#323 John Santos- Percussionist, Composer, Educator, and More!
Photo of John by: Tom Ehrlich.
Seven-time Grammy-nominated percussionist, US Artists Fontanals Fellow, and 2013-2014 SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director, John Santos, is one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today.
Born in San Francisco, California, November 1, 1955, he was raised in the Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean traditions of his family, surrounded by music. The fertile musical environment of the San Francisco Bay Area shaped his career in a unique way.
His studies of Afro-Latin music have included several trips to New York, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil and Colombia. He is known for his innovative use of traditional forms and instruments in combination with contemporary music, and has earned much respect and recognition as a prolific performer, composer, teacher, writer, radio programmer, and record/event producer whose career has spanned five decades. John has performed and/or recorded with acknowledged, multi-generational masters such as Cachao, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Bebo Valdés, Max Roach, Eddie Palmieri, Patato Valdés, Lázaro Ros, Bobby Hutcherson, Manny Oquendo, Chucho Valdes, Paquito D’Rivera, Buenavista Social Club, Chocolate Armenteros, John Handy, Billy Cobham, Zakir Hussain, Hermeto Pascoal, George Cables, Generoso Jimenez, Joe Henderson, Ernesto Oviedo, Regina Carter, Chester Thompson, Francisco Aguabella, John Faddis, Ed Thigpen, Giovanni Hidalgo, Steve Turre, McCoy Tyner, Batacumbele, Poncho Sanchez, Omar Sosa, Mel Martin, Ignacio Berroa, Danilo Perez, Los Pleneros de la 21, Jose Luis “Changuito” Quintana, Armando Peraza, Pancho Quinto, Tootie Heath, Art Farmer, Pupy Pedroso, Jacqueline Castellanos, Malonga Casquelord, CK Ladzekpo, Pancho Terry, Juan De Dios Ramos, Carlos Aldama, Yosvany Terry, Dafnis Prieto, Oscar Castro Neves, Mark Murphy, Orkestra Rumpilezz, Larry Coryell, Lázaro Galarraga, Regino Jimenez, Luis Daniel “Chichito” Cepeda, Modesto Cepeda, Guillermo “Negro” Triana, Lázaro Rizo, Raul “Lali” Gonzalez, Amado DeDeus, Pedrito Martinez, Jose Lugo, Jerry Medina, Orestes Vilató, Kamau Daaood, Johnny Rodriguez, Sonny Bravo, Arturo Sandoval, Nestor Torres, Anthony Carrillo, Paoli Mejías, Raul Rekow, Andy Gonzalez, Jerry Gonzalez, Jovino Santos Neto, Lalo Schifrin, Gema y Pavel, Pete Escovedo, Claudia Gómez, Maria Márquez, Jon Jang, Wayne Wallace, Mark Levine, Elio Villafranca, Bruce Forman, Linda Tillery, Charlie Hunter, Joyce Cooling, Bobby Matos, Mark Weinstein, Roberto Borrell, Sandy Perez, Jesus Diaz, Roman Diaz, Pablo Menendez y Mezcla, Yma Sumac, Rhiannon, Larry Vukovich, Kenny Washington, Faye Carol, Kellye Gray, Destani Wolf, Kimiko Joy, Kenny Endo, Abhijit Banerjee, Erik Jekabson, and Carlos Santana, among others.
John is widely respected as one of the top writers, teachers and historians in the field and was a member of the Latin Jazz Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian Institution. He is currently part of the faculty at the California Jazz Conservatory (Berkeley, CA), San Francisco State University, Jazz Camp West (since 1986) and the College of San Mateo (CA). He has conducted countless workshops, lectures and clinics in the US, Latin America and Europe since 1973 at institutions of all types including the Smithsonian, the Adventures in Music program of the San Francisco Symphony, the Berklee School of Music in Boston, UCLA, Yale, Stanford, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the University of Michigan, Temple University, Brigham Young University, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State Hayward, Cal State Fresno, the University of Colorado, Yakima Valley Community College, Ohio Music Education Association, the Afro-Cuban Drumming and Dance Program at Humboldt State University (CA), Cal State Sonoma, Cal State Sacramento, Cal State San Jose, Tulane and Dillard Universities of Louisiana, Jazz Camp West, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Los Angeles Music Academy, the Museum of the African Diaspora (San Francisco), the Lafayette Summer Music Program (CA), the Oakland Public Conservatory, and La Universidad Inter-Americana in San Germán Puerto Rico. He has contributed to the international magazines and publications African Arts Journal, Poetry in Flight, Percussive Notes, Modern Drummer, Modern Percussionist, and Latin Percussionist.
