Giovanni Hidalgo

Giovanni Hidalgo ( born March 9, 1963 in San Juan, Puerto Rico ) is a Puerto Rican percussionist.

Life

Hidalgo learned at the age of three percussion by his father José " Manuenge " Hidalgo, a famous Conga Player ( Conguero ). When he was 12 years old, he played in the band of Mario Ortiz in Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico All Stars. In 1981, he traveled to Cuba, where he studied with Tata Guines and Changuito. In 1980 he founded together with bandleader Angel " Cachete " Maldonado, the group Batacumbele. In 1985 he played with Eddie Palmieri in New York, and in 1988 he joined the Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Jazz Orchestra at, with whom he toured in Africa and Europe.

He taught from 1992 at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, gave up his professorship but in 1996, to go on tour.

He played with Charlie and Eddie Palmieri, Arturo Sandoval, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, Paquito D' Rivera, McCoy Tyner, Danilo Perez, Jack Bruce, Paul Simon, Art Blakey, and others. In 1992 he released the album Villa Hidalgo ( with Dizzy Gillespie and Paquito d' Rivera ), 1993 Worldwide mobile phone with Craig and Dave Valentin, 1995 Time Shifter, 1997 Hands of Rhythm with Michel Camilo, 2000 Conga Kings by Candido and Carlos Valdez, 2001 was he recorded the album Jazz Descargas with the Conga Kings out.