Results for "percussion"

Carlitos Medrano

Born: February 27, 1883

Carlitos Medrano born in Havana, Cuba, began his musical studies by teaching himself to play Bongos and Congas using traditional Cuban music and Rumba as his guide. After a few years of studying, experience, and having participated in folkloric musical projects and timba, also known as Cuban Salsa, he decided to broaden his musical knowledge by beginning a course of musical studies in the Escuela de Superacion Profesional de Arte “Felix Varela y Morales” where he began to create his foundation for Latin Jazz fusion within other musical projects in Cuba. He remembers with great satisfaction and happiness having been a student of famous international Cuban percussionists such as Jose Antonio Oviedo, Ignacio Jarabe Martinez, Eliel Lazo Linares, Yaroldy Abreu, José Luis Quintana, also known as Changuito

Israel Suarez "El Piraña"

Karen "Magic Fingaz" Smith

Born: June 26, 1960

Karen "Magic Fingaz" Smith, Brooklyn Native, Philly Resident, is a Professional Percussionist, Playwright, Poet, Director, Teaching Artist, Curator and now a member of the Philadelphia Musician’s Union  Local 77 !!! Karen is a recipient of several grants including  Leeway Foundation's  Art and Change and Illuminate the Arts Grants .  Ms. Smith is the Founder, Artistic Director and Lead Percussionist of The Karen Smith Experience (formerly called Weez the Peeples) and Sistahs Laying Down Hands Collectives.  Called "Sounds of Freedom" by Philadelphia Inquirer, Ms

James Mtume

Born: March 27, 1947

Philadelphia born percussionist James Mtume has done something unique in the music business: he has had a successful career while preserving his integrity. A successful session man, songwriter, bandleader, and producer, Mtume bowed out of the music business in the mid-'80s, when he felt the quality and history of R&B was slipping away, only to return triumphantly to lend his stellar ear and deep knowledge of black music to neo-R&B acts like Mary J. Blige. Mtume, the son of jazz saxophonist Jimmy Heath, first made in-roads into the music business in the early '70s when he moved from the city of brotherly love to New York

Jorge Luis Torres

Born: 1969

Born in 1969, Papiosco was a self-taught musician, a child prodigy who began playing the percussion instrument at the age of three; by the age of 12, he was picked from a group of children to perform with the master conguero Tatagüines. Later on, Papiosco started his formal studies in the conservatories of Music Guillermo Tomas and later at Amadeo Roldan. Mr. Papiosco” has been very fortunate to perform with such great musicians and bands from Cuba and around the world in scenarios as North Sea, Montreux, Umbria, Jazz Vienne and Bern jazz festivals to name a few. Papiosco also has been performing with the prestigious Cuban band “Cubanismos”, Jane Bunnett, Hilario Duran, David Buchbinder, Bill King, Amanda Martinez, Dr

Pablo Batista

Pablo Batista, a graduate of the Temple University class of 1985, has been a percussionist for over 31 years. In 2000, Pablo was the recipient of the distinguished Pew Fellowship Award in Folk Art. He also toured and recorded with the late Grover Washington, Jr., from 1985 until Grover’s passing in 1999. Presently, Pablo is the percussionist for ”fill in later“. He has toured with five time Grammy recipient, Alicia Keys and performed with her live at the 2002 Grammy Awards. He has been teaching percussion for the Latin American Music Association (AMLA) for over 15 years and has performed and recorded with such artist as: Bono, Jeffrey Osborne, Phyliss Hyman, George Howard, Diane Reeves, Gerald Levert, Teddy Pendergrass, Eddie Palmieri, Manny Oquendo Conjunto Libre, Philadelphia Orchestra, Musiq, Norman Brown’s 2003 Grammy award winning, Just Chillin album

Marco Testoni

Born: June 13, 1960

Marco Testoni is a percussionist, caisa drum player and film composer. On 2008 he founded a percussionist ensemble called Hang Camera whose first album "Impatiens" featured the collaboration of Billy Cobham, the father of modern drumming. With the striking and suggestive sound of his set of Caisa drums (new generation metallophones belonging to the same family of the more famous Caribbean steel drums) Marco Testoni has once again brought out the capacity of percussion to fully express the “lyricism of rhythm”, which represents the artistic essence and the manifesto of his style of music. ​In 2010 he founded the Pollock Project, a visionary ensemble built on the force of the intuition and the aesthetics of Art-Jazz which is able to conceive of a “visual music” with intense colours and surrealist references, so that the live act is intertwined with the visual arts and video mashups.

Mel Bridges

Mel began his professional career as a vocalist and songwriter in 2001. Attracting audiences internationally and stateside. Now a former Member of The Miracles, he looks forward, continuing to create soulful ballads​. He grew up singing in local bands and performed his way through college. While in the Marines, he carted around a set of conga's and taught his buddies the art of hand drumming. He has always known that music and performance would take the lead in his life. A singer, actor, songwriter, dancer, and percussionists his talents have allowed him to perform with the likes of Al Green, Journey, The Chi-Lites and a host of other accomplished musicians. His theatre journey includes appearances in a variety of productions and has blessed him with a Zoni for his appearance in 5 Guys Named Moe. Mel is a principal drummer and director with Kawambe - Omowale African Drum and Dance Theatre

Tommy Aros

Percussionist Tommy Aros is an in-demand session percussionist who has played on well over 60 albums by artists as diverse as Freddie Hubbard, Al Dimeola, David Benoit, Dan Segel, Mark Lessman, Charo, Trini Lopez, Tom Barabas, Luis Miguel and many more. Although he may be best recognized for his work with Grammy Award winning superstar Luis Miguel, Tom is also well known as a member of popular San Diego based band Fattburger, and Brazilian all-star band Brasilia.

Rajna Swaminathan

Rajna Swaminathan is an acclaimed mrudangam (South Indian percussion) artist and composer. She is a protégé of mrudangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, and tours regularly with several renowned Indian classical musicians, most notably her mentor, vocalist T.M. Krishna. Rajna is one of only a handful of women who play the mrudangam professionally. She has performed in several prestigious venues and festivals, including the Smithsonian (D.C.), Kennedy Center (D.C.), Asia Society (NYC), Lincoln Center (NYC), Walker Art Center (MN), Music Academy (Chennai), Shanmukhananda Hall (Mumbai) and The Esplanade (Singapore)