John was the director of the Orquesta Tipica Cienfuegos (1976-1980) and the award-winning Orquesta Batachanga (1981-1985). He was founder and director of the internationally renowned, Grammy-nominated Machete Ensemble (1985-2006), with whom he released nine CDs with special guests from Puerto Rico, Cuba, NY, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, mostly on John’s Machete Records label that was founded in 1984 and continues today. He currently directs the highly acclaimed John Santos Sextet Latin jazz ensemble with six full-length CDs under their belt to date. John has also produced four full length CDs with his Afro-Caribbean Folklóric Ensemble, El Coro Folklórico Kindembo since 1994, two of which were Grammy-nominated.
The San Francisco Bay Area community in which John still lives and works has presented him with numerous awards and honors for artistic excellence and social dedication. John received the Community Leadership Award from the San Francisco Foundation in 2011. He was presented with the San Francisco Latino Heritage Award in 2012 that included a Certificate of Honor signed by Mayor Edwin Lee, and Certificates of Recognition from the State Assembly, a Certificate of Recognition from the State Senate, and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the US House of Representatives. He was also selected for the Man of the Year Award by Brothers on the Rise (Oakland, CA) in 2013. A photo of John from 1987 by pioneering Puerto Rican photographer/activist Frank Espada hung in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC in 2016-2017!
John’s work has also been recognized and supported by the Monterey Jazz Festival (2002), the Smithsonian Institution, the California Arts Council, United States Artists, the Zellerbach Family Fund, the Fund for Folk Culture, the Ford Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlitt Foundation, the East Bay Community Foundation, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, the Creative Work Fund, and the City of Oakland. The City of San Francisco issued a mayoral proclamation declaring November 12, 2006 John Santos Day. He was featured prominently in the PBS American Masters documentary, Cachao: Uno Mas (2008), and is the subject of another documentary by Searchlight Films (Oakland, CA), which made its world premiere at the fabled South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas in March of 2022.
John is an advisory board member of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (NY), Living Jazz (Oakland, CA), and the Oaktown Jazz Workshop (Oakland), and a Trustee of SFJAZZ.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to Brendan Buckley! Brendan is a freelance drummer based out of Los Angeles, CA. Over the course of his career, he has worked with the following artists: Perry Farrell, Shakira, Tegan And Sara, Miley Cyrus, Damien Rice, Shelby Lynne, Daniel Powter, Leighton Meester, Roberto Carlos, Minnie Driver, The BoDeans, Aleks Syntek, Leehom Wang, Beto Cuevas, Idina Menzel, Melissa Ethridge, Alejandra Guzman, Julio Iglesias, Emmanuel, Dallas Austin, Gustavo Santaolalla, Alejandro Sanz, Debi Nova, JJ Lin, Brie Larson, Ozomatli, Madame Recamier, DMX, Nil Lara, Chayanne, Jeff Chang, Michael Miller, Fulano De Tal, Gloria Estefan, and MIYAVI either as a drummer, percussionist, music producer, or songwriter. He grew up in Mount Arlington, NJ, and went to college at the University of Miami’s School of Music. Brendan is also a faculty member at Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, CA.
Happy Birthday to Leigh Howard Stevens! Leigh Howard Stevens studied under some of the most prominent percussion teachers and performers of his time, including jazz drummer Joe Morello, and marimbist Vida Chenoweth, with whom he studied in New Zealand the summer after his freshman year of college. Stevens pursued his college studies at the Eastman School of Music planning to be a drum set player. Stevens recalls, "I noticed when I got to Eastman that the techniques I was using--the one-handed roll, rotary strokes, doing Baroque trills with one hand, two-part Bach inventions, things like that--got a lot of attention. Other people seemed to think that I had a lot of talent on the marimba. I gradually began to realize that I had the potential of being a much better marimba player than I had of becoming a world-class drum set player." Stevens promptly switched to concert percussion, studied with John Beck and received a Performer's Certificate.
During the 1970s, Stevens began writing down his thoughts and exercises he invented in order to facilitate the mastery of this new technique. The result was his pedagogical treatise Method of Movement for Marimba, first published in 1979 by his own company, Marimba Productions. Method of Movement for Marimba describes Stevens' method for holding marimba mallets, efficient utilization of motion, and includes over 500 musical exercises for the student. Method of Movement (often shortened to MOM) was the first textbook to fully describe a complete method for holding and playing with 4 mallets. Stevens came up with the technique after learning several other grips and considers his technique an outgrowth of the Musser grip. The Stevens technique is defined by a vertical hand position (in contrast to the previous flat-palmed Musser player), pivoting around either unused mallet (instead of lifting the unused mallet out of the way), and moving the end of the inside mallet through the palm for larger intervals.
