Chano Pozo biography
Date of birth : 1915-01-07
Date of death : 1948-12-02
Birthplace : Havana, Cuba
Nationality : Cuban
Category : Famous Figures
Last modified : 2011-07-05
Credited as : Afro-Jazz singer, percussionist, World Fusion
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Chano Pozo played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz, which was essentially a mixture of bebop and Cuban folk music. He gained his musical background from Cuban religious cults. After moving to New York in 1947, he met Dizzy Gillespie who enthusiastically added him to his bebop big band. Among his features with Dizzy were "Cubana Be," "Cubana Bop," "Tin Tin Deo," and "Manteca"; Pozo co-wrote the latter two.
The hot-tempered Chano Pozo was killed in a fight at a bar in Harlem, New York, at the age of 33, allegedly over an argument regarding the quality of a bag of marijuana he had bought from his assassin. He is buried in the Colon Cemetery, Havana.
