GOODBYE MONGO - REMEMBER MONGO

[EDSEG6ES]

#### ! MONGO IS GONE i REMEMBER HEARING HIM FOR THE FIRST TIME ON THE SONG AFRO BLUE IT CHANGED MY LIFE I WAS DETERMINED TO LEARN THE ART OF PERCUSSION THANKS MONGO. UN CINCERO AGRADECIMIENTO DE TU HERMANO SALVADORENO.

[bongomikee]

God rest his soul.

A true great & conga legend.

Thanks for your fantastic music and inspiration!

Peace & love,

Mikee

[rhumbatumba]

Thanks Mongo, for all the great music, solo's, concerts. I got most of my chops from Mongo. His records were the 1st solos i tried to copy, I remember seeing Mongo,Bobo & Tjader at latin jazz concerts at the Concert By The Sea in Redondo Beach, Ca and The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach in the late 60's or early 70's. I was still in High school, sneakin in clubs, that when I discovered percussions and put bass clarinet on the back burner. I'm still playing those same drums that i brought in 1976 and those Gonbop's have given me so much pleasure, still today! I still remember those shows at The Playboy Jazz Festivals Mongo with Elrey and Poncho. My all time favorite song by Mongo is Las Guajiras on Via Mongo.....Thanks Mongo

Now I have to turn on Watermellon man.

[rumbaman]

Hey gentalmen how you guys doin' . My biggest regret was not getting an autograph from mongo . I saw him at a free jam session giovany had at the guitar center in kendall miami fla. . Giovani asked him to play but he declined he was already pretty fragile having trouble to walk and had an escort to help him . I will always remember his warm smile , so down to earth very warm is how i can explain it. What an aura about him . I had to leave 'couse i was late to work and had my wife and kids with me , so i had to leave . What a mistake .


rumbaman

[JohnnyConga]

Yo Rumbaman do we know each other from Miami???..."JC" Johnny Conga....

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... and_Me.jpg

[Charangaman]

Excerpt from "Shaking hands with Mongo" by Martin Espada

Mongo's open hands:
huge soft palms
that drop the hard seeds
of Conga with a thump,
shaken by the god of hurricanes,
raining Mambo coconuts



Edited By Charangaman on 1131116326

[SkinDeep]

AFRO ROOTS should be in any MONGO fan collection, it is a combination of two of his rumba records. (only one track is missing and it's on one of his greatest hits) the song is Mi Guaguanco.. and let's not forget him and Barretto going toe to toe on Congo Bongo in the LATIN/SOUL/ROCK album by FANIA ALL STARS.
descansa en paz MONGO!!!

[JohnnyConga]

I can tell you that night at Yankee Stadium...Mongo,I believe, got the crowd excited with his soloing, though Ray had Mongo going too....It was a GREAT dual of 2 GREAT players...."JC" Johnny Conga....and the crowd went wