Armando Peraza

Armando Peraza (* May 30, 1924 in Havana, Cuba) is Chano Pozo and Tito Puente with one of the pioneers of Afro- Cuban music. Through his years of work with jazz pianist George Shearing and guitarist Carlos Santana, he was one of the most famous Latin American percussionists of the 1950s to the 1990s. He plays bongos and congas in particular, as well as dances and he also composes.

Career

With seven years he was an orphan. He sold vegetables and played professional baseball, boxed and trained boxers. His first professional appearance as a musician he had with Alberto Ruiz. He developed a reputation as a percussionist and dancer with Havana's small bands or " conjuntos ", most famous Ruiz ' Conjunto Kubavana.

In 1949 he emigrated with his friend, conga player Mongo Santamaría, to the United States. In New York, Peraza took on his first album with Charlie Parker and Buddy Rich. With his compatriot Slim Gaillard he played in New York in November 1949 a session from which a virtuosic recording on " Bongo City" emerged. After a period in Mexico City, he returned to the U.S. and settled on the west coast. Here he worked with Dizzy Gillespie and with Gaillard and an Afro-Cuban dance revue in the Cable Car Village club that attracted, among others, Errol Flynn, Marlon Brando and Rita Hayworth.

In San Francisco, he met the British pianist George Shearing, with whom he was at the top of the wave of success of Afro- Cuban music. In time with Shearing Peraza began to compose. Shearing developed from ideas Perazas songs like " Te la cabeza arranco ", " Mambo in Chimes " and " Mambo in Miami ". They stood thus at the center of the " mambo craze ", a time in which this music was very popular in the USA, and Peraza was strongly in the public interest, which at that time was unusual for an Afro Cubans.

On a tour of the U.S. with Shearing Peraza experienced again and again racism. During a stay in 1959 in Miami with Shearing and Peggy Lee Peraza was not allowed to sleep like the other band members in the same hotel. Shearing and Lee solved the problem by threatening to cancel the appearance.

Peraza played with vibraphonist Cal Tjader and they took the famous song " Guachi Guaro ", which in the London acid jazz club scene found new appeal later. In 1959, Peraza with conga player Mongo Santamaria and Francisco Aguabella the ' Mongo' album, whose song " Afro Blue" by John Coltrane's version of the jazz standard was.

In 1968 he took the solo album "Wild Thing " with the label on Skye, can be heard on the pianist Chick Corea and the saxophonist Sadao Watanabe. By 1959 he had set on the album 'More Drums on Fire' with his masterpiece ' Artistry in Rhythm' on congas and bongos a standard.

Adaptability and an open mind are the hallmarks of Perazas approach, so that he played in the late 1960s as one of the first Latin American percussionist congas to a rock piece, 1968 Harvey Mandel's " Cristo Redentor, " album.

In 1972, Peraza in the band Santana, to which he belonged for almost twenty years, among other things, with percussionists like Chepito Areas and Orestes Vilató. Some of his pieces were recorded by Santana, among other things, " Gitano " on the album " Amigos " and the jazz -influenced song " Mandela " on the album " Freedom". His Congasolos can be heard in the plays " Hannibal " ( " Zebop! "), " Bambele " and " Bambara " (both on "Viva Santana ") and " Mother Africa " ( "Welcome "). Bongo performances can be heard especially on " La Fuente Del Ritmo " ( " Caravanserai "), " Flor de canela " and " Promise of a Fisherman " ( a sequence of " Borboletta "). John Santos designated Peraza as " perhaps the greatest Bongosero in the history of the instrument. "

Peraza left Santana in 1990, but came again in 1992 for a concert to Santiago de Chile in front of more than 100,000 listeners. The video " Viva Santana " contains a part with Congaimprovisation of Peraza from the year 1985.

Peraza lives in San Mateo, gives workshops and plays at jazz festivals around the world. In 2005 he played on an album by the musician John Santos from the San Francisco Bay Area. Santos ' " 20th -Anniversary Edition " set included " El Changüi De Peraza ", the Perazas Bongo game highlights. In 2002 he took a trip to Cuba, the first for over 50 years.