Happy Birthday to Nikki Campbell! Nakeiltha A. Campbell a.k.a “Nikki”- percussionist, teaching artist, producer and performer whose work promotes empowerment through the celebration of African cultural heritage. Born in Colon, Panama, and raised in Los Angeles, Nikki uses drumming to express her unique Afro Latin-Carribean Panamanian lineage, extend a legacy of women drumming in the African diasporic traditions, and celebrate the intense study of rhythm. Introduced to drumming through the Mandinka and Afro Latin traditions, Nikki is rooted in a diverse repertoire including West African dun-duns, Djembe, Congas and Cuban Bata, Brazilian samba, and African American soul flavors, which she interweaves to create her unique sound. For the past ten years, Nikki has worked professionally as an artist and educator to share her talent and knowledge with young public school students, women drummers from across the USA, and the people of her home country.
She considers herself fortunate to study and work with a wide variety of local and international artist such as Mamady Keita (T.T.M Drum School) Balandugu Kan Kahlil Cummings, Robertito Melendez latin percussion school. A recipient award winner as an apprentice to study West African Music with Aboubakar Kouyate with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. Also, for the Ambassador Award presented by Los Angeles Viva Panama Organization Inc for her contribution to the educational and musical fields.
Her recording experience includes African drums in the theme song featured film "Let the games begin" produce by Aloe Blacc, as well for Kendrick Lamar track for his historic performance "Alright" at the Grammy Awards. The Rebirth Album Being thru the Eyes of a Child, Chocolate (on the coco farm) by Maya Jupiter.
Nikki currently tours with Lila Downs, toured with Les Amazones "The Women Master Drummers of Guinea", Viver Brasil dance company, Adaawe, and The Rebirth. Performed with world renown artist Stevie Wonder, Aloe Blacc and Jose Gonzales. Performed at the NAACP Image Awards with Will I AM, the 53rd Grammy Award with Rihanna, American Idol with Janelle Monae & Jidenna, Additionally, recorded an instructional percussion video with Kids for Sesame Street for Latin Heritage Month. Performed for the World Culture KCET Women in Jazz celebration, the 4th and 5th Annual Palm Springs Woman Jazz Festival.
In 2015, Nikki founded “Puentes de Poder”, a cross cultural exchange program that promotes empowerment and unity through music. Project has traveled to Costa Rica and Panama to teach, perform, and present music as a form cultural history and continuity. Nikki supports and encourages people of all ages, genders, and nationalities to explore percussion as a means of communication, connection and collaboration.
Happy Birthday to Zakir Hussain! Popularly known as the Tabla Maestro, Ustad Zakir Hussain is arguably the most famous Tabla player of our country in the post-independence era. Over the years, he has performed with many talented musicians not just in India but also across the world. He became a famous international celebrity after taking the sounds of Tabla to many international festivals and shows. This eventually flooded him with opportunities to work in many international movies as well. This led to the creation of brilliant works of fusion, which was new to both Indian and overseas audience. Overall, his contribution towards popularizing the Indian percussion is immense.
Zakir Hussain was born famous as he is the son of Ustad Allah Rakha, a renowned tabla player. Quite naturally, he was inclined towards Tabla since a very young age. Zakir was a child prodigy and started touring to perform at concerts by the time he was just twelve. This gave him recognition and fame at a very young age. Along with his stage shows, he also focused on his education and went to St. Michael's High School in Mahim and eventually graduated from St. Xavier's in Mumbai. He also did his PhD and received a doctorate in music from the University of Washington. In his early twenties, he started touring the United States frequently and performed in not less than 150 concerts per year!
Gig Alerts
Several of Nashville’s biggest names will take the Bridgestone stage for “Love Rising,” a benefit concert for the Tennessee Equality Project, Inclusion Tennessee, OUTMemphis and The Tennessee Pride Chamber.
Set for March 20 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, the evening will feature performances by Sheryl Crow, Maren Morris, Jason Isbell, Hayley Williams, Hozier, Brittany Howard, Brothers Osborne, Amanda Shires, Julien Baker, Joy Oladokun, Yola, Jake Wesley Rogers, Mya Byrne, Allison Russell and the Rainbow Coalition Band, and more.
Oceans Calling Festival released its lineup of performers for the music festival running Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, 2023, on the Maryland shore.
Sandbox Percussion is offering a summer percussion seminar.
