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Tribute to Mongo Santamaria
Profile of the legendary percussionist
(primarily conga drums), bandleader, composer.
Notes and Profile by John Child
With the kind permission of NascenteBack2Back, we reproduce John
Child's liner notes to a Mongo CD on the label featuring Afro-Indio
and A La Carte. This NascenteBack2Back title is not available
in the USA, however
Afro-Indio and
A La Carte can be ordered separately from the Descarga.com
catalog.
Mongo Santamaría was responsible for a style of music that could be
described as a combo of mambo, salsafunk and jazz latino. His sound was as
unique as they come...
Mongo Santamaría:
Latin Music's Mr. Fusion
Individual lives don't always turn out as you might expect. Mongo
Santamaría is a prime example of this. The grandson of an African-born
slave, his upbringing in the Jesús María district of Havana during the
1920s and 1930s was steeped in the Afro-Cuban roots tradition. After
arriving in New York in the late 1940s, his earliest jobs there were all
in character with his background. These included stints with Gilberto
Valdés' charanga (the city's first example of this typical Cuban format of
flute, violins, rhythm section and voices), mambo populariser Pérez Prado
and Mambo King Tito Puente. Furthermore, his first three recordings as a
leader, Tambores Afro-Cubanos on SMC, Changó '55
on Tico (which was reissued in 1978 on Vaya as
Drums And Chants ) and Yambú '58 on Fantasy, were
all authentic Afro-Cuban percussion workouts which became classics of the
genre.
However, fate, in the form of vibes player Cal Tjader, stepped in. From
right under Puente's nose, he whisked Mongo and percussionist Willie Bobo
off to the West Coast in 1958 to play with his pioneering Latin jazz
group. Though Mongo retired to the wings during Tjader's straight jazz
numbers, he was still exposed to an important influence. When Mongo left
Tjader in 1961, he somewhat reverted to his roots by briefly leading a
charanga band. This was understandable to a degree, as the charanga/pachanga
craze was raging at full force at the time. Nonetheless, by this stage,
Mongo could already not resist incorporating jazz idioms into the
traditional Cuban flute and strings framework. A combination that worked
very well.
Mongo made four fairly orthodox charanga albums for Fantasy in 1961 and
1962, including one headlined by pianist Joe Loco. In addition, he
recorded a further three albums of rootsy material for the label between
1959 and 1960; two of which were made in Cuba. However, with the benefit
of hindsight, it was his third and second from last albums for the
company, Viva Mongo! and Mighty Mongo, both made
in 1962 with a decidedly jazz oriented octet comprised mainly of personnel
from his charanga, that gave the strongest flavour of his future
direction.
Long before the charanga/pachanga fad subsided in the mid-1960s, Mongo
disbanded his charanga and returned to New York in 1962. There, he
hurriedly pulled together a horns-led group of musicians with diverse
musical backgrounds, including pianist Armando Corea (who later became
famous as Chick Corea), to audition for a contract with the jazz label,
Riverside Records. He was successful, and made a pair of albums each for
Riverside and their subsidiary Battle label between 1962 and 1964. It was
during this period that his ground-breaking Latin/jazz/R&B fusion sound
emerged. This was epitomised by his greatest commercial success, the 1963
top 10 hit single "Watermelon Man" (written by Herbie Hancock) on Battle,
subsequently included in the Battle album of the same name.
The producer of "Watermelon Man", Orrin Keepnews, later described the
single as a "unique concoction of funk, blues, soul, rock, jazz,
Afro-Cuban-Latin, and what-have-you." [1] Though a hit of
the same magnitude was to elude him, bar a few notable exceptions, the
song virtually set the stylistic tone for the rest of his recording career
to date, with Columbia (1965 to 1970), Atlantic (1970 to 1972), Vaya (1973
to 1980), Pablo (1981), Roulette (1983), Tropical Budda (1985), Concord
Picante (1987 to 1990), Candid (1993), Chesky (1993) and Milestone (1995).
This Back2Back features two significant albums Mongo made for Vaya
Records, a subsidiary of the Fania Records empire founded in 1971.
First-up, the Grammy-nominated Afro-Indio , his third outing
for the label issued in 1975, places the emphasis on the Latin-funk
dimension of his Latin fusion cocktail. While the following album, A
La Carte , his penultimate release for Vaya, sees his work
logically edging into the disco domain. In fact, Latin music historian,
John Storm Roberts contends: "During the 1960s, percussionists Mongo
Santamaría and Willie Bobo essentially created the Latin-jazz-funk that
was the basis of the 1970s disco sound." [2]
To conclude, I'll let Mongo summarise the relationship between his rootsy
Afro-Cuban heritage and the fusion direction of his career: "All this
music does have one unifying factor. Behind the styles of Latin, soul,
rock or jazz is the African beat." [3]
1. Quote from Orrin Keepnews's sleevenotes to Skins
'76 on Milestone.
2. Quote from the book Latin Jazz: The First of the Fusions, 1880s
to Today by John Storm Roberts, published by Schirmer Books, 1999.
3. Quote from Kathy Mackay's sleevenotes to The Watermelon Man
'73 on Milestone.
These notes are dedicated to the memory of my mother, Hilda
Child, who passed away while they were in preparation.
What follows is an extensive, if not complete, Mongo Santamaria
discography:
Santamaría, Mongo
(b Ramón Santamaría, 7 Apr. '22, Havana, Cuba; d
1 Feb. '03, Miami, FL) Latin percussionist (primarily conga drums),
bandleader, composer. His grandfather was born in Africa; always called
Mongo, he later learned that the word means "chief of the tribe" in
Senegalese. Studied violin, but first love was drums, inspired by Chano
Pozo. Dropped out of school to play congas; spent five years in opulent
clubs of pre-Castro Havana and went to Mexico City '48 with Armando Peraza;
they arrived in NYC late '40s, billed as the Black Cuban Diamonds; played
with NYC's first charanga led by flautist/saxist/composer Gilberto Valdés
(b 21 May '04, Jovellanos, Matanzas province, Cuba; d
12 May '72, NYC), joined Pérez Prado for a short spell, then Tito
Puente '51-7; meanwhile made LPs of music derived from Afro-Cuban
religious cults: Tambores Afro Cubanos on SMC and
Changó '55 on Tico (reissued '78 on Vaya as
Drums And Chants ); joined Cal Tjader's group '58 for three
years with percussionist Willie Bobo (LPs on Fantasy, Prestige).
His own LPs on Fantasy: Yambú and Mongo '58-9,
latter incl. "Afro Blue" (became jazz standard), both LPs later combined
in
Afro Roots '72 on Prestige; also
Our Man In Havana , Mongo In Havana "Bembé"
(coupled with previous LP in CD reissue Our Man In Havana
'93),
!Sabroso! , Pachanga with Joe Loco (reissued
as half of the CD
Loco Motion '94),
!Arriba! La Pachanga , Más Sabroso , Viva
Mongo! , Mighty Mongo (superb live set by a Latin jazz
octet coupled with previous LP in CD reissue
At The Blackhawk '94), Mongo y La Lupe (aka
Mongo Introduces La Lupe with Cuban vocalist La Lupe,
1939-1992) '60-3.
He recorded fusions of Latin, R&B, jazz, soul, hiring musicians like Chick
Corea, Hubert Laws; had top 10 hit with Herbie Hancock tune "Watermelon
Man" '63 on Battle label: album
Watermelon Man incl. single's B side "Don't Bother Me No More",
also "Yeh Yeh", covered for UK chart hit by Georgie Fame; packaged with
Mongo At The Village Gate on Battle plus "Para Ti" (recorded at
the Village Gate, from Riverside LP Mongo Explodes ) to make
The Watermelon Man '73 on Milestone;
Skins '76 on Milestone combined his first and last Riverside
LPs: Go, Mongo! '62 and Mongo Explodes '64, the
latter with Nat Adderley on some tracks.
His success led to Columbia (CBS) contract, LPs El Pussy Cat
, La Bamba , El Bravo (an isolated típico
outing), Hey! Let's Party , Mongo Mania (incl. "Mongo's
Boogaloo"), Explodes At The Village Gate , Soul Bag
, Stone Soul , Workin' On A Groovy Thing (incl.
top 40 cover '69 of "Cloud Nine", hit by the Temptations), All
Strung Out '65-70: most of these made USA pop LP chart, making
Mongo the most successful Latin musician of the '60s. Switched to Atlantic
for Feelin' Alright and
Mongo '70, which also charted; Mongo's Way '71
incl. Israel "Cachao" López on bass, also incl. Peraza, as did
Mongo At Montreux '71; Up From The Roots '72 had
one side of Afro-Cuban music, other conjunto. To Vaya label (Fania
stablemate) for
Fuego '73,
Mongo Santamaría Live At Yankee Stadium '74 (on same bill as
Fania All Stars, with whom he also guested, live and studio tracks appear
on FAS's Latin-Soul-Rock '74),
Afro-Indio '75, Mongo & Justo "Ubane" '76 with
Justo Betancourt (another rare típico digression),
Sofrito '77, then Dawn (Amanecer) '77 (the first
Fania album to win a Grammy),
A La Carte '78;
Mongo Mongo '78 was a compilation on Vaya prepared by Al
Santiago, Red Hot '79 on CBS UK.
Images '80 was his Vaya finale.
Summertime '81 on Pablo was made live at Montreux with Dizzy
Gillespie, Toots Thielemans; Mongo Magic '83 appeared on
Roulette; Free Spirit '85 on Tropical Budda. To Concord
Picante for
Soy Yo , with guest Charlie Palmieri on "Mayeya" (Yoruban
religious chant co-written by Santamaría),
Soca Me Nice ,
Olé Ola ,
Live At Jazz Alley '87-90. Performed on Mambo Show
'90 (rec'd mid-'80s) by Tropical Budda All-Stars incl. Palmieri, José "Chombo"
Silva, Barry Rogers, Johnny "Dandy" Rodríguez and Nicky Marrero. Joined
Tito Puente's Golden Latin Jazz All Stars (incl. Paquito D'Rivera, Dave
Valentín, Hilton Ruiz, Andy González and Mario Rivera, amongst others) for
"Live" at The Village Gate '92 and "In Session"
'94, both on Tropijazz, and performed with Puente and "The Golden Men of
Latin Jazz" at London's Royal Festival Hall, July '93.
Mambo Mongo '93 on Chesky;
Watermelon Man '95, rec'd at Birdland 9-10 Oct. '92; guested on
half of Poncho Sánchez's tribute CD Conga Blue '96 on Concord
Picante, which reprises Mongo's hits.
Six of his albums received Grammy nominations '75-85. Other gigs with FAS
incl.
Live At Yankee Stadium Vol 2 '75, film footage incl. in
Salsa (also soundtrack album).
After a third stroke, Mongo was disconnected from life support in Miami's
Baptist Hospital and passed away at 3:00 am Saturday 1 Feb. '03.
-This is a slightly revised version of one of over 130 Latin
music entries written by John Child (John_Child@descarga.com)
for The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 2nd Edition, edit.
Donald Clarke; Penguin Books; 1998; 1524 pages; US$22.95, UK£16.99.
Courtesy of:
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