| Dates or Sequence |
Narrative including Bands & Personnel
and Musical Influences |
| 1940/05/07 |
A "gringo" was born in Ft.
Wayne, Indiana ... ME! |
| 1942/00/00 |
In 1942, thinking that when I
grew up I would have to shovel snow, I decided to move to the L.A. area (I
took my parents with me). I suspect that I was a real "wailer" even in those
days. |
| 1947/00/00 |
As a young child, I often
listened to the radio with my folks. Swing, country, classical, and
popular music were all included. I remember memorizing the words and
singing Anniversary Waltz (see Sonora Marianao below for a description of an interesting
performance of Anniversary Waltz as a mambo). |
| 1953/00/01 |
I wanted to play drums when I
was in Jr. High but they stuck me on the bass drum in the El Segundo Junior
High School Symphony Orchestra (it was too boring/simple). I really
wanted to play a snare, but no luck, so I quit. I still sometimes regret
that I did continue formal music training.
Influencial LPs:
++Many by Harry Belafonte.
2000/01/18: While watching the videos "Routes of
Rhythm" again, it occurred to me that my earliest (1940s and
early 1950s) Latin music influences might have included Don Azpasio(?),
and probably included Desi Arnaz, a George Raft movie, Carmen Miranda
movies, the tunes "Little Darlin' ", "Hand Jive", and
"Bo Diddley", and possibly a Sam Cooke cha cha chá, and Dean
Martin and Bing Crosby "mambos".. I don't currently recall Louis
Armstrong doing "Latin" or Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo but it
is a definite possiblility that I had heard "Night in Tunisia".
Considering all this, it is not really surprising that I was to take Latin
music into my heart so easily and that it seemed so natural.. |
| 1956/00/01 |
In high school, El Segundo High
School (near L.A.), I was very much into jazz especially Bud Powell and
Charles Mingus. While attending El Segundo High School, probably about the
10th grade, I got a broken tympani head from the HS band and
tacked it to a nail keg! I played it with brushes, swing-style. Several of
us used to get together (trumpet, clarinet, keg) and "tried" to
jam. About 11th grade, I got a cheap set of bongos which I had
to heat to tune (I quickly learned how to replace heads as heat tuning
often resulted in burnt/broken heads). I also got my
first Latin jazz LPs, Haitian, Caribbean, and African LPs about that time.
I would listen for hours and try to play along (fun but not too
authentic!). If I remember correctly, I also played the keg somewhat like,
as I would know later, a dumbek. During the 11th grade a buddy of mine
made me my first conga drum in wood shop, it is eight sided with a tacked
on skin (I later added an electric light in a socket and a switch to heat
it. I used it for my first professional jobs and I still have the drum!).
I later met some guys who lived in a nearby town including two red haired
brothers from Nicaragua, Lee & Sergio Pastora (I have been told that
Lee played with the Don Ellis Band), and we jammed and shared techniques
(weird...the first tumbao we played was TTSTTTOO RLRLRLRL(the S was not
really a slap, it was played with the finger tips on the edge of the head,
but it did have a higher pitch). One of the two brothers actually found me
years later playing with Blachy Guiterez (see below) and sat in with us! I
did a lot of "beach playing" on bongos and conga about that
time.
Influencial LPs:
++"Tiroro-best drummer in Haiti" - Tiroro sat
on his drum and I also did that with my first conga. Funny, doesn’t that
happen in tumba francesa? Who had even heard of tumba francesa back then!