Willie Nelson is going on tour! It’s the largest-ever Outlaw tour to date with a huge line-up of artists that will vary across multiple dates. The first sixteen dates of the tour have been announced with special guests including Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, The Avett Brothers, John Fogerty, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Whiskey Myers, Gov’t Mule, Marcus King, Margo Price, Trampled By Turtles, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, Kathleen Edwards, Flatland Cavalry, Kurt Vile and The Violators, Brittney Spencer, Particle Kid. -Article and Dates
The Jazz Foundation of America is having their annual gala event at the Apollo in Harlem on March 30th.
Damon will be playing percussion with the Atomic Funk Project at the Brooklyn Bowl for the “Songs in the Key of Purple” Stevie Wonder and Prince themed show.
Educational Spotlight
Thanks to the Percussive Arts Society Diversity Alliance, you can now get the official rudiments in braille!
Iconic Recording
The iconic recording for the week was mentioned a bunch in the interview. It is ‘Top Percussion’ by Tito Puente. The song is “Obatala Yeza” featuring tons of legendary musicians.
Music News
Over 1,500 artists will perform across 77 stages at this year’s SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. Let’s take a peek.
Taking place across six nights from March 13-18, some of the recent additions include The Black Angels, Cuco, Duke Dumont, J.I.D., Koffee, Laraaji, Mariah the Scientist, Maxo Kream, Remi Wolf, and more. -Article
Here is a collection of some non-profits, organizations, mentorships, and community resources that help women not just work, but THRIVE in the music industry.
After nearly two years of speculation, Apple Music Classical has officially been announced, and the standalone service will become available to subscribers later on March 28th. -Article
Tower Records has unveiled its new creative space called Tower Labs in Brooklyn, New York.
The new creative space is located on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg and is designed to give music fans a wide range of offerings. Live music events, album listening parties, and a new speakeasy-style ‘vinyl drop’ window for limited edition music and merchandise releases. -Article
Friend of the show, Scott Kettner, is hosting a pandeiro giveaway. You can ENTER HERE! It is a custom pandeiro that you can not purchase in stores. It is by far one of Scott’s favorite Meinl pandeiros, especially because it's lightweight which makes it perfect for anyone starting out. They customized the drum by adding hand-hammered brass jungles that sound amazing.
John Santos Interview
The song leading into the interview is called “Ayití” by the John Santos Sextet.
Shout out to Camilo Molina, Omar and Joey de Leon.
John talks about the reason he’s putting on a show at the Pregones Theater in the Bronx and some key organizations.
John talks about a documentary that he was a part of called “Santos: Skin to Skin”
John talks about his family and his start in music. His start came with his Grandfather Julio Rivera and his grandfather’s band.
John talks about the Club Puertorriqueño in San Francisco and some of its history.
Marcos instigates more info on Puerto Ricans in Hawaii. John talks about Lopaka Colon.
Shout-out to Marcos Castillo, one of John’s first teachers. He talks about the last conversation he had with him.
John talks about his connection to Latin Rock and being in high school with Carlos Santana.
John talks about his Puerto Rican side as well as his Cape Verdean side.
John talks about the melting pot of musical genres in the Bay area from Rock to Funk to Latin. Including Carlos Santana, Cold Blood, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Tower of Power, Sly and the Family Stone, Cal Tjader and more!
John talks about his relationship with Armando Peraza and Francisco Aguabella.
John talks about the albums “Yambu” and “Mongo” by Mongo Santamaria that were combined into a double album called “Afro Roots”.
John talks about when people arrived from Cuba and clears up some of the timeline.
John talks about Carlos “Patato” Valdez.
Shout-out to Julito Collazo.
John elaborates on how important Francisco Aguabella was and his connection to Los Muñequitos de Matanzas as well as his stamina.
Armando Peraza was a boxer, baseball player and debt collector in addition to a great percussionist.
John talks about the lineage of Francisco Aguabella’s playing style and some of the other percussionists that also play like that.
Shout-out to Tommy and Chucky Lopez.
Damon asks about people that document the history. He mentions the Ed Uribe book.
John brings up Ned Sublett’s book: “Cuba and its Music: From the First Drums to Mambo”. He has other books as well.
Shout-out to the late Professor Robert Farris Thompson and the books he wrote.
John Brings up the album, “En La Calle” by NG La Banda.
John also mentions Felipe Garcia Villamil and the book he wrote.
Shout-out to Rene Rivera, Changuito, Alfredo “Culluti” Vido, Catchete Maldonado, Giovanni Hidalgo, and more (as well as a lot of aforementioned mentors).
You can follow John on his Website, and Facebook.
John mentions Carol Steele. Damon talks about the recordings he heard her on. The cassette he mentions can be heard in Carol’s interview.
The song leading out of the interview is called “Domingo Yaucano” by the John Santos Sextet.
