Willie Bobo

Willie Bobo was one of the greatest Latin percussionists of his time, an incessant singer with a lot of swing for the congas and the timbales, an extravagant entertainer on the stage and an attractive singer. He made important contributions to the R&B, pop and more orthodox jazz worlds, and claimed that his favorite song was "Dindi" by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

He grew up in Spanish Harlem and began playing the bongoes just to end up playing with Pérez Prado a year later, studying with Mongo Santamaría while serving as his translator and joining Tito Puente for four years at age nineteen. Mary Lou Williams gave Correa his nickname Bobo when they were recording together in the fifties.

After working with Cal Tjader, Herbie Mann and Santamaría - with whom he recorded the Latin classic "Afro-Blue"-, Bobo continued with his first record as leader in 1963, with Clark Ferry and Joe Farell doing the accompaniment. When recording for Verve in the mid sixties, Bobo achieved greatest exposure as a soloist with albums that livened up the pop of the times with Latin rhythms such as "Spanish Grease" and "Fried neck bones and some home fries."

Besides, Bobo played in innumerable jam sessions in New York, recording with such artists as Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, Wes Montgomery, Chico Hamilton and Sonny Stitt. In 1969, he moved to Los Angeles where he directed jazz combos and Latin jazz combos. He made an appearance on Bill Cosby’s first series (1969-1971) and on variety shows in 1976, and recorded solos for Sussex, Blue Note and Columbia. One of Bobo’s last appearances, just three months before dying of cancer, was in the Jazz Playboy Festival in 1983, where he was reunited with Santamaría for the first time in 15 years.

« Back