Results for "percussion"

Bobby Matos

Born: July 24, 1941

Bronx born Bobby Matos began playing music beating on pots and pans in Grandma’s apartment and went on to backstage informal lessons with conga drum masters Patato Valdez and Mongo Santamaria; and then on to composition and arranging studies at Manhattan School of Music. His first gigs were in the early ‘60’s bohemian Greenwich Village Cafes, but he soon found himself playing in every type of venue; from Bronx dance halls to Carnegie Hall, to elegant supper clubs, Central Park Concerts, Off Broadway theaters, and after hours clubs in El Barrio After touring and recording with artists like Ben Vereen, Bette Midler, Fred Neil, Jim Croce, Ray Rivera, Joe Loco, Miriam Makeeba, and many others, Bobby relocated to Los Angeles where he began experimenting with an Afro Cuban Jazz band where he could blend (and bend) musical elements from Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Wayne Shorter, Eddie Palmieri, and the rich legacy of Afro Cuban music. In the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, Matos recorded several albums, most notably 5 well received CDs for Ubiquity Records’ spin off Cubop label, and began touring internationally

Ray Mantilla

Born: June 22, 1934

Ray Mantilla was born in 1934 in the rhythm rich, dance-crazed atmosphere of the South Bronx where Afro-Cuban rhythmic forms transmogrified with jazz harmonies and sensibilities in the streets, the homes and dance halls. By 21, Mantilla was on the bandstand playing conga drums along with contemporaries Eddie Palmieri and Ray Barretto, playing that unique Neo-Nuyorican synthesis known as 'salsa' With flutist Herbie Mann, Ray Mantilla entered the international spotlight in 1960. Then, Max Roach invited him to be part of the classic "Freedom Now Suite" recording. After a stint in Puerto Rico where he honed his skills on the trap set, Ray returned to the States to find himself touring nationally and in Europe and Japan with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers

Ralph MacDonald

Born: March 15, 1944

Grammy-award winning percussionist, songwriter and producer Ralph MacDonald was born in Harlem, NY in 1944. As the son of Trinidad-immigrant and Calypso performer "Macbeth The Great," Ralph grew up amidst the rise of Calypsonian revolution in New York City. The young boy was often placed playfully on his father's drums for a moment or two and, when he got older, MacDonald dreamed of someday achieving the regional success of his father. At 17, Ralph helped a friend carry his steel drums into an audition for legendary performer Harry Belafonte. The friend got the gig, and MacDonald became a regular at rehearsals

Susie Ibarra

Born: November 15, 1970

Susie Ibarra, percussionist and composer lives in New York City. She received a music diploma from Mannes College of Music and B.A. from Goddard College. Susie Ibarra studied Kulintang with Danongan Kalanduyan and drum set with Buster Smith, Vernel Fournier and Milford Graves. As a percussionist, she has performed southeast Asian gong music, jazz, avant-garde, improvised and solo concert works. She has performed with many great artists such as John Zorn, Dave Douglas Pauline Oliveros, Derek Bailey, Ikue Mori, Sylvie Courvoisier, William Parker, Dr. L Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurti, John Lindberg, Wadada Leo Smith, Mark Dresser, Thurston Moore, Savath and Savalas, Prefuse 73, Yo La Tengo, among others. Susie Ibarra has taught across the U.S and attended

Zakir Hussain

Born: March 9, 1951

The pre-eminent classical tabla virtuoso of our time, Zakir Hussain is appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon and one of the world’s most esteemed and influential musicians. The foremost disciple of his father, the legendary Ustad Allarakha, Zakir was a child prodigy who began his professional career at the age of twelve, accompanying India’s greatest classical musicians and dancers and touring internationally with great success by the age of eighteen. His brilliant accompaniment, solo performance and genre-defying collaborations, including his pioneering work to develop a dialogue between North and South Indian musicians, have elevated the status of his instrument both in India and globally, bringing the tabla into a new dimension of renown and appreciation.

