Cándido Camero

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cándido Camero
Camero in 2008
Camero in 2008
Background information
Birth nameCándido Camero Guerra
Born(1921-04-22)22 April 1921
Havana, Cuba
Died7 November 2020(2020-11-07) (aged 99)
New York City, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • bandleader
Instrument(s)
Labels

Cándido Camero Guerra (22 April 1921 – 7 November 2020), known simply as Cándido, was a Cuban conga and bongo player. He is considered a pioneer of Afro-Cuban jazz and an innovator in conga drumming.[1] He was responsible for the embracing of the tuneable conga drum, the first to play multiple congas developing the techniques that all players use today, as well as the combination of congas, bongos, and other instruments such as the foot-operated cowbell, an attached guiro, all played by just one person. Thus he is the creator of the multiple percussion set-up.[1]

After moving to

disco recordings for Salsoul. He continued to perform until the late 2010s, recording several albums for the audiophile label Chesky Records, including Inolvidable, with Graciela, which earned him a nomination at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards
.

Early life and family

Cándido Camero Guerra was born in the barrio known as El Cerro, in Havana, to Caridad Guerra and Cándido Camero.[1][2][3] His interest in music began at the age of 4, when his maternal uncle Andrés, a professional bongosero for the Septeto Segundo Nacional, taught him to play bongos on condensed milk cans.[1][4] At a very young age, he moved with his family to Cerro, a neighborhood in Havana.[3] Camero's father taught him how to play the tres, a type of Cuban guitar.[3] While focusing on the tres, he also learned to play bass and percussion, mostly bongo and conga. In 1935, at the age of 14, Camero began to play tres professionally for various son ensembles such as Gloria Habanera, Sonora Piñón and Conjunto Segundo de Arsenio Rodríguez (Arsenio's backup band).[3] The increasing popularity of the conga drums—promoted primarily by Arsenio's conjunto—and the fact that Camero could not read sheet music, led him to switch to the conga, which became his primary instrument,[1][5] although he would also record with other percussion instruments, especially the bongó.

Early career

Early in his career, Camero played as conguero and bongosero for the Cuba radio station (for 6 years) and for the Tropicana Club (also for 6 years).[1][6] As a tresero, he was also a member of Chano Pozo's Conjunto Azul, where he met Mongo Santamaría, who then played bongos.[1] He moved to New York City in 1946, after first arriving in the city on a tour.[1][6][5] He first performed in New York in the musical revue Tidbits at the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway in 1946 backing up the Cuban dance team of Carmen and Rolando.[1]

Influence

At the Tidbits show, Camero pioneered the playing of two conga drums simultaneously. In a traditional context in the Cuban rumba and conga line carnaval processional music, multiple drummers play a single conga.

Carlos "Patato" Valdés and became the norm giving rise to the standard set of tuneable congas that are commonly used today. In 1957 he was also the first to champion the use of the fiberglass conga drum when he began playing publicly fiberglass drums made for him by New York City based Puerto Rican artisan and boat builder Frank Mesa. [7]

Later career

In 1948, he made his first U.S. recording with Machito and His Afro-Cubans on the tune "El Rey del Mambo", but he did not become a member of the band, since they already had Carlos Vidal Bolado on congas. When Chano Pozo was murdered in 1948 (he arrived in New York shortly after Cándido), Dizzy Gillespie contacted Camero and they began a fruitful collaboration that culminated in the 1954 recording of Afro.[1][8] Camero was also a member of the Billy Taylor Trio, with whom he recorded in 1953–54, and in 1954 he performed and recorded with Stan Kenton.[9][10] As one of the best known congueros in the U.S., Camero performed on variety shows such as The Jackie Gleason Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.[4]

Camero recorded several albums as a leader for

Grammy Award nomination.[12] In 2014, Camero recorded his last album, The Master, also for Chesky. He continued to perform in jazz clubs in New York until the late 2010s.[1]

Death

Camero died on 7 November 2020, at his home in New York. He was 99.[13][6]

Honors

Camero's album Inolvidable was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album in 2004.[12] He received the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2008.[14][15] He received a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the following year.[16]

A documentary about Camero titled Candido: Hands of Fire was released in 2006.[4]

Discography

Source: AllMusic,[17] unless otherwise stated.

