Posted on Wed, Dec. 05, 2007
BY ENRIQUE FERNANDEZ
efernandez@MiamiHerald.com
One of the greatest Cuban percussionists ever died Wednesday night in
Cleveland of complications from emphysema. The diminutive Carlos
''Patato'' Valdés not only enjoyed a great musical career, but
revolutionized the playing of his instrument, the tall Cuban hand-drums
commonly known as congas. Hospitalized with emphysema, he was 81.
His roots were deep in Afro-Cuban music, growing up playing a version of
the African piano, the double-stringed tres guitar and wooden crates for
beating out percussion -- in his youth, he also did stints as a dancer
and boxer. He played in the comparsas, when musical organizations from
the barrios would parade dancing during carnival -- the sharp beat of
his high-tuned drum could be heard blocks away.
In the 1940s, Patato (a Cuban nickname for short people) played with top
Cuban artists like Miguelito Valdés and joined famous groups like La
Sonora Matancera and Conjunto Casino. In the next decade, he began
touring in the United States, mostly New York, where he would eventually
settle.
Once in the States, Patato joined forces with the leaders of Afro-Cuban
music in New York: Mongo Santamaría, Tito Puente and Machito. And he
sparked the attention of the jazz masters, who asked him to join their
ensembles. Patato would work with Herbie Mann, Art Taylor, Max Roach,
Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones.
In the 1960s, he embarked on a solo career, recording under his own
name. And he enriched the salsa scene, working with bandleader Johnny
Pacheco, as well as continuing collaborations with Puente and other
Latin stalwarts. He moved to the West Coast, later to Paris, but
eventually returned to New York.
A great showman, Patato took advantage of his feather weight to do dance
steps on top of his congas. But clowning aside, his contribution to
Afro-Cuban music was fine-tuning the drums to draw, not just beats, but
true melodies from the hand-slapped skins. Conga playing, the mainstay
of a Latin band, was never the same after Patato.
According to New York promoter Jessie Ramírez, who arranged tours for
the percussionist and was a close friend, a nurse reported Tuesday night
that Patato removed all his life-support gear, raised his hands up to
the heavens, brought them down and died, as he said something the nurse
only understood as ``Go!''
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/333576.html
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