In July 2006, Peraza joined with 82 years together with Santana at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. In August 2006 he played at the San Jose Jazz Festival in California with the Julius Melendez Latin Jazz Ensemble and gave a course with Raul Rekow and Karl Perazzo, both from the Santana band.

Discography

As a soloist:

'More Drums on Fire' (World Pacific 1959 - two pieces on an LP with different musicians )

' The Soul of Jazz Percussion ' ( Warwick 1960 - three pieces on a LP with different musicians ) - as a CD under the title of Donald Byrd & Booker Little ' The Third World ' ( Collectables, 1999)

'Wild Thing ' ( Skye 1968)

' R.O.A.R. ' (Tabu, 1985)

1940s:

Conjunto Kubavana - ' Rumba en el patio "( Tumbao 1994 - re-release of recordings from 1944 to 1947 )

Machito - ' Cu - Bop City ' ( Roost Records 1949) Slim Gaillard - ' Laughing in Rhythm ' (Proper 2003 - CD Box edition )

1950s with George Shearing:

' An Evening With George Shearing ' (MGM 1955), ' Shearing in Hi- Fi' (MGM 1955), ' George Shearing Caravan " (MGM 1955), ' The Shearing Spell ' ( Capitol 1955), ' Velvet Carpet ' ( Capitol 1956), ' Latin Escapade ( Capitol 1956), ' Black Satin ' ( Capitol 1957), ' In the Night ' ( Capitol 1958 - George Shearing and Dakota Staton ), ' Burnished Brass' ( Capitol 1958), 'Blue Chiffon ' ( Capitol 1958), ' Latin Lace' ( Capitol 1958), ' George Shearing on Stage ' ( Capitol 1959), ' Latin Affair ' ( Capitol 1959), ' Beauty and the Beat' ( Capitol 1959 - George Shearing and Peggy Lee), ' On the Sunny Side of the Strip' ( Capitol 1959), ' Satin Affair ' ( Capitol 1959), 'White Satin ' ( Capitol 1960), ' The Swinging 's Mutual ' ( Capitol 1961, George Shearing and Nancy Wilson), ' Mood Latino ' ( Capitol 1962), ' San Francisco Scene ' ( Capitol 1962), ' Love Walked In ' ( Jazzland 1962 - George Shearing and The Montgomery Brothers), ' Rare form ' ( Capitol 1965), ' Latin Rendezvous ' ( Capitol 1965)

1950s and 60s with Cal Tjader:

' Vibist ' ( Savoy 10 ' 1954), ' Ritmo Caliente ' ( Fantasy 1954), ' Mas Ritmo Caliente ' ( Fantasy 1957), ' In A Latin Bag ' ( Verve 1961), ' Soul Sauce ' ( Verve 1964), ' Soul Bird ' ( Verve 1965), ' El Sonido Neuvo ' ( Verve 1966), ' Along Comes Cal ' ( Verve 1967), ' Cal Tjader Plugs In ' ( Skye 1969), ' Latin Jazz = Cal Tjader ( Actual Jazz 1993 - CD reissue), 'Jazz' Round Midnight ' ( Verve 1996 - compilation ), ' Talkin ' Verve: Roots of Acid Jazz ' ( Verve 1996 - compilation )

Sessions with Mongo Santamaría:

' Mongo' ( Fantasy 1959), ' Mongo 's Way ' (Atlantic 1971), ' Mongo At Montreux ' (Atlantic 1971), ' African Roots ' (compilation, RCA 1972), ' Skin On Skin - The Mongo Santamaria Anthology ( Rhino 1999)

Jazz sessions in the late 1950s / early 1960s:

Victor Feldman - ' Latinville ' ( Cont 1959); Freddie Gambrell - ' Mikado ' (World Pacific 1959); Randy Weston - ' Uhuru Africa' ( Roulette 1960) Modesto Duran - ' Fabulous Rhythms of Modesto ' ( Raynote 19? ); Hector Rivera - ' Viva Rivera ' (Columbia / Epic, 1961); Candido Camero - ' Candido 's Comparsa ' (ABC - Paramount 1963); Buddy Collette & Charles Kynard - 'Warm Winds ' (World Pacific 1964)

Direction of Latin rock in the late 1960s:

Lalo Schifrin -! ' Che ' ( Tetragrammaton Records 1968 - Soundtrack); Harvey Mandel - Cristo Redentor ' (Philips 1968); George Duke - ' Inner Source' (MPS 1971) Doug Clifford - ' Doug Clifford ' ( Fantasy 1972)

18 years with Santana:

' Caravanserai (1972 ), ' Welcome ' (1973 ), ' Borboletta ' (1974 ), ' Lotus ' (1975 ), ' Amigos ' (1976 ), ' Inner Secrets ' (1978), ' Marathon ' (1979 ), ' Zebop! ' (1981 ), ' Shango ' (1982 ), ' Beyond Appearances ' (1985 ), ' Freedom ' (1987 ), ' Viva Santana ' (1988 ), ' Spirits Dancing In The Flesh ' (1990 ), ' Dance of The Rainbow Serpent ' (1995 ) Carlos Santana solo - ' Love, Devotion, Surrender ' (1973 ), ' Illuminations ' (1974 ), ' Oneness ' (1979 ), ' The Swing of Delight ' (1980 ), ' Havana Moon ' (1983), " blues for Salvador ' (1987)

Guest performances from the 1970s:

Brenda Patterson - ' Brenda Patterson ' ( Playboy 1973) Albert Hammond - ' Albert Hammond ' ( Mums 1974) New Riders Of The Purple Sage - ' Brujo ' (Columbia 1975) Roy Buchanan - 'Rescue Me' ( Polydor 1975) Stone Ground - ' Flat Out ' ( Flat Out 1976) Sly and The Family Stone -' Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back ' (CBS 1976) Alice Coltrane -' Eternity ' ( Warner Brothers 1976) Gato Barbieri -' Tropico ' (A & M 1978 ) John McLaughlin - 'Electric Guitarist ' (Columbia 1978) Rick James - ' Street Songs ' ( Motown 1981) Sister Sledge -' All American Girls' ( Cotillion 1981) Patti Austin - " Patti Austin " ( Qwest, 1984) Aretha Franklin - ' Who's Zoomin 'Who "( Arista 1985) Vital Information - ' World Beat ' (Columbia 1986) Herbie Hancock & Foday Musa Suso - ' Jazz Africa ' ( Verve 1987) John Santos & The Machete Ensemble - ' Africa Volume 1 ' ( Machete Records 1988) John Lee Hooker - ' The Healer ' ( Silvertone 1989) Tom Coster - ' From Me To You ' ( JVC 1990) soundtrack - ' The Mambo Kings' ( Elektra 1992) Linda Ronstadt - ' Frenesi ' ( Elektra 1992) Eric Clapton - ' Crossroads II' ( Polydor 1996) Merl Saunders - " Fiesta amazonica ' ( Summertone 1997) John Santos & The Machete Ensemble - '20th Anniversary' ( Machete Records 2005)

Video / DVD:

Herbie Hancock & Foday Musa Suso - 'Jazz Africa' ( Polygram Music Video 1987) Santana: ' Viva Santana ' (Columbia 1988), ' Sesion Latina ' ( Rhino Home Video, 1989), Francisco Aguabella - ' Sworn To The Drum ' ( Flower Films, 1995), Carlos Santana & Wayne Shorter - Live In Montreux ' ( VBPR 2005 - film from a 1988 concert )

Lexigraphic entries

• Wolf Kampmann: Reclam Jazz Encyclopedia Stuttgart 2003; ISBN 3-15-010528-5

• Jazz Musician
• Fusion musicians
• Cuban musicians
• Born in 1924
• Man