Libre performing polyrhythmic Latin jazz with Afro-Cuban influences in Verizon Hall (Friday, May 8, 2009 at 8pm)

Jazz Up Close concludes with bassists John Patitucci and Rufus Reid ...
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The Conga Kings Play S.O.B.'s In New York City, Monday, July 22, 2002

Source: All About Jazz
July 22, 2002

Candido Camero, Patato Valdez, and Giovanni Hidalgo, the holy trinity of percussion, gather Monday night for a rare concert appearance at New York's premier world music venue located at 204 Varick Street and West Houston Street. Tickets are $20 and are available at the box office. Ladies are FREE before 7:30 p.m.

The 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. shows will feature music from their recent CD on Chesky Records, Jazz Descargas. They will be joined by eight other Latin music ...
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