congaplace.com

I was lucky enought to take lesson's from Gene Golden, Jerry Gonzales, Milton Cardona, & Frankie Malabe in the early 80's In New York city @ The Drummer's Collective on 42 St. I am greatfull for what they taught me.

Who DO I take lessons from?

Everyone. Good examples, bad examples, teachers, students, children who walk up and hit the drums... everyone.

I used to take lessons from Carlos Aldama a past member of Conjunto de Folklorico de Nacional.
Now I study with Sandy Perez from Grupo-AfroCuba de Matanzas about twice a week.

I learned from "Hank" Fields and George "Sabu" Caldwell the 3rd and Mario Galagarza(Willie Colons first conga player-El Malo)..these 3 men who had learned from Armando Peraza and the late great Chano Pozo, and then Mongo Santamaria, just by watching him...."JC" Johnny Conga

Hey congero's before i write anymore im not trying to see who has a background in percussion just giving kudos to who has helped me. I like your answer Thomas it's not just who you study with, all the great drummer's were inspired by someone , some sound, some feeling. Ive been out of the scene for a while & this site is great! Looking to play more latin percussion again & balance out from playing trap drum's.

Hey JC love that picture of you & Mongo together. Will you & your band be comming to Northern California any time soon? They have a Puerto Rican Festival every year here & are alway's looking for new band's.

Hey bongosnotbombs : Are there alot of rumbas going on in Frisco ?

Bongobilly wrote:Hey bongosnotbombs : Are there alot of rumbas going on in Frisco ?

There are a few here and there, Berkeley too.

Currently working with Josvany Cortes who is fresh out of Cuba.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V85zH24t ... annel_page

The sessions are very demanding but my technique, playing and understanding of the rhythms has advanced tremendously.

Ive taken lessons from John Amira, a really nice guy and from Cleve Pozar.

Cleve has got to be the best teacher I have ever had the priveledge to study and play with.
He is a genius. He plays traps like Tony Williams , in fact studied under Allen Dawson who taught Tony , and can play or transcribe anything he hears.He has also invented an electrionic bata device in which he can play all bata parts himself to the the letter. He's an incredible cat and you can check him out on youtube.
Just type in cleve pozar.

I started off taking lessons from Steve Lopez at the Harbor Conservatory in Spanish Harlem, NYC. Steve taught me the basic fundamentals and the importance of proper technique. I then took a few private lessons from my friend Milton Cardona followed by a couple of private lessons from David "La Mole" Ortiz, and some workshop lessons from Roland Guerrero at Jazzmobile. Currently I'm studying with Little Johnny Rivero and I have learned so much from him-great teacher and one heck of nice guy!

afrocubarico

Wow those electronic bata setup is cool! But i wouldn't want to play them at a ritual Ogun would kick my butt! I study for a while with Gene Golden on bata at his house in Englewood New Jersey. But i wasnt ready to get into the religion.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm gonna tell Cleve about that Ogun comment.

Cleve is posting Latokpa on youtube with electronic bata,and it should be up bye Friday.
He transcribed some of the Abbilona version of Latokpa ,and it is kicking!!!

I know its a technical achievement and a demonstration of virtuosity but it leaves me cold.
Where is the community/collaborative element? It's not just about the rhythms is it?