Favorite Latin Jazz Artist?

[muddy323]

How easy i forgot about Mongo. which was the percussion on my favorite Tjader music. Poncho is a extention of Mongo and im lucky that hes in my backyard. Im still waiting to see The Conga Kings here in Los Angeles. They are becoming one of my Favorites. My garage band is trying to duplicate there sound now. If they dont come to L.A. soon. we will take the gig and the money. hahaha. Mongo is still the player and But i see Poncho once a month and he play many Mongo tunes and dont appear in Los Angeles often. I saw Mongo at a few time at Playboy Jazz Festival with El rey with in the last 20years but remember very little of those shown. But El rey and Cecila Cruz left a everlasting impression.



Edited By muddy323 on Jan. 06 2003 at 23:05

[JohnnyConga]

Hi guys...Unfortunatly I don't think you will be seeing Mongo play anymore he is 86 years old now and retired in Miami. His last gig was about 5 years ago, if you can imagine playing at the age of 81. I hope to be able to play that long only 27 years to go,whew what a life I've had,wow.....54 and can still kick it with the "young lions". If the Conga Kings do come to your town,Patato might not be with them he hasn't been showing up on some of his gigs. He is in his late 70's and has not takien care of himself too well,though he has been around for over 50 years. Amazing when you think about how the drum can keep you young.......At your Service...JC JOHNNY CONGA....congatheraphy for everyone!

[120decibels]

I'd like to re-hash the Tjader discussion for a moment to mention one album that I've been listening to: Dave Samuels' Tjaderized, A Cal Tjader Tribute. It has a lot of heavys on it (Ray Barretto and others). Dave really has a good feel for Tjader's style and substance.

Johnny's right, no one can replace Tjader, but Samuels puts up a magnificent effort. When I first heard the album, I thought it was Tjader himself. Check it out.....

Zach

[muddy323]

Thanks Johnny Conga for the info on Mongo...listen to Las Guajiras on Skin on Skin CD..that is what we were missing in 1959...the good stuff

[RayBoogie]

I'm so happy that to hear that I'm not the only Tjader enthusiast. I've been searching for the "SONA LIBRE" cd with no results . I will keep the hope alive and continue the search. Hopefully, I will find it for my birthday. That will really make this birthday boy happy. Hey JC, do you think I will be able to find that cd in http://www.descarga.com?

[Simon B]

I've not been able to find it ANYWHERE either. Still - I've got Los Ritmos Calientes on order which has some super-charged Peraza bongo solos!

Simon B