++"Drums of Trinidad-tribal rhythms from Carriacou"
++"Cuban Fire", "Kenton Era" - Stan
Kenton which includes many Latin influenced tunes
++"Voodoo Suite" - Perez Prado & Shorty
Rogers
++"Afro-Cuban Influence" - Shorty Rogers
++"Afro-Cubano" - Jack Costanzo (one side) and
Andre’s Cuban All Stars (other side) (check out the musicians in
this group in the appropriate LMC link! I had no idea who they were at
this time)
++"Tampa Double Sampler" which includes tunes
featuring Mike Pacheco (bongos)(I don’t think I had met Mike yet),
Carlos Vidal (congas), Julio Ayala (bass), Frank Guerrero (timbales?),
Shelly Mann (drums)
++"Congo Drums" featuring Carlos Vidal and
Mike Pacheco
++"Ritual of the Savage", "Tamboo!",
"Skins!" - Les Baxter
++ Oscar Peterson
++ Dave Brubeck |
| 1957/00/00
2004/10/03 George and his wife provide me with this picture! |
Left to right: my brother Richard holding one of my first
sets of bongos, George Garvey ( the boss for out newspaper routes and a good
friend), and myself with my first conga. George and his wife provide me with
this picture on 2004/10/03! |
| 1957/00/01 |
I met Mike Pacheco while I was
in the 11th or 12th grade and he let me sit in on
conga with a trio "Bassie and the Latineers" (Bassie?, bass; Don
Romano, piano, Mike Pacheco, percussion) in a Manhattan Beach bar
"Cisco's" (totally illegal, as I was only 17 or 18).
When I played conga, he was able to play timbales or bongos. He sort of
"took me under his wing" and I used to drive him all around L.A.
to various jobs and hung out with him and his musician friends (no lessons
but picking up what I could musically). He helped me buy my first conga
which was made by Tom Wofford in L.A. The conga is a narrow body "old
Cuban style". A few years later while visiting my family in El
Segundo, I found Bassie and Don playing at a club or restaurant in Playa
del Rey (?), they remembered me and let me sit in again!
Mike Pacheco: timbales, bongos. congas; a well-known
percussionist around L.A. during the 50’s-60’s; he was the finger
snapper on Peggy Lee's "Fever" and he played with Perez Prado,
Stan Kenton, and many other bands; he also played percussion in the movie
"I Want to Live" (a pretty good sound track with Latin
percussion, especially for the late 50’s). I don't know how active
he was after the 1970s because I lost touch with him.
1999/03/04: I just now got Mike's phone number and
talked to him for about 20 minutes (almost exactly 40 years since he used
my conga with Stan Kenton!); he filled in some of the details regarding
the trio and the club; he remembered the date that he used my conga with
Stan Kenton in Santa Monica (see below).
2000/11/22: I spoke to Mike to see if we could meet but
he was unable to change his schedule...so maybe soon. He is active:
teaching a few selected students, playing concerts and doing a few
reordings. He is in contact frequently with Jack Costanzo. |
| 1958/00/01 |
I played the congas during my
first year in college 1958-9 with the Loyola (L.A.) University Basketball
Band (in the basketball stands: kind of hard to balance and position the
congas!) (this may be one of the first time congas was used in a college
band!). I also played at various fraternity parties. By now I was
listening to Cal Tjader, George Shearing, Perez Prado, René Touzet, Bobby
Montez, etc.
I also played bongos on stage behind Bob Denver (later
of Gilligan’s Island fame) spouting "beat" poetry in a Loyola
University, L.A., production of "Beat Patience". You know, Bob
never called me after he became famous! HA!
I also got to know the campus barber (a Latino?) who
also played sax(?) and he also took me to some jobs where I got to sit in
on congas.
Influential LPs:
++"Kenya" - Machito
++"Mr. Bongo Plays HI-FI Cha Cha" - Jack
Costanzo –
++"Deep in a Drum" - Eddie Cano
++"Bongo Madness" - Don Ralke and includes Tom
Wofford on congas (I did not realize this until many years later!) not a
great album but it includes the maker of my congas.
++"Hollywood Themes in ChaChaCha" - Bobby
Montez
++René Touzet - several LPs
++Cal Tjader - several LPs |
| 1959/03/06 |
Mike Pacheco borrowed my first
conga for the first concert he played with Stan Kenton in Santa Monica,
March 6, 1959. I think he played with Kenton for a while after that (I
will try to get more information when I see Mike again). |
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