- Machito
Machito (
December 3 ,1909 –April 15 ,1984 ), born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo inHavana ,Cuba , was an influential Latin jazz musician.Machito played a huge role in the history of
Latin jazz . His bands of the 1940s, especially the band named the Afro-Cubans, were among the first to fuseAfro-Cuban rhythms with jazz improvisation. Machito was the front man, singer, conductor, and maraca player of the Afro-Cubans and its successors. Machito's brother-in-lawMario Bauza , the musical director, influenced Machito to hire jazz-oriented arrangers.The son of a cigar manufacturer, Machito became a professional musician in Cuba in his teens before he emigrated to America in 1937 as a vocalist with
La Estrella Habanera . He worked with several Latin artists and orchestras in the late '30s, recording with the then-dominant Latin bandleaderXavier Cugat . After an earlier, aborted attempt to launch a band with Bauza, Machito founded the Afro-Cubans in 1940, taking on Bauza the following year as music director where he remained for 35 years. Machito's sonMario Grillo later took over the position.In 1983, he won a
Grammy Award in the Best Latin Recording category for "Machito & His Salsa Big Band '82".More recently, the song "Mambo Mucho Mambo" has featured on the sound track for the game
Grand Theft Auto Vice City .Machito died during a concert in
London, England in 1984, suffering a fatal stroke while playingRonnie Scott 's club. A documentary film byCarlo Ortiz , "Machito: A Latin Jazz Legacy", was released in 1987.
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