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Willie Bobo

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Willie Bobo, whose real name was William Correa, was born in 1934 into a Puerto Rican family in Spanish Harlem, New York. His father played the cuatro. As a teenager he taught himself bongos, congas, timbales and drums. In 1947 he started as a band boy for Machito, so that he could attend the concerts for free, and sometimes stood in on percussion. He learned from Mongo Santamaría, for whom he interpreted, and recorded in the early 1950s with Mary Lou Williams, who gave him the nickname Bobo.

Music and breakthrough

From 1954 to 1957 he played in Tito Puente's orchestra, then with George Shearing, on the album The Shearing Spell. Later he played with the vibraphonist Cal Tjader, in the Modern Mambo Quintet. In 1960 he made the album Sabroso! with Santamaría. He also recorded under his own name, with records such as Do That Thing/Guajira. His breakthrough came in 1965 with his contribution to Cal Tjader's Soul Sauce and then at Verve with Spanish Grease, whose title song became his best-known number.

Influence

Bobo rejected the stereotyped expectations of Latin music and moved smoothly between Latin, jazz and rhythm and blues, as an authentic percussionist and as a jazz drummer. In 1969 he moved to Los Angeles and became a studio musician, among other things for Carlos Santana, whose band covered Evil Ways in 1969, and played in Bill Cosby's band. He died of cancer in 1983, aged 49. His son Eric is a percussionist with Cypress Hill. Bobo linked the New York Latin scene with the jazz and soul of the 1960s.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Spanish Grease and notice the congas and timbales beneath the horns and guitar. Can you hear how the Latin rhythm and the rhythm-and-blues groove blend into one another?

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists