< Cándido Camero, Latin Jazz Pioneer, Turns 99

April 24, 20201:30 PM ET

Cándido Camero, Latin Jazz Pioneer, Turns 99

29:25

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Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF DIZZY GILLESPIE'S "A NIGHT IN TUNISIA")

FELIX CONTRERAS, HOST:

From NPR Music, this is ALT.LATINO. I'm Felix Contreras. This week we're going to celebrate a birthday, and to do it, we're going to go back in time. Let me explain. The Cuban percussionist Cándido Camero has just turned 99 years old. That's what I said - 99 years old. And I have an interview with the great musician recorded in 2016 inside his home in New York.

Thank you, maestro, for inviting us into your home.

CÁNDIDO CAMERO: Thank you. Thank you for coming. It's an honor for me to have you here, y que no sea la primera ni la última vez.

CONTRERAS: Gracias. Gracias.

(LAUGHTER)

CONTRERAS: One thing you should know is that his memory is razor sharp. He can accurately recall events and names from almost 75 years ago. So when you hear his stories, know that the facts have been noted by music historians and fellow musicians as being incredibly accurate. So this is like a trip back in time, back to Havana in the early 1940s, New York just after the Second World War. And for those of you who are not familiar with this time period of musical history, it is the exact moment when two cultures that existed side by side in New York - the Latin culture and the so-called mainstream culture - came together musically to essentially create the genre that we know now as Latin jazz. It's as important socially as it was musically, and as you'll hear from Cándido, it was an organic moment of innovation that has reverberations to this day with musicians all over the world. As they say, he was there in the room. He is a major part of that history, and we'll hear how it happened directly from him.

There are many reasons to celebrate his career, which is now over eight decades long, and we'll get into all of that this week on the show. And, of course, we'll hear some music. So enough from me - let's hear the rest of this track that we're listening to right now, and then we'll get into the conversation. This is Dizzy Gillespie playing his now-classic "Night In Tunisia." It was recorded in 1954. The album is called "Afro," and it is one of the highlights of the combination of Afro Cuban music and jazz. This features Cándido on congas, along with Luis Miranda, José Mangual and Ubaldo Nieto on percussion and, of course, Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet - "Night In Tunisia," featuring Cándido Camero.

(SOUNDBITE OF DIZZY GILLESPIE'S "A NIGHT IN TUNISIA")

CONTRERAS: I'm wondering if you remember your very first performance here in New York and what year that was.

CAMERO: The very first performance here in New York was July 4, 1946. I came from Havana, Cuba, to the United States with the dance team Carmen and Rolando. They was the one brought me here to the United States.

CONTRERAS: And you were performing in a revue.

CAMERO: I was performing in a nightclub they called Havana Madrid. And you know who was the star of the shows? Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

CONTRERAS: (Laughter) Really?

CAMERO: That's right - 1946, July 4, 1946. I feel very lucky that I had the opportunity to play and work and record and travel with all the big names in different feel, like a simple Duke Ellington, Billy Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Randy Weston - that sort of jazz feel. Now, on the pop feel, I've recorded and traveled and played concerts with Tony Bennett, Billie Holliday, Dinah Washington. And also on the Latin feel, Machito - he is Afro Cuban - Marco Rizo, Bobby Sanabria and Chico O'Farrill. That's all - that's a field of them (laughing) because if we're going to mention all the names that I've recorded with and traveled with, it's a book look like a telephone book.

(LAUGHTER)

CONTRERAS: This is another track from the mid-1950s. This is Cándido with the Billy Taylor Trio from 1955. This tune is called "Mambo Inn," and it was composed by the great Cuban composer and musical arranger Mario Bauzá.

(SOUNDBITE OF BILLY TAYLOR TRIO'S "MAMBO INN")

CONTRERAS: I want to talk to you about some things you remember from history, and specifically, let's start with your days at the Tropicana nightclub in Havana. Now, you were part of the house band.

CAMERO: The house band and part of the the show band because I had to play the show, and then we played for dancing between shows with the Armandito Romeu orchestra. That was 17 pieces orchestra. So I was at Tropicana nightclub for 10 years. And my friend Bebo Valdés - rest in peace - he was a piano - the pianist player on the band since 1943. That's when the Tropicana nightclub opened - 1943. And I was there for 10 years. So I was really happy because I had two salaries (laughter) - play for the show and play for dancing (laughter).

CONTRERAS: What was it like back then for you? Can you remember exactly what it was like for you as a young musician to be playing in the top nightclub, in the top radio station? And what was - was there a sense of camaraderie with the other musicians? I mean, what was that like?

CAMERO: La bendición de Dios.

CONTRERAS: A blessing from God.

CAMERO: Yeah, a blessing from God. That's the way I feel at that time. And I still feel the same way now. And I think I was going to be - feel the same way forever because when I first start - from the beginning, from the very beginning - I was 4 years old. I was in school, in kindergarten. And when I was coming from the school to the house, my mother was making the lunch, and I was banging on the table like it was the bongos. And my grandfather - he said, you want to be a bongo player just like your uncle? I said yes, I would like to. So my uncle got me two little cans - empty condensed milk - two little cans - the condensed milk.

CONTRERAS: The cans of condensed milk.

CAMERO: And he put a skin on. And that was my first instrument like the bongos. So I was playing at the table. My mother said, stop that. You're going to hurt your feeling. I mean, you're going to hurt your hands.

CONTRERAS: Your hands.

CAMERO: And my grandfather used to tell her, let him play. Someday he going to be big all over the world. And that's exactly what happened. And I said to myself, if my grandfather was living, I would ask him, Grandpa, what is the numbers of the lottos?

(LAUGHTER)

CONTRERAS: The lottery numbers because he was right. He guessed correctly.

CAMERO: Yeah.

CONTRERAS: And now let's hear Cándido with vocalist Tony Bennett - the title track of the album "The Beat Of My Heart."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE BEAT OF MY HEART")

TONY BENNETT: (Singing) Listen to the beat. Listen to the beat. Listen to the beat.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)