Carlos Patato Valdes R.I.P.

[rpklich]

He was one of the greatest percussionists from Cuba. (No small feat). Played with among others Dizzy, Art Blakey, Herbie Mann, Elvin Jones. He taught Bridgit Bardot some dance moves in a movie. His music will not be the only thing of importance he left behind. He invented the tunable conga drum.

[JSngry]

Essential listening, imho:

[sidewinder]

Wasn't he also on 'AT's Delight'. Always liked his playing on that one. RIP and another sad passing.

[Aggie87]

Wasn't he also on 'AT's Delight'. Always liked his playing on that one. RIP and another sad passing.

Yep!

I like it alot as well! One of my lucky purchases at Vinyl West in Stuttgart (a TOCJ no less!).

R.I.P. Patato.

[HolyStitt]

Sad news.

My first exposure to him was on the Willie Bobo reissue that featured Spanish Grease/Uno Dos Tres 1-2-3. After that I loved him on Kenny Dorham's Afro-Cuban, Grant Green's Latin Bit, Max's Percussion Bitter Sweet, and on my favorite appearance Blakey's Orgy in Rhythm.

R.I.P.

[mikeweil]

R.I.P.

One of the true originals, for sure. He and Cándido Camero both claim to have invented the lug-tuned conga drum ..... probably an idea that was in the air. He and Cándido were the first to play ttwo or three drums as a set, too.

He was on a host of albums, including a few of his own including some recorded on Martin Cohen's label, as he endorsed LP percussion.

http://content.congahead.com/galleries/patatotrib/

[ValerieB]

i'm really sorry to hear about yet another legendary musician leaving us. so glad that i got to see Patato in person years ago. he was an original.

[sidewinder]

One of my lucky purchases at Vinyl West in Stuttgart (a TOCJ no less!).

What a place - must go back there !

Edited December 5, 2007 by sidewinder

[BruceH]

Wasn't he also on 'AT's Delight'. Always liked his playing on that one. RIP and another sad passing.

Yep!

I like it alot as well! One of my lucky purchases at Vinyl West in Stuttgart (a TOCJ no less!).

R.I.P. Patato.

I'm a fan of this too! Must spin this today, in memorium.

[Big Al]

Herbie Mann's FLAUTISTA was my introduction to his groovy percussion. I like at the end when Herbie's introducing the band and introduces "the next president of Cuba, Patato!"

RIP

[brownie]

Sad news!

'Patato' was a major part in the success of the session that made up half of Kenny Dorham's 'Afro-Cuban' album.

This is Patato Valdez, he is the one at left, with Brigitte Bardot in 'And God Created Woman'

[mikeweil]

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

you mean to actually tell me that two, not one, memember of KD's Afro cuban lp died this year around the same time kd died? that SUCKS

[brownie]

Obit in the New York Times today.

CARLOS VALDES, A CONGA KING OF JAZZ, DIES AT 81

By BEN SISARIO

Published: December 6, 2007

Carlos Valdés, better known as Patato, whose melodic conga playing made him a giant of Latin jazz in Cuba and then for more than half a century in America, died on Tuesday in Cleveland. He was 81 and lived in Manhattan.

The cause was respiratory failure, said his manager, Charles Carlini.

Born in Havana, Patato (a reference from Cuban slang to his diminutive size) played in the 1940s and early ’50s with important groups like Sonora Matancera and Conjunto Casino. He became a star in the early days of Cuban television for his virtuosic playing and for his showmanship; his signature song was “El Baile del Pingüino” (“The Penguin Dance”), which he illustrated with side-to-side, penguinlike movement in perfect time.

He came to the United States in the early 1950s and settled in New York, where he quickly established himself as an indispensable player, performing and recording with some of the top names in jazz and Latin music. In the ’50s and ’60s he worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Machito, Kenny Dorham, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones; he played with Herbie Mann from 1959 to 1972.

Known for his fluid, improvisatory melodies, Mr. Valdés tuned his drums tightly to produce clear, precise tones, and he popularized the playing of multiple conga drums; when he began his career, conga players, or congueros, typically used only one or two drums, but Mr. Valdés played three, four or more to allow a wider range of tones.

He is also associated with using a key to tune the congas instead of heating the skins with a flame. Latin Percussion, the leading Latin drum company, makes a Patato line of conga drums.

Mr. Valdés had an influential role in expanding the rumba form. His 1968 album “Patato & Totico,” recorded with Eugenio (Totico) Arango, a singer who was a boyhood friend from Havana, was particularly inventive. Instead of sticking to the usual format of drums and vocals, the album added several other instruments played by star musicians like Israel (Cachao) López on bass and Arsenio Rodríguez on tres, a six-string Cuban guitar. It is said to be Mr. Rodríguez’s last recording session, and its innovations had a lasting effect on Latin jazz.

“I had these ideas and wanted to advance them through jazz,” Mr. Valdés said in an interview with Latin Beat magazine in 1997. “I wanted something progressive.”

He was also a flamboyant performer who knew how to work a crowd. One of his performance hallmarks was jumping atop his drums and dancing while keeping the beat. In the 1956 film “And God Created Woman,” he is briefly seen teaching Brigitte Bardot to dance the mambo.

He is survived by his wife, Julia; two daughters, Yvonne and Regla; and two grandchildren, Jose Valdes and Mayra Garcia.

Mr. Valdés never stopped touring, recently working with his group the Conga Kings, which also includes Giovanni Hidalgo and Candido Camero, a fellow octogenarian. While flying back a few weeks ago from concerts in California — including one at the San Francisco Jazz Festival on Nov. 9 — he had trouble breathing, and the plane made an emergency landing for him in Cleveland. He had been hospitalized since then.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Another good 'un goes. RIP Carlos.

MG

[Guest Bill Barton]

R.I.P.

A true master conguero!

[NaturalSoul]

R.I.P.