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Hey I found this rare clip of JUAN MENDOZA on bongos with Sammy Davis Jr. he plays a martillo at high speed for over 6 minutes with "riffs'/floreos" in between...the challenge is can u keep up with him at his pace for the whole video without breaking down once?..notice his dynamics...how he paces himself...how he 'embellishes' around certain parts of the song on the bongos...I find this very challenging...and i finally found out who this guy was...he backed up the "Rat Pack" in Vegas back in the 60's and others....

http://youtu.be/BuBcFuHBjBs

This is amazing to watch! He has amazing endurance and I bet his hands must have been pounding by the end of that. I can't help but wonder though, they couldn't have ad libbed that. They had to have practised and rehearsed for some time before a performance like that was ready to be played in front of an audience... or did they? There was some amazing talent back in the day.

Wow! I Thanks for posting J.C. That was awesome!

OT: Also notice that you don't miss any piano chords to enjoy those melodies! Sammy Davis Jr. was just a great all-around entertainer, and shows like this one set a standard that is rarely achieved today - without using cheap effects! Of course, and first and foremost, he was also a fantastic tap dancer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAdO9QInDSs). I have a soft spot for tap dance, not only because that's my girlfriend's profession.

Thomas

JohnnyConga wrote:Hey I found this rare clip of JUAN MENDOZA on bongos with Sammy Davis Jr. he plays a martillo at high speed for over 6 minutes with "riffs'/floreos" in between...the challenge is can u keep up with him at his pace for the whole video without breaking down once?..notice his dynamics...how he paces himself...how he 'embellishes' around certain parts of the song on the bongos...I find this very challenging...and i finally found out who this guy was...he backed up the "Rat Pack" in Vegas back in the 60's and others....

http://youtu.be/BuBcFuHBjBs

Thats seriously impressive stuff from Juan ! He picks his moments to embellish very nicely . Excellent

The treat for me is Sammy Davis Jr. I am not a fan of fast martillos.
I have to give it to the bongo player for his endurance but IMHO
he did not add much to Mr. Davis performance.

This kind of showmanship was probably more common back in the day....

Jack Constanzo is pretty fast too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTvaPjPuHTY

Oh and Sammy Davis played bongos too, I just saw a shot of him playing bongos in that Palladium mambo documentary.

Smokin! I don't even think I can play a martillo that fast at all! Wow, Pretty cool stuff.
PC

Bongo skins meets The Beatles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSA4pCF6i2c

The dude is smoking on them bongos, a good one Dario.