Mario Bauzá: Biography

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• Discography
• Biography
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• Chico O'Farrill
• H.M.A. Salsa-Jazz Orchestra
• Machito
• Orquesta Revé
• Mongo Santamaría
• Tito Puente
• Andre's All-Star

• Chick Webb
• Antonio Machin
• Cabell "Cab" Calloway
• Septeto Nacional de Ignacio Piñeiro
• Don Azpiazu

• Tito Puente
• Machito
• Paquito d'Rivera
• Conrad Herwig
• Willie Bobo
• Mongo Santamaría
• Bobby Sanabria

• Michael Mossman
• Rudy Calzado
• Ray Santos

Born:

Apr 28, 1911 in Havana, Cuba

Died:

Jul 11, 1993 in New York, NY

Genres:

Jazz Music, Latin Jazz Music

Decades Active:

1930's|1940's|1950's|1960's|1970's|1980's|1990's

Artistic Quality

Medium

Cultural Impact

Medium

Popularity

Low

Ratings Guide

A talented section player who rarely soloed, Mario Bauza's main importance to music was behind-the-scenes as one of the main instigators of Afro-Cuban jazz, the potent mixture of Latin rhythms with jazz improvisation. A multi-instrumentalist, Bauza played clarinet and oboe with the Havana Philharmonic before moving to New York in 1930. During a stint with Noble Sissle in 1932, he switched to trumpet. As musical director with Chick Webb (1933-1938), Bauza helped convince the drummer of the potential greatness of Ella Fitzgerald. He was with Don Redman during 1938-1939, and then Cab Calloway (1939-1941). Bauza was largely responsible for Calloway hiring Dizzy Gillespie, and in 1947 he would introduce Gillespie to Chano Pozo. Bauza became the longtime musical director of his brother-in-law Machito's orchestra (1941-1976), encouraging Machito to add jazz solos to his music. In the 1980s and early '90s as the head of his own Afro-Cuban orchestra, Mario Bauza (who had long since given up playing trumpet) recorded three excellent albums of his arrangements and finally received some recognition for his important contributions to music.

- Scott Yanow, All Music Guide