Cándido Camero

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Candido (2008)

Cándido Camero de Guerra (born April 22, 1921 in Havana ) is a Cuban percussionist in the jazz field , who is usually simply called Candido .

Candido started out with bass and guitar before turning to percussion instruments, mainly playing conga and bongos . At first he played radio in Cuba for six years (CMQ Radio Orchestra), played in the Cabaret Tropicana and also recorded with Machito . In 1946 he went to the USA with the dancer duo Carmen and Rolando. In 1952 he moved to New York City to play with Dizzy Gillespie . Between 1953 and 1954 he was a member of the Billy Taylor Quartet ( Billy Taylor Trio with Candido , 1954 Prestige / OJC). In 1954 he was employed (also as a soloist) with Stan Kenton , where he played three (differently tuned) congas at the same time as well as cowbell and güiro (a fluted pumpkin). As a conga player, he also appeared in the TV shows of Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason . In 1956 his album Cándido was released by Verve . After a freelance phase, he played again with Gillespie, but also with Stan Getz . In 1962 he played with Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall .

Candido can be heard on many jazz records since the 1950s, including a. with Dinah Washington , Cal Tjader , Sonny Rollins , Gene Ammons , Wes Montgomery , Beaver Harris , Lalo Schifrin and Charles Mingus ( Cumbia & Jazz Fusion ). During the disco wave he had a few hits, especially with the Babatunde Olatunji piece "Jingo", which he recorded for Salsoul Records .

He was one of the first to introduce the conga to jazz. In addition to his contributions to jazz, he is also important for the development of the mambo .

In 2001 he received the Latin Jazz USA Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2005 a Legend of Jazz Award from ASCAP . In 2008 he received the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship . In 2009 he was awarded a Latin Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.

In 2005 the filmmaker Iván Acosta made the documentary Candido: Hands of Fire about him .

At the age of 91, on April 30, 2012, he and other international jazz stars took part in a concert in the plenary hall of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the occasion of UNESCO's first "International Jazz Day" . In November 2016 he gave his farewell concert at New York City College.

Discographic notes

  • Candido (Verve, 1956)
  • Brujerias de Candido: Candido's Latin McGuffa's Dust (Tico, 1971)
  • Candido Camero / Carlos Valdes / Giovanni Hidalgo , Conga Kings (Chesky, 1999)
  • Hands of Fire (Latin Jazz USA, 2006)

Web links

Commons : Candido Camero  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lifetime Achievement Award . Latin Recording Academy, September 24, 2009, accessed July 2, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Martin Chilton: Jazz is celebrated by stars of music and film in: The Telegraph from May 1, 2012, accessed on July 11, 2012 (English)
  3. ↑ Jazz listings (2016) in The New York Times
personal data
SURNAME Camero, Cándido
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Candido
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban percussionist
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Havana