Cándido Camero

Cándido de Guerra Camero (born April 22, 1921), also known simply as Cándido, is a Cuban conga and bongo player. He also plays the tres, drums, and acoustic bass. He has worked in many genres of popular music from pop, rock, R&B and disco to Afro-Cuban dance music and Latin jazz. He is the first player to develop techniques to play multiple conga drums, coordinated independence and the use of multiple percussion, one player playing a variety of percussion instruments simultaneously.

Candido Camero
At a concert in 2008
Background information
Birth nameCandido de Guerra Camero
Born (1921-04-22) April 22, 1921
Havana, Cuba
GenresAfro-Cuban jazz, disco
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsConga, bongo, percussion
LabelsABC-Paramount, Blue Note, Roulette, Polydor, Salsoul, Chesky
Associated actsDizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly

Career

Early in his career, Camero recorded in his native Cuba with many of the early pioneers of the son movement as well as being the conga drummer for the Tropicana night club in Havana from its opening night in 1940 and subsequently for the next eight years. He first appeared in NYC in the musical review, Tidbits, at the Plymouth Theater on Broadway in 1946 backing up the Cuban dance team of Carmen and Rolando. In 1948 he made his first U.S. recording with Machito and His Afro-Cubans on the tune, "El Rey Del Mambo." as well as working with Dizzy Gillespie. During 1953–54, he was in the Billy Taylor Trio and in 1954 he performed and recorded with Stan Kenton.[1][2]

He also enjoyed success during the disco era of the 1970s, most notably with the Babatunde Olatunji-penned track "Jingo" from his Dancin' and Prancin' album, which he recorded for Salsoul Records in 1979. The album has also been acknowledged as an influence and precursor to house music, predating the emergence of the genre by over five years.[3]

Camero was honored with the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2008.[4]

Discography

As leader
  • Candido featuring Al Cohn (ABC-Paramount, 1956)
  • The Volcanic (ABC-Paramount, 1956)
  • Latin Fire (The Big Beat of Candido) (ABC-Paramount, 1959)
  • In Indigo (ABC-Paramount, c. 1960)
  • Conga Soul (Roulette, 1962)
  • Candido's Comparsa (ABC-Paramount, 1963)
  • Thousand Finger Man (Solid State, 1969, reissued by Blue Note)
  • Beautiful (Blue Note, 1970)
  • Brujerias de Candido/Candido's Latin McGuffa's Dust (Discos Fuentes, 1971)
  • Drum Fever (Polydor, 1973)
  • Dancin' and Prancin' (Salsoul, 1979)
  • Giovanni Hidalgo, Candido, Patato Valdes - The Conga Kings (Chesky, 2000)
  • Candido & Graciela – Inolvidable (Chesky, 2004)
  • Hands of Fire/Manos de fuego (Live) (Latin Jazz USA, 2008)
  • The Master (Chesky, 2014)

As sideman

With Bobby Sanabria

  • Afro-Cuban Dream: Live & in Clave!!! Bobby Sanabria Big Band (Arabesque, 2000)
  • 50 Years of Mambo - A Tribute to Damaso Perez Prado - The Mambo All Stars Orchestra (Mambo Maniacs, 2003)
  • Kenya Revisited Live!!! Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria (Jazzheads, 2008)

With Benjamin Lapidus

  • Ochosi Blues - Latin, Soul, Organ Jazz - Benjamin Lapidus & Kari B3 (2014)

With Gene Ammons

With Art Blakey

With Ray Bryant

With Kenny Burrell

With Dizzy Gillespie

With Coleman Hawkins

With Billy Taylor

With Bennie Green

With Duke Ellington

With Don Elliott

  • The Don Elliott Octet Featuring Candido - Jamaica Jazz (ABC-Paramount, 1958)

With Stan Kenton

With the Lecuona Cuban Boys

  • Dance Along with the Lecuona Cuban Boys (ABC-Paramount, 1959)

With Randy Weston

With Sonny Rollins

With Norman Granz' Jazz at the Philharmonic

With Wynton Kelly

With Grant Green

With Illinois Jacquet

With Gary McFarland

With Wes Montgomery

With Tico All-Stars

  • Descargas at the Village Gate (Tico, 1966)

With Bobby Hutcherson

  • Now! (Blue Note, 1969)

With Elvin Jones

With Ellen McIlwaine

With Erroll Garner

  • Mambo Moves Garner (Mercury, 1954)

With Tito Puente

  • Top Percussion (RCA, 1957)

With Machito

References
  1. "Candido Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  2. "Candido at All About Jazz". Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  3. Discogs: Post-Disco/Proto-House/Garage
  4. "NEA Jazz Masters: Candido Camero, Percussionist". Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2011.

Media related to Candido Camero at Wikimedia Commons

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