RIP Carlos "Patato" Valdes

[Randy Twizzle]

From today's NY Daily News:

Legendary conga player and Latin Grammy Award winner Carlos (Patato) Valdés has died of complications from emphysema. He was 81.

Valdés, a fixture in the New York Afro-Cuban music scene for more than 50 years, was hospitalized on Nov. 12 in Cleveland.

"He was an innovator, one of the last great Cuban drummers that came here in the '50s," said salsa bandleader Larry Harlow, who considers Valdés and Mongo Santamaría as the masters who brought conga drums into mainstream jazz. "He will be greatly missed."

Valdés became short of breath during a flight home to New York after playing in San Francisco with his band Conga Kings, with renowned percussionists Cándido Camero and Giovanni Hidalgo.

"He told me that he couldn't breathe," said Camero, his longtime buddy, whom he met in Cuba six decades ago.

The plane made an emergency stop in Cleveland and the musician was checked into a hospital, where he died Tuesday night, said Jessie Ramírez, Valdés' manager. "The doctor told me that he raised his arms and said, 'I'm joining you, changó [an Afro-Cuban deity]," Ramírez said. "He was a major league smoker; that was what hurt him the most."

Ramírez said the funeral would likely be held in Puerto Rico, where his wife and two daughters live.

Born in Cuba in 1926, Valdés gained fame in the early '50s with his band Conjunto Casino. In 1954, he moved to New York City, where he played with Latin music legends Tito Puente, Benny Moré, Ismael Rivera, Machito and the Sonora Matancera.

"People loved him because he was very eccentric. He would dance and play at the same time," said Camero, who moved to the U.S. in 1946.

In 2002, Valdés received a Latin Grammy Award for the album "El Arte Del Sabor," with the Bebo Valdés Trio.

crodriguez@nydailynews.com

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

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