Machito

Founded Machito and his Afro-Cubans (1940); fused Afro-Cuban rhythm with big-band jazz; named 'Cubop' via 'Cubop City' (1948); Grammy 1983.

Frank Grillo, known as 'Machito,' was the singing, maraca-shaking frontman of Machito and his Afro-Cubans, the orchestra he founded in New York in 1940 with brother-in-law Mario Bauzá as musical director. The band was among the first to wed Afro-Cuban rhythm to big-band jazz, and its 1943 'Tanga' showed that jazz could unfold over a clave-governed Afro-Cuban foundation. It served as a working laboratory for a generation of arrangers and horn players.

Role

bandleader, frontman, sonero

Era

Mambo & Cha-Cha-Cha

Genre

Afro-Cuban jazz / Cubop (Latin jazz)

Origin

Havana (disputed; some sources Tampa, FL), Cuba