Giovanni Hidalgo, Candido Camero, Carlos "Patato" Valdes
Biographie Giovanni Hidalgo, Candido Camero, Carlos "Patato" Valdes
Giovanni Hidalgo
was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised in Santurce where he received his primary education. Giovanni comes from a renowned lineage of musicians, particularly percussionists: his step grandfather Fernando “Nando” Hernández was a musician, his grandmother Luisa Maysonet Marrero,born in Cuba and his father, José Manuel Hidalgo Maysonet “Mañengue”, was a renowned conga player. Hidalgo was raised in a household surrounded by drums, bongos, congas, and timbales. At the age of 3 he started trying out percussion on any surface he could get his hands on. As a young child he practiced and developed his skills on the conga and on other instruments in his house. For his eighth birthday, he received a conga, handmade by his father. Hidalgo would drum a tune with sticks and then play the same tune with his hands. Later on, he started practicing by playing 33rpm records at 78rpm so he could perform at two or three times the speed.
During his formative teen years, Giovanni played with an impressive line-up of the most prominent musicians in the local scene. At 9 years old he was playing with the “PR All Star”, Justo Betancourt’s “Conjunto Borin Cuba”, Papo Pepin and Hatuey. At age 12 he played with the Mario Ortiz Orchestra, with legendary Charlie Palmieri and at age 18 played was playing with Zaperoko.
By this point, Giovanni started being acknowledged worldwide. His percussive skills were enhanced, developed and influenced by the wide range of different styles he played. He developed a transcript style to transfer the drum set rudiments to the tumbadora and for that matter to any percussive instrument. Hidalgo was member/founder of Batacumbele Band in 1980. In 1981, he traveled with the band to Cuba, where he met a musician by the name Changuito, a.k.a. José Luis Quintana. They created a style of rhythm that ushered in a new era in Latin music.
In 1985, Hidalgo was performing with Eddie Palmieri at the Village Gate in New York City when Dizzy Gillespie walked in and listened to him play. Gillespie was so impressed with Hidalgo that he told him that someday in the future they must get together and play. During his career, he has worked among many other renown legends: Bola Abimbola, Sikiru Adepoju, Art Blakey, Muruga Booker, Jack Bruce, Don Byron, Candido Camero, D’Angelo, Paulinho da Costa, Steve Gadd, Sammy Hagar, Kip Hanrahan, Zakir Hussain, Cassius Khan, Airto Moreira, Charlie Palmieri,Tito Puente, Hilton Ruiz, Paul Simon, Carlos “Patato” Valdes, Carlos Santana, and Arturo Sandoval to name a few. Giovanni has an extensive discography with several recordings as leader, and as a sideman.
Candido Camero
Now in his nineties, LP's elder statesman Cándido de Guerra Camero touch on congas is still sure, his time is solid and his sound is uniquely his own. Born in 1921 in a Havana barrio called El Cerro, Candido was initially a multi-instrumentalist, showing facility on tres, guitar, and bass-these being key instruments in the popular Son music of the day. A switch to bongos and congas led to a six-year spell with the CMQ Radio Orchestra and a residency at the famed Cabaret Tropicana
Candido de Guerra Camero, also known simply as Candido, is an eloquent and informative clinician. Candido is known as the father of the technique of coordinated independence. He also pioneered the use of two and later three congas, where in past most percussionists were content playing a single drum.
Born in a Havana barrio called El Cerro, Candido was initially a multi-instrumentalist, showing facility on tres, guitar, and bass. These being key instruments in the popular Son music of the day.
A switch to bongos and congas led to a six-year spell with the CMQ Radio Orchestra and a residency at the famed Cabaret Tropicana. Heralded as the father of the technique of coordinated independence, Candido had further accomplishments. For one, he pioneered the use of two congas and later three, whereas in past congueros were content with a single drum.
Candido's long list of recorded work includes sessions with Dizzy Gillespie (He replaced Chano Pozo in Dizzy Gillespie's Orchestra), Lena Horne, Billy Taylor, Buddy Rich, Art Blakey, Count Basie, Elvin Jones, George Shearing, Lionel Hampton, Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery, Woody Herman, Doc Severinson, Marian McPartland, Lalo Schifrin. Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente, Charlie Parker, and Antonio Carlos Jobim
Carlos "Patato" Valdes
For over 50 years, Carlos "Patato" Valdez had demonstrated how a musician can combine technical skill with superb showmanship. His conga playing fused melody and rhythm, and his understanding of rhythm was rooted in dancing. Patato dazzled onlookers with his famed dance moves at the age of 74 -- he's the man who gave Brigitte Bardot a mambo lesson in the film And God Created Woman- -- dancing to his own solo in front of the congas, behind them and on top of them, bringing them to sing in voices no other conga player is able to create, luring them to tell tales full of melodies and poignancy. It is Patato's spontaneity and charm that enabled him to draw audiences from vastly different backgrounds and cultures into the irresistable Afro-Cuban rhythms which he created.
Patato came to the United States in 1952 and worked at New York's Tropicana nightclub with Conjunto Casino. In 1954, he said good-bye to his homeland, Cuba and never returned. Patato's first jazz work was with Billy Taylor at Philadelphia's Blue Note jazz club. After that he worked at New York City's Apollo Theater with trumpet player Chip Murray and played on his first jazz recording, Afrodesia, with trumpet player Kenny Durham. Years later Patato formed a group of his own, which he named Afrojazzia.
Although Patato had recorded few albums as a bandleader, he was more influential than almost any other conguero because he invented the tunable conga, a revolutionary step in music history. Before Patato's innovation, the traditional conga consisted of a wooden body with a nailed-on drum skin, which was tuned by holding a candle beneath the skin, but the results of this technique were not very satisfactory, as the tension of the drum skin slackened as soon as the skin cooled down again. It was Patato's idea to fix the skin to a metal ring which, connected at various points with the conga body, could be stretched and loosened with the help of a square box wrench, thus enabling the musician to tune his instrument to specific pitches. Consequently, it was now possible to hit each half step of an octave, initiated by Patato's unique melodic style of employing multiple conga drums and using them as a melody-creating instrument, just as a piano player or a horn player would.
Patato patented this invention, and the company Latin Percussion Inc. began manufactured the instrument. Latin Percussion's "Patato Model" is the top star of their product family, and Patato's conga type is now used by hundreds of groups from Santana to the Rolling Stones, as well as by a lot of well-known congueros, many of whom are his former students.
Since the 1950's, Patato had been among the congueros who were in highest demand in the Latin music and jazz worlds. He played, toured, and recorded with Miguelito Valdes, Perez Prado, Beny More, Cachao, Tito Puente (who called him "the greatest conguero"), Machito, Herbie Mann, Kenny Dorham, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones. Patato also acted in and composed the title song for the television series The Bill Cosby Show. In 1991 he contributed to the movie soundtrack of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love.
Patato, along with The Machito Orchestra, Candido Camero, Armando Peraza, Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros and Francisco Aguabella, was chosen by the Smithsonian to participate, in the Mambo and Afro-Cuban Jazz seminar hosted by Musica de las Americas. This series was an unprecedented event that celebrated the long tradition of exchange among the diverse music cultures of the Americas.
