Melón González

"Melón" is a very common nickname in Cuba, but like "Mayito" or "Sombrilla", it has become synonymous with a legendary timba figure, Iván González Lewis. He played in Havana’s timba scene for only a few years and with only one group, Isaac Delgado’s, but revolutionized the art of the tumbao piano.

He currently lives in Caceres, Spain, where he recorded a Latin jazz album with Brother Ricardo’s group The Lewis Trío, which has recently put a new website online: www.lewistrio.com.

Melón can be heard playing the timba on three of Isaac Delgado’s albums: "El año que viene", "Otra idea", and an album that many consider to be on the short list of the best timba record to have ever been recorded, "Exclusivo para Cuba". That same record was released in the U.S. as "Rarites" on the RMM series, Forbidden Cuba.

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