Carlos “Patato” Valdés was born to a musical family in Havana on November 4, 1926. Patato grew up playing the Cuban guitar known as tres, as well as the African thumb piano and numerous other instruments. By the time he was a teenager, he was already considered one of the finest conga players in Cuba, and at a time when American high society regularly vacationed in Havana, Patato became one of the featured players in the country’s famed Conjunto Casino. He also played with Chano Pozo, who helped create the Latin jazz movement with Dizzy Gillespie, and with Mongo Santamaría. He emigrated to the United States to take advantage of the burgeoning jazz scene, and lived in New York since 1954. There, he immediately found himself in demand. First hired by Tito Puente, Patato went on to play with the great Machito and Kenny Dorham. Then he connected with Herbie Mann, in a musical partnership that would last nearly a decade.
“A wild personality and a funny cat. He’s exciting and pixie-ish at the same time,” Mann was quoted as saying on the 1965 Atlantic release Standing Ovation At Newport. Patato’s image was that of a man who knew how to have a good time – and didn’t mind sharing that knowledge.
After leaving Herbie Mann in the mid 1960s, Patato teamed up with the singer Totico, a boyhood friend from Havana, on the 1967 Verve album Patato y Totico. This record documented the vitality of an increasingly important rumba scene that was emerging in New York City and included such legendary artists as Israel “Cachao” López on bass and Arsenio Rodríguez on tres.
In the following years, Patato recorded and toured with virtually the entire world’s leading Latin Jazz artists, including Cachao and Machito. In 1995 he recorded the first of two albums in the series Ritmo y Candela with the second volume coming a year later. Both albums received Grammy nominations in the newly appointed Latin Jazz category. Patato: The Legend of Cuban Percussion is compiled from those two recordings, and even on a record with several world-class drummers, there’s no mistaking Patato’s playing. Young Cuban jazz stars like Omar Sosa, Yosvany Terry, and Ivan “Melon” González also participated.
Patato invented a more easily tuned conga that became the standard for Latin Percussion, the most famous conga manufacturer.
Patato died on December 4, 2007 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Discography
Patato & Totico (Verve, 1967)
Authority (Latin Percussion Ventures, 1976)
Ready for Freddy (Latin Percussion Ventures, 1976)
Batá y rumba (Latin Percussion Ventures, 1980)
Masterpiece (Messidor, 1993)
Ritmo y candela (Tonga, 1995)
Ritmo y candela II (Round World, 1996)
Único y diferente (Connector Music, 1997)
The Conga Kings (Chesky, 2000)
Jazz descargas (Chesky, 2001)
El hombre (Mambo Maniacs, 2004)
Live at the Canal Room (USA Records, 2006)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
