Francisco "Chino" Pozo (October 4, 1915,

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

- April 28, 1980, New York City) was a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n drummer. Pozo claimed to be the cousin of

Chano Pozo Luciano Pozo González (January 7, 1915 – December 3, 1948), known professionally as Chano Pozo, was a Cuban jazz percussionist, singer, dancer, and composer. Despite only living to age 33, he played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz. ...

, though this has been disputed. He was an autodidact on piano and bass, but concentrated on

bongos Bongos ( es, bongó) are an Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. They are struck with both hands, most commonly in an eight-stroke pattern called ''martillo'' (hammer). The ...

, congas, and drums. He moved to the United States in 1937, and played with

Machito Machito (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music. Ginell, Richard S. ''Biography''. Allmusic, 2011/ref> He w ...

from 1941–43 and with the Jack Cole Dancers from 1943-1949. Following this he played in numerous jazz ensembles, especially

latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian jazz, whic ...

and

Afro-Cuban jazz Afro-Cuban jazz is the earliest form of Latin jazz. It mixes Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. Afro-Cuban music has deep roots in African ritual and rhythm.{{cite web, Cuba: Son and Afro-Cuban ...

; his credits include work with Jose Curbelo,

Noro Morales Norosbaldo Morales (January 4, 1911 – January 15, 1964) was a Puerto Rican pianist and bandleader. Biography Morales was born in the subbarrio Puerta de Tierra of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and learned several instruments as a child. He played ...

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – June 1, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz ...

Tito Rodríguez Pablo Rodríguez Lozada (January 4, 1923 – February 28, 1973), better known as Tito Rodríguez, was a Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He started his career singing under the tutelage of his brother, Johnny Rodríguez. In the 1940s, both m ...

Enric Madriguera Enric R. Madriguera (17 February 1902 – 7 September 1973) was a violinist of Catalan origin who was playing concerts as a child before he studied at the Barcelona Conservatory. (The Castilian form of his name is Enrique, which he sometimes used ...

, Perez Prado,

Josephine Premice Josephine Mary Premice (July 21, 1926 – April 13, 2001) was a Haitian-American actress and singer known for her work on the Broadway stage. Early life Josephine Mary Premice was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Thelomaine and Luca ...

Tadd Dameron Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swin ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

, and Dizzy Gillespie. He toured with Peggy Lee in 1954-55 and played with

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though K ...

(1955),

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (inclu ...

(1956),

Xavier Cugat Xavier Cugat (; 1 January 1900 – 27 October 1990) was a Spanish musician and bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music. In New York City ...

(1959), and

René Touzet René Touzet y Monte (September 8, 1916 in Havana, Cuba – June 15, 2003 in Miami, Florida) was a Cuban-born American composer, pianist and bandleader. Career as bandleader Living in the city of Cojimar, he learned classical piano from the ag ...

(1959). He also recorded with

Illinois Jacquet Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo. Although he was a pioneer of t ...

Phineas Newborn Phineas Newborn Jr. (December 14, 1931 – May 26, 1989) was an American jazz pianist, whose principal influences were Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, and Bud Powell. Biography Newborn was born in Whiteville, Tennessee, and came from a musical famil ...

Gábor Szabó Gábor István Szabó (March 8, 1936 – February 26, 1982) was a Hungarian American guitarist whose style incorporated jazz, pop, rock, and Hungarian music. Early years Szabó was born in Budapest, Hungary. He began playing guitar at the age ...

, and

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including " Diana", " Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also ...

Discography

Justo Betancourt Justo Betancourt (born December 6, 1940) is a Cuban singer famous for his interpretation of "Pa' bravo yo". He was born in Matanzas, Cuba, but has lived a significant amount of time in __Betancourt_led_a_group_called_Borincuba_(Conjunto_Borincuba) ...

, ''Pa Bravo Yo'' (Fania, 1972) *

Harry Betts Harry Betts (September 15 1922 – July 13 2012) was an American jazz trombonist. Background Born in New York and raised in Fresno, California, he was active as a jazz trombonist and played with Stan Kenton's orchestra in the 1950s. He can be hea ...

, ''The Jazz Soul of Doctor Kildare'' (Choreo, 1962) * Dizzy Gillespie, ''The Ebullient Mr. Gillespie'' (Verve, 1959) * Peggy Lee, ''Basin Street East Proudly Presents Miss Peggy Lee Recorded at the Fabulous New York Club'' (Capitol, 1961) * Peggy Lee, ''Mink Jazz'' (Capitol, 1963) *

Fats Navarro Theodore "Fats" Navarro (September 24, 1923 – July 6, 1950) was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, including Cl ...

, ''The Fabulous Fats Navarro Vol. 2'' (Blue Note, 1957) * Phineas Newborn Jr., ''Plays Harold Arlen's Music from Jamaica'' (RCA Victor, 1957) *

Chico O'Farrill Arturo "Chico" O'Farrill (October 28, 1921 – June 27, 2001) was a Cuban composer, arranger, and conductor, best known for his work in the Latin idiom, specifically Afro-Cuban jazz or "Cubop", although he also composed traditional jazz pieces a ...

, ''Married Well'' (Verve, 1967) *

Eddie Palmieri Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is an American Grammy Award-winning pianist, bandleader, musician, and composer of Puerto Rican ancestry. He is the founder of the bands La Perfecta, La Perfecta II, and Harlem River Drive. Early life Pal ...

, ''Justice'' (Tico, 1969) *

Johnny Richards Johnny Richards (born Juan Manuel Cascales, November 2, 1911 – October 7, 1968) was an American jazz arranger and composer. He was a pivotal arranger for some of the more adventurous performances by Stan Kenton's big band in the 1950s and e ...

, ''Aqui Se Habla Espanol'' (Roulette, 1967) *

A. K. Salim Ahmad Khatab Salim or Ahmad Kharab Salim (born Albert Atkinson on July 28, 1922) was an American jazz composer, and arranger. Biography Salim attended DuSable High School with Bennie Green, Dorothy Donegan and Gene Ammons and played alto saxop ...

, ''Pretty for the People'' (Savoy, 1957) * Gabor Szabo, ''Gypsy '66'' (Impulse!, 1965) *

Billy Taylor Billy Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the ...

, '' Billy Taylor with Four Flutes'' (Riverside, 1959) *

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

, ''Spanish Rice'' (Impulse!, 1966) *

Julius Watkins Julius Watkins (October 10, 1921 – April 4, 1977) was an American jazz musician who played French horn. Described by AllMusic as "virtually the father of the jazz French horn", Watkins won the ''Down Beat'' critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for M ...

and

Charlie Rouse Charlie Rouse (April 6, 1924 – November 30, 1988) was an American hard bop tenor saxophonist and flautist. His career is marked by his collaboration with Thelonious Monk, which lasted for more than ten years. Biography Rouse was born in Wash ...

, '' Mood in Scarlet'' (Dawn, 1957) * Julius Watkins and Charlie Rouse, '' The Jazz Modes'' (Atlantic, 1959)

References

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

and

Ira Gitler Ira Gitler (December 18, 1928 – February 23, 2019) was an American jazz historian and journalist. The co-author of ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' with Leonard Feather—the most recent edition appeared in 1999—he wrote hundreds of ...

, ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. Oxford, 1999, p. 537. 1915 births 1980 deaths Cuban jazz musicians Cuban percussionists Bongo players Conga players Afro-Cuban jazz percussionists Cuban emigrants to the United States {{cuba-musician-stub