FM
Биография
Nicknamed by his father with the Senegalese word for 'tribal chief', Mongo Santamaria began his musical training on the violin, but switched to drums and percussion while still in his teens. Having dropped out of school to pursue the life of a professional musician in Havana, Mongo relocated to Mexico as part of a dance troupe before emigrating to New York in 1950, where he worked with leading Latin ensembles such as those of Perez Prado and Tito Puente. He stayed with Puente's band for over six years, building a reputation for himself through his energetic drum duels with the bandleader. During this period he recorded the album Changó, which Mongo would later regard as one of his best efforts.
After a disagreement with Puente in 1957, Santamaria joined up with vibraphonist Cal Tjader for the next three years, relocating to California where the band recorded a series of albums for Fantasy Records. While still working with Tjader, Sanatamaria continued his own recording career through the same label. The second of these albums, 1959's Mongo, included Afro-Blue: a song that would become not only one of his most popular compositions, but a jazz standard as well. After making the journey in 1960 to record Our Man In Havana in Cuba with local musicians he left Tjader and formed his own Cuban-jazz ensemble, its first recorded offering Sabroso! being released in 1962.
