Daniel Ponce has passed away

[ABAKUA]

With much sadness I inform you all that the great Rumbero Daniel Ponce has passed away.
Ibae' Bayen Tonu.

[RitmoBoricua]

Rest in peace. I remember some years ago I saw him at the Village Gate
"Salsa Meets Jazz" deal he put on a show. That night was his band and Ray
Barretto's band, they went toe to toe. Sad news.

[Omelenko1]

I just heard that Daniel Ponce, in my opinion one of the great quinto players in the world, died yesterday here in Miami. I had the pleasure of knowing and playing rumba with Daniel on a few occasions. He revolutionized conga playing here in the States after coming from Cuba in 1980 on the Mariel Boat Lift, he brought the SONGO rhythm with him from Cuba and was a leading force though the 80's and early 90's. He had been living a life away from the limelight here in Miami for the past 15 yrs., mainly playing religious Santeria music for private parties . His albums New York Now, Arawe and Chango Te LLama are all considered classics. Daniel was not even 60 yrs. of age. DESCANSA EN PAZ TIMBERO MAYOR!

[JohnnyConga]

Oh noooooooooo!..damn! lost another friend in Miami, and Great Rumbero Mayor ..Ibae tonu/RIP Daniel..what did he die from Dario?.

[Omelenko1]

I'm trying to find out what he died from. Last time I saw him was at "Rumba At 6", where Miguel Cruz and I played some guaguanco with him. I played salidor and Daniel took a wicket quinto solo. Daniel played rumba at Mongo's funeral. I tried several times to get in touch with him, but never could. He lived a life away from the limelight here in Miami for a number of years. Tremenda perdida para el mundo rumbero! Daniel was not even 60.

[pcastag]

New York now is a classic! I love it rip timbero mayor!

[OLSONGO]

R.I.P. Daniel ....Sad day indeed .New York Now was very influential to me. If anyoneone has this recording, love to get a copy. Lost the one i had on a loan.

Peace
Olsongo

[ABAKUA]

New York Now, Arawe, & Chango Te Llama, extremely influential in my early development days.
Awesome recordings from that time. I love these. Apparently there is also another recording called Rumba Pa Gozar, but it's a compilation of his tracks from the ready released albums?

[Isaac]

Daniel Ponce - ARAWE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whCkoT7M9lA

[Isaac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&featu ... Vuta5FbLjM

[RitmoBoricua]

Attachments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whCkoT7M9lAAttachments

That night at the Village Gate in 1989 he played all the numbers from "Arawe".

Daniel Ponce on congas with Eddie Palmieri in Puerto Rico, 1983. Notice Eddie is using two conga players (he did that quite a few
times) Daniel Ponce and Eladio Perez, a very young Giovanni Hidalgo on bongos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LkUdWumDgM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLF6A ... =endscreen

On this one Eladio and Giovanni swapped chairs and Daniel remained on congas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x88zl3kE ... CA5E4DB065

Daniel Ponce with Super All Stars :

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GCEsETyAq0

[OLSONGO]

Daniel also played on some of Paquito D'Riveras first albums here in the STates. " Blowin", " Mariel "
Peace
Olsongo

[Omelenko1]

I saw him with Paquito here in Miami in 1981, shortly after the Mariel boatlift. He was playing 3 Skin on Skin congas and a very fast powerful SONGO, which outside of Cuba at the time was a new rhythm for congueros here in the States. He blew everyone away!!!!!

[JohnnyConga]

The first time I saw Daniel was at the Verna Gillis place in Manhattan called Soundscape.. My brother Willie "El Ruso" called me in L.A. and said "Bro u gotta see this guy,Ponce. he's playing 5 congas!!!!....I flew to NY just to see him at Soundscape...so Willie and I went together..when Daniel came out and started to play the 5 congas alone...took me right out of my seat, and I had to stand up and move out of the sitting area to a place by the wall so i was kinda to his side so I could figure out what he was doing..IT CHANGED THE WAY I PLAYED AFTER THAT!...i went home got 5 drums together and started "working out" because to play 5 congas is truly a workout!...I eventually met him in Miami and My band at the time backed him up on a gig on South Beach and we became friends...mutual respect was there..very quiet down to earth type dude, as I knew him..Of course there are the stories of him in NY and being 'run out the city' by some groups, and almost loosing his life in a setup car accident against him..as he told me..when i saw him the side of his face had lost the epidermas and looked white and his whole right arm was the same way..but he recovered and never really went back to NYC...we eventually would be jammin at a place called Rumba on 6 which was a gathering place in Pequena Havana where we would Rumba together...his 3 albums are 'classics' i will be doing a 'tribute' to him on my radio show tonight 6pm Pacific time 9 pm Eastern time USA http://www.kbcs.fm 91.3 AL LADO LATINO...Ibae Ibae Tonu Daniel Ponce..

Daniel Ponce.jpg (18.45 KiB) Viewed 22718 times

[salzfaas]

Daniel Ponce... what a man.Great conga player.I saw him in London in a small theater off the Euston rd and in The bass cleff in hoxton sq which was a great African and latin club.He came to England and blew everyone away.A lot of Front and style.Played solo for an hour in the theater not just to dribbling conga players, and kept everyone enthralled.Total respect, he had a lot of power.Been a large influence on me from way way back, still keep his album New york now in the car and I never tire of hearing his playing.