Willie Bobo

Willie Bobo (actually: William Correa ; born February 28, 1934 in New York City , † December 15, 1983 in Los Angeles ) was an American jazz percussionist and is considered one of the most important representatives of Latin jazz of the 1960s.

Bobo received training on the timbales and the conga from Mongo Santamaría and Armando Peraza . He began his professional career in the early 1950s as a member of the Machito band . Peraza introduced him to George Shearing , on whose album The Shearing Spell he played. In addition, he worked with various musicians, u. a. and Stan Getz and Gabor Szabo as a studio musician and appeared as a sideman for Dizzy Gillespie , Sonny Stitt , George Shearing, Herbie Hancock and Herbie Mann on.

In 1960 he recorded the album Sabroso! With his former teacher Santamaria . on. His breakthrough came in 1965 when he worked on Cal Tjader's successful Latin jazz album Soul Sauce . He got a contract with the record label Verve , where the first of a series of albums was Spanish Grease .

In the later 1960s he moved to Los Angeles , where he founded his own band in 1966 (at times with Esteban Jordan ), worked with musicians like Carlos Santana and took part in the band on The Bill Cosby Show .

His son Eric "Bobo" Correa is a percussionist for the hip hop group Cypress Hill and also played for the Beastie Boys at times .

Discography

• Sabroso! , Fantasy, 1961
• Do That Thing / Guajira , Tico, 1963
• Inventions & Dimensions , w / Herbie Hancock, Blue Note, 1963
• Bobo's Beat , Roulette, 1964
• Let's Go Bobo! , Roulette, 1964
• Spanish Grease , Verve, 1965
• Uno, Dos, Tres 1.2.3 , Verve, 1966
• Feelin 'So Good , Verve, 1967
• Juicy , Verve, 1967
• Bobo Motion , Verve, 1967
• Spanish Blues Band , Verve, 1967
• A New Dimension , Verve, 1968
• Evil Ways , Verve 1968
• Do What You Want To Do, Tomorrow Is Here , Blue Note, 1977
• Hell Of An Act To Follow , Columbia, 1978
• Bobo , Columbia, 1979