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Luciano "Chano" Pozo Gonzalez
Percussionist
Born in Cuba 1/7/1915, killed in a bar room fight in Harlem 12/2/48. Played with Charlie
Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Chico O'Farrill, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Miguelito
Valdez, and many others as well.
He got his start after moving to New York in 1947 when Mario Bauza got him to play with
Dizzy Gillespie, an event that changed the course of American Jazz. Chano Pozo thereby
played a major role in the founding of Latin-jazz which was essentially a mixture of bebop
and Cuban folk music. He gained his musical background from AfroCuban religions. Among his
features with Dizzy were "Cubana Be," "Cubana Bop," "Tin Tin
Deo" and "Manteca" which was later a big hit with Eddie Palmieri and Cal
Tjader. Pozo co-wrote "Tin Tin Deo" and "Manteca"
Unfortunately Chano Pozo had a hot temper and he was killed in a Harlem bar a month shy of
his 34th birthday Like many Cuban musicians, he was Abakwa
and belonged to the Ekue Munanga Efo lodge.
La disputa del
nacimiento de Luciano Pozo 1/12/2019 por Dr.
C. Ricardo R. Oropesa Fernández - "Un cubano tan querido como olvidado,
tan universal como contradictoriamente relegado es el percusionista
Luciano, Chano, Pozo. De cuna humilde, marginado y vilipendiado, que ha
sobrepasado los límites de la fama para, a golpe de tambor y creatividad,
alzarse vencedor sobre la infamia de una época que presenció su
existencia. Chano fue portador de la herencia de la cultura carabalí.
Desde la infancia, supo captar sus ritmos, musicalidad y lenguaje. Militó
en la Sociedad Secreta Abakuá Muñanga Efó y bebió en su entorno familiar y
en el círculo de amigos de la religión yoruba, ambos componentes fueron
decisivos en su sistema de conocimiento de profundas raíces africanas." |