Pedrito Martinez

Pedrito Martinez is a Cuban percussionist, drummer, singer, dancer, bandleader, songwriter, composer, and educator. He was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. He is a Cuban Conguero performing classic Cuban Rumbas, Afro-Cuban folkloric and religious music. He is a Santería priest. He came to the United States of America from Havana in 1998. He plays the Batá drum, conga, cajón, timbale, and bongo drums, among other percussion instruments. Pedrito learned his craft from the streets of Havana, Cuba. He has performed with Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo O'Farrill, Brian Lynch, and Bruce Springsteen. He settled in the New York City - New Jersey area in 1998.

He is a founding member of the band Yerba Buena. They recorded two albums. In 2003, ''President Alien'', and in 2005 their album ''Island Life'' was No. 62 on the Billboard Top Latin Albums Chart.

He is a member of the Nuevo Jazz Latino program which is a part of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Martinez became leader of the Pedrito Martinez Group in 2005. Their first album ''The Pedrito Martinez Group'' was released in 2013, with guest artists Wynton Marsalis, John Scofield, and Steve Gadd.

On Martinez's 2016 album titled ''Habana Dreams'', the guest artists were Wynton Marsalis, Ruben Blades, Angélique Kidjo, and Issac Delgado.

Early life

Pedro Pablo "Pedrito" Martinez was born in Havana, Cuba, September 12, 1973 in the Cayo Hueso neighborhood of Old Havana. Cayo Hueso is a neighborhood known for African-derived rumba rhythms. He grew up near the Palacio de la Rumba theater and watched renowned artists rehearse and perform as a child. The house he grew up in was across the street from a park where he became fascinated by men playing percussion, singing and dancing Cuban rumba, a foundational folkloric music and dance with deep roots in Africa. He began his musical career at the age of eleven performing with Cuban artist Tata Guines, and Los Muñequitos de Matanzas as a teenager.
Pedrito steeped himself in this style, eventually achieving the status of "rumbero". He was then introduced to Yoruba, also known as Santeria, another Afro-Cuban folkloric tradition of great significance, a religion of West African origin which has its own powerful style of music involving ceremonial drums called Bata. Martinez mastered the extremely complex rhythms played on the batas as well as the litany of Orisha chants associated with the religion, which eventually led to him assuming the role and status of "babalawo", or Santeria priest.
In 1996, Canadian bandleader Jane Bunnett, while visiting Cuba, had occasion to see Pedrito play and returned two years later to bring him to play in Montreal with her band Spirit of Havana.

Career

By the fall of 1998, Martinez had settled in New York City and very shortly thereafter, won first prize in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Competition for Afro Latin Hand Percussion, presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2000, he was featured in the important documentary film on Cuban music, ''"Calle 54"''. He has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D'Rivera, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Sting, Steve Turre, Bill Summers, Cassandra Wilson, Joe Lovano, Brian Lynch (musician), Stefon Harris, Jane Bunnett, Issac Delgado, Eliane Elias