Gerry Hemingway

Born: March 23, 1955

Gerry Hemingway, Composer, Percussionist, Singer-Songwriter, Visual Artist, Educator, has been a widely acknowledged contributor to the continuum of creative music for the past five decades. He was born in 1955 in New Haven, Connecticut to a family with musical interests (his grandmother had been a concert pianist and his father studied composition with Paul Hindemith). He became interested in drums around the age of ten and by the age of seventeen was supporting himself as a professional musician primarily in the jazz and bebop traditions. In the 1970's, New Haven was home for a number of interesting musicians. This was where Gerry first met and played with Anthony Davis, Wadada Leo Smith, George Lewis and Anthony Braxton. In the late 1970's, Hemingway, trombonist Ray Anderson, and bassist Mark Helias formed a collective trio which they eventually named BassDrumBone. In celebration of their 40th anniversary in 2017, the group released “The Long Road” with special guests Joe Lovano and Jason Moran.

Jerry Granelli

Born: December 30, 1940

The past decades have been good to Jerry Granelli. Jazz Times magazine calls Granelli “one of those uncategorizable veteran percussionists who's done it all.” A Canadian citizen since 1999, Granelli burns with an intensity fuelled by a passion for “the pursuit of the spirit of spontaneity which drives the player.” A veteran of the West Coast jazz scene, Granelli's recent flourish of recordings has documented remarkable collaborations between the generations. Jerry Granelli's story is one that follows the evolution of the West Coast jazz scene. Born in 1940 in San Francisco, the boy recognized his passion in 1948 when he spent a day with Gene Krupa

Pete Escovedo

Born: July 13, 1935

As far as household names in percussion go Pete Escovedo ranks high on the list. A prominent San Francisco/Oakland area multi-percussionist and a force in the local festival and recording scene, even in his seventies, Pete is known worldwide for his session work and solo albums. Born in California, Pete's first encounter with music was the saxophone. By school end, however, the instrument yielded place to the bongos. Pete's first explorations were on a makeshift pair, cobbled together out of tin cans and household adhesives. During the sixties, armed with the real thing, Pete joined his brother Coke and gigged the Bay Area in a unit called the Escovedo Brothers Latin Jazz Sextet

Kahil El'Zabar

Born: November 11, 1953

Internationally renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El'Zabar is considered one of the most prolific jazz innovators of his generation. Indeed El'Zabar is a true "Renaissance Man," with a musical style and content that flows from ancient Africa to the modern world. In his own words, "The spirit of one's approach comes first before the technical. All the facility in the world with nothing that comes from the heart doesn't make good music. The basis of the strength of any artistic evolution has come from ethnicity."

Even though he is fully grounded in the history and music of his African American community, he has taken his studies deeper, ingeniously incorporating African music and instrumentation, producing a unique and wonderfully engaging sound. He credits his community with providing some direction towards African sensibility. "I grew up in a period when African Americans, as a large body, finally started addressing our roots. With African drums there was such an appeal in the way of playing with the hands and the sense of the entire body being involved in the playing of the instrument." El'Zabar is an accomplished musician with mastery of a variety of instruments, from the elementary - congas, bongos, African drums, shekere, gongs, and trap drums - to the esoteric - balaphon, marimba, sanza, kalimba and berimbau.

Hamid Drake

Born: August 3, 1955

b. 3 August 1955, Monroe, Louisiana, USA. Hamid Drake studied drums extensively, including eastern and Caribbean styles. In 1974 he began what was to be a long-term musical relationship with Fred Anderson. In the late 70s, Anderson introduced him to George Lewis and Douglas Ewart. His most significant percussion influences, Ed Blackwell and Adam Rudolph, date from this period. The latter, who was a childhood friend, became another continuing collaborator and they appeared together in numerous contexts, including Anderson's 1979 The Missing Link. Don Cherry, who Drake first met in 1978, was another continuing collaborator