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Article: Bongo icons: the West Coast.(notable percussionists, bongo drum players)
- Article from:
- Latin Beat Magazine
- Article date:
- November 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Latin Beat Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1947, the bongó was added to the west coast big band format when Stan Kenton recruited Jack Constanzo, an autodidactic Sicilian-American bongó player. Constanzo remembers that "literally within weeks of Kenton hiring me, Dizzy Gillespie brought Chano Pozo over from Cuba, but it wasn't a competitive thing." Meaning that Gillespie was looking for the real Cuban yumfa (swing), whereas Kenton simply desired to incorporate the bongó as a charming, exotic effect to his music. After working with Nat King Cole (1949-1953) and traveling to Cuba to improve his martillo abilities, the aforesaid Sicilian from the Windy City became known to the world as "Mr. Bongó," the bongó ...