Manny Oquendo

Manny Oquendo (January 1, 1931 – March 25, 2009)^[1] was an American percussionist. His main instrument was the timbales, and was strongly influenced by Cuban drumming.

Oquendo grew up in New York, and began studying percussion in 1945. He worked in the bands of tropical and Latin music ensembles such as Carlos Valero, Luis del Campo, Juan "El Boy" Torres, Chano Pozo, Jose Budet, Juanito Sanabria, Marcelino Guerra, Jose Curbelo, and Pupi Campo. In 1950, he became the bongo player for Tito Puente. Following this he played with Tito Rodriquez in 1954 and Vincentico Valdes in 1955. He worked freelance in New York before joining Eddie Palmieri's La Perfecta orchestra in 1962. He worked with his own group, Conjunto Libre (later simply Libre), from 1974, and had a worldwide hit with "Little Sunflower" in 1983.

Discography

• Con Salsa, Con Ritmo (Salsoul Records, 1976)
• Con Salsa, Con Ritmo Vol. 2 - Tiene Calidad, (Salsoul, 1978)
• Los Lideres de la Salsa (Salsoul, 1979)
• Libre Increible (Salsoul, 1981)
• Ritmo, Sonido, y Estilo (Montuno Records, 1983)
• Mejor que Nunca (Milestone Records, 1994)
• Muevete! (Milestone, 1996)
• Ahora (Milestone, 1999)
• Los New Yorkinos (Milestone, 2000)

References

1. ^ Grimes, William (April 12, 2009). "Manny Oquendo, Latin Band Leader and Stylistic Innovator, Dies at 78". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/arts/music/13oquendo.html. Retrieved April 13, 2009. 

Sources

• Manny Oquendo at Allmusic
• Manny Oquendo at lpmusic.com
• Herencia Latina - Obituary

Persondata
Name	Oquendo, Manny
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 1, 1931
Place of birth
Date of death	March 25, 2009
Place of death