Who really makes you dance? Is it their technique? Style? Feel? Use of space? Who made the congas swing when they needed to and trot when the tune called for it. I know this is gonna create a bit of debate.....

You ever heard Tata Guines?

Never.

Cuban cat, never really made it out of there, I think. GREAT player, somehwhat of a legend I think, but maybe outside the parameters of this poll.

also outside of the parameters but essential would be Los Papines.

I've a bit of prejudice towards "the more true to Cuba, the better", so put me down for Chano first.

Would have voted for Dizzy Reece, given the chance. Yeah, I know there's not a lot of recordings out there with Reece on congas -- but what there is, really works for me.

I love 'em in Latino settings, but I find they usually just get in the way when they are tossed as an add-on into a regular jazz group, such as the Red Garland Trio. So often, they just play the same figure for the whole track: a thump on two and a dotted eighth and sixteenth double thump on four.

I voted for other!

Cuz he KILLS!

i believe these are conga players.
don alias
lawrence killian

Yes they are.

I like Neil Clarke, Rebop Kwaku Baah, Mtume, and quite a few dozen others!

These guys I think are MUSICAL, I like conga players that are really adding to the music, when it isn't music that is traditionally conga-centric.

Mongo was something else! Perez too!

C'mon, people -- where's the love for Hidalgo? The guy can get 30 different sounds out of a single conga, fer cryin' out loud!

candido - the thousand fingered man!

What's great is to hear a GROUP! Oh my god -- I heard Milton Cardona, Ray Barreto and Johnny Almendra play live with Tito Puente in a 1998 version of "Top Percussion"!!!!

Ever heard of Armando Peraza? No conga list can be complete without his name. If you don't believe me, ask Carlos Santana or George Shearing or Al McKibbon or Herbie Hancock.

Where's the love for Big Black?

another vote for armonda perazza (spelling?)
he is my favorite.

Or Sabu Martinez (though he also played bongos).

I heard Cardona, Candido, and Patato together last year--great show.

I had to vote for Mongo, my great idol!

But there are manz great players - Luis Miranda deserves a mention.
Chano Pozo boosted it, but Mongo perfected it.

I like Willie Bobo quite a bit. His Talkin' Verve compilation and Verve album Juicy have been in my collection for a long time, relatively. "Fried Neckbones & Some Home Fries!"

Cachao Y Su Ritmo Caliente - "Descargas" - another excellent disc recommended by JSngry, contains great Cuban and Mexican rhythms.

I voted "other" for tata. Another fine one is Anga Diaz, a younger congero who carries on in the Tata tradition.

Good place to hear Tata Guines in a relatively uncluttered setting is his recording with Los Amigos. He's got some good moments on the "Los Heroes" set on Nonesuch, as well as with Cachao.

--eric

The reason I prefer Mongo Santamaria before all other congueros is, he plays many variations on the basic pattern Shrdlu described, the Cuban tumbao, whereas others leave that pattern completely and play some fills rhythmically unrelated to that beat, like they switched between the roles of a supporting drummer and a soloist. Mongo got that from the parlando style of bongo playing - bongoceros do that all the time.
Beyond that, his solo style is incredibly variable, much more than that of all others, who more or lessstick to their personal bag of tricks.
When I'm back home I will post some recommendations.

Luis Miranda, who played in Machito's orchestra for many years, also was a master of that style - he can be appreciated best on one half of Cal Tjader's Black Orchid CD.

I'm so glad I started this discussion. I just wish more people voted so we could get a better sense of any real consensus.

Whenever you put the option "other" you invite lots of other people who you might not have considered when you made the poll in the first place. I had not thought of Richie Flores or Armando Peraza when I made it, although I have albums with both men on them.

As for Willie Bobo, I have the album Juicy and enjoy his playing but his technique on congas is very rudimentary compared to some of these other guys. And I know him mostly as a timbalero

Everyone should check out the movie Calle 54 if they have not already done so. It opened me up to the world of Latin jazz or whatever it is you wanna call it.

mattCalle 54

You need flash to see the website, otherwise look here.

Patato does it for me as does Poncho Sanchez. I'd also would like to put on a good word for Raul Rekow and Francisco Aguabella. Of all the names mentioned there is not a bad one in the bunch.

I've always liked Juan Escovedo, Pete's oldest son. I've never seen him play with anyone except his dad, but he is hot. Pete on timbales is just the stuff.

I'm a little late getting on the bandwagon, but my favorite
conguero is Mongo. I had seen him live many times at the
Palladium NYC, from a few feet away, and loved his techneque.
His on 2 slap (gulpe seco) was as crisp and dry as it could be.
He also was a dynamite bongosero, whose fingers sounded
like wooden sticks when he popped the small bongo.

As for recently, I just attended a concert at the Planting Fields
in Oyster Bay LI, NY and saw the Pancho Sanchez and Nestor Torres
bands. Pancho was at his usual tastful peak and he brought the tent down.

But the conguero in Nestor's band was exceptionally creative and
musical when he took his solo. I went back stage to try to get his
name but missed him. I liked him better than Giovani Hildago in terms
of completely new riffs and ideas.

Anyone know his name?

Don't listen to Afro-Cuban music often, but I love Mongo's version of Watermelon Man. Ray Baretto was great on those classic albums, but I saw him on tv, and he looked like he was in pain, just soloing over a simple latin rhythm.

OK, I know I'm one for the obscuros, but my vote is for Juma Sultan, Keino Spellar and the left-fielder Robidoo (heard on John Tchicai's Cadentia Nova Danica, Polydor, 1968). All of them are wonderful, and Juma could play a mean bass as well. There's also that cat Raleigh Sahumba that plays with Milford Graves, and he's pretty powerful too - apparently taught Milford a lot of the fundamentals when they were growing up Uptown.

Oh yeah, and for trumpet-playing congueros, myself and Dizzy Reece aren't bad either!

..... not to mention Jerry Gonzales and Dizzy Gillespie .....

Wasn't that Milford Graves playing timbales on some early 1960's Prestige record by Montego Joe? He and Andrew Cyrille really know their Latin stuff, both are very heavy cats.

I thought Dennis Gonzalez was the trumpeter of the three Gonzalez brothers...

Yeah, Milford was with Montego Joe, though I've never bought those records. From Montego to ESP in what, a year?

...it's Jerry Gonzales! (Trumpet/Congas)

Chano Pozo for his work with Diz!

Wait, isn't everybody with the last name Gonzalez related?

Only heard him on Night of the Cookers. He was the only good part of that monstrosity.

Looking for names of the original Orquestra Aragon percussionists I found this piece on Cuban Music by Harvey Pekar. Can that be any other than he of American Splendor?

I've loved seeing Patato for sheer soul and that old school Cuba vibe; Hidalgo, for his fireworks; and the resolutely avant garde Jerry Gonzalez, whose been living in Spain of late and playing Flamenco... And though a trap drummer, Negro plays quite a mean conga too.

Haven't read all of it, but this is wrong, methinks:

Willie Bobo never played with Shearing, to my knowledge, Bill Clark was the drummer Cal Tjader was in Shearing's band. Al Mc Kibbon was on bass, and was in Tjader's band when Mongo and Bobo joined. Shearing was recording for MGM at the time, and the liner credits are a mess. But AFAIK they never mention Bobo.
Those Capitol LPs are not that bad, after all, there is a reasonably priced two-CD reissue by British EMI - no credits on them - I could type up the personnel if anybody's insterested.

Willie Bobo did play timbales with Shearing on cuts "Strange","Cuban fantasy"
and "Out of this world" with Armando on congas.The album "The Shearing Spell" gives the credits.

I'm pretty sure Willie was never a permanent member of Shearing's touring
group and neither was Mongo. I've never seen credits for Mongo or heard his
style on any of Shearing's recordings. I've heard all of Shearing's Latin albums
and individual latin cuts.