As leader: selected examples

  • Candido featuring
    ABC-Paramount
    , 1956)
  • Calypso Dance Party (ABC-Paramount, 1957)
  • The Volcanic (ABC-Paramount, 1957)
  • In Indigo (ABC-Paramount, 1958)
  • Latin Fire (The Big Beat of Candido) (ABC-Paramount, 1959)
  • Conga Soul (Roulette, 1962)
  • Candido's Comparsa (ABC-Paramount, 1963)[18]
  • Brujerías de Candido / Candido's Latin McGuffa's Dust (Tico Records, 1966)
  • Thousand Finger Man (Solid State, 1969, reissued by Blue Note)
  • Beautiful (Blue Note, 1970)
  • Drum Fever (Polydor, 1973)
  • Dancin' and Prancin' (Salsoul, 1979)
  • Candy's Funk (Salsoul, 1979)
  • The Conga Kings (
    Carlos "Patato" Valdés
  • Jazz Descargas (Chesky, 2001) – with
    Carlos "Patato" Valdés
  • Inolvidable (Chesky, 2004)[12] – with Graciela
  • Hands of Fire/Manos de fuego (Live) (Latin Jazz USA, 2008)
  • The Master (Chesky, 2014)

As sideman: selected examples

With Gene Ammons

With Art Blakey

With Ray Bryant

With Kenny Burrell

With Duke Ellington

With Don Elliott

  • Jamaica Jazz (ABC-Paramount, 1958)[19]

With Erroll Garner

  • Mambo Moves Garner (Mercury, 1954)[19]

With Bennie Green

With Grant Green

With Dizzy Gillespie

With Coleman Hawkins

With Bobby Hutcherson

With Illinois Jacquet

With Jazz at the Philharmonic

  • Jazz at the Philharmonic in Europe (Verve, 1963)[21]

With Elvin Jones

With Wynton Kelly

With Stan Kenton

With Benjamin Lapidus

  • Ochosi Blues - Latin, Soul, Organ Jazz - Benjamin Lapidus & Kari B3 (2014)[23]

With the Lecuona Cuban Boys

  • Dance Along with the Lecuona Cuban Boys (ABC-Paramount, 1959)[24]

With Machito

With Gary McFarland

With Ellen McIlwaine

With Wes Montgomery

With Tito Puente

  • Cuban Carnival (RCA, 1956)[28]

With Sonny Rollins

  • RCA Victor, 1962)[19]

With Bobby Sanabria

With Billy Taylor

With Tico All-Stars

With Randy Weston

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Sanabria, Bobby (7 November 2020). "Remembering Candido Camero, Percussionist and Afro-Cuban Pioneer, Who Has Died at 99". WBGO. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b León, Luis Leonel (13 November 2016). "El último viaje musical del legendario Cándido". Diario Las Américas (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-520-24708-6. Archived
    from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  4. ^
    The Kennedy Center. Archived
    from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  5. ^ a b Leymarie 2002, p. 198.
  6. ^ a b c Contreras, Felix (7 November 2020). "Cándido Camero, A Father Of Latin Jazz, Dies At 99". NPR. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  7. ^ Quinn, Mike (1 November 2000). "Carlos "Patato" Valdés". Jazz Times. 30 (6–10): 22. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  8. ISBN 978-1-4968-0692-5. Archived
    from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  9. Allmusic
    . Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  10. ^ "Candido at All About Jazz". Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  11. ^ Hawthorn, Carlos (9 November 2020). "Legendary Cuban drummer Cándido Camero dies aged 99". Resident Advisor. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  12. ^ a b c "Candido Camero – Artist". The Recording Academy. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  13. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  14. ^ "NEA Jazz Masters: Candido Camero, Percussionist". Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  15. OCLC 1049897457
    .
  16. ^ "Candido Camero, Beth Carvalho, Charly Garcia, Tania Libertad, Marco Antonio Muñiz, and Juan Romero to Receive the 2009 Latin Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award". The Latin Recording Academy. 24 September 2009. Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Candido – Album Discography". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  18. ISBN 9780313296277. Archived
    from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "Candido – Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  20. ^ "The United States Steel Hour series – Ep: Duke Ellington's "A Drum is a Woman"". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  21. ^ "Jazz at the Philharmonic in Europe". The Gramophone. 41 (487–492). C. Mackenzie: 46. 1963.
  22. ISBN 978-1-881993-10-0
    .
  23. ^ Da Gama, Raul (25 August 2014). "Benjamin Lapidus & Kari-B3: Ochosi Blues". Latin Jazz Network. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  24. ^ Lanning, Jerry (1959). Dance Along with the Lecuona Cuban Boys liner notes. ABC-Paramount. ABC 230.
  25. ^ Leymarie 2002, p. 174.
  26. ^ "Gary McFarland - The In Sound". HiFi/Stereo Review. 16. Ziff-Davis Publishing Company: 101. 1966.
  27. ^ "Ellen McIlwaine - We the People". Audio. 57. Radio Magazine, Incorporated: 63. 1973.
  28. ISBN 978-0-313-34088-8
    .
  29. ^ "Afro-Cuban Dream: Live and in Clave!: Bobby Sanabria – Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 18 November 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  30. ^ Franckling, Ken (26 November 2002). "Jazz Notes: Goings on in the jazz world". United Press International. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  31. ISBN 9780814733424. Archived
    from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.

Sources

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cándido_Camero&oldid=1213189352"