Julito Collazo
Encyclopedia
Julio "Julito" Collazo was a master percussionist.
Collazo was born in Havana
, Cuba
. He began playing the ritual music of Santería
on the batá
drums at the age of fifteen. He moved to United States in the fifties to join in a world tour with the Afroamerican dancer Katherine Dunham
and her Dance Company. Julito Collazo is one of a handful of Cuban percussionists who came to the United States in the 1940s and 50s. Other notable Cuban percussionists who came to the U.S. during that time include Chano Pozo
, Mongo Santamaria
, Armando Peraza
, Francisco Aguabella
, Carlos Vidal Bolado
and Modetso Duran. In the United States Collazo rose to prominence recording and performing with Tito Puente
, Mongo Santamaría
, Silvestre Méndez, Dizzy Gillespie
and Machito
, among others. These collaborations were magisterial and provide motivation and feedback for researchers, and assure the relevance of the research to the goal of improving the performance of batá drums. Collazo died in New York City of undisclosed causes at age 78.
Collazo was born in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. He began playing the ritual music of Santería
Santería
Santería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....
on the batá
Bata
Bata or Baťa or Baţa or Batá may refer to:* Bata Shoes , a multinational corporation-Places:* Bat, Afghanistan, a place in Afghanistan* Bata, a commune in Arad County, Romania...
drums at the age of fifteen. He moved to United States in the fifties to join in a world tour with the Afroamerican dancer Katherine Dunham
Katherine Dunham
Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator, and activist...
and her Dance Company. Julito Collazo is one of a handful of Cuban percussionists who came to the United States in the 1940s and 50s. Other notable Cuban percussionists who came to the U.S. during that time include Chano Pozo
Chano Pozo
Chano Pozo was a percussionist, singer, dancer and composer who played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz...
, Mongo Santamaria
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...
, Armando Peraza
Armando Peraza
Armando Peraza is a Latin jazz percussionist. Through his long associations with jazz pianist George Shearing, vibraphonist Cal Tjader and guitarist Carlos Santana, he has been internationally known from the 1950s through to the 1990s...
, Francisco Aguabella
Francisco Aguabella
Francisco Aguabella was an Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist whose career began in the 1950s.-Biography:Aguabella was born in Matanzas, Cuba. In the 1950s, he left Cuba to perform with Katherine Dunham in the Shelley Winters film Mambo filmed in Italy...
, Carlos Vidal Bolado
Carlos Vidal Bolado
Carlos Vidal Bolado was a Cuban conga drum musician and was one of the original Machito and his Afro-Cuban boys. Bolado holds the double distinction of being the first to record authentic folkloric Cuban rumba and the first to play congas in Latin jazz Carlos Vidal Bolado (1914–1996) was a...
and Modetso Duran. In the United States Collazo rose to prominence recording and performing with Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
, Mongo Santamaría
Mongo Santamaría
Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez was an Afro-Cuban Latin jazz percussionist. He is most famous for being the composer of the jazz standard "Afro Blue," recorded by John Coltrane among others. In 1950 he moved to New York where he played with Perez Prado, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Fania All...
, Silvestre Méndez, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
and Machito
Machito
Machito , born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music...
, among others. These collaborations were magisterial and provide motivation and feedback for researchers, and assure the relevance of the research to the goal of improving the performance of batá drums. Collazo died in New York City of undisclosed causes at age 78.
Recordings
- Caliente ("Hot") (Puerto Rican and Cuban musical expression in New York City) clicking here: http://newworldrecords.org/cgi-bin/search2/disc.cgi?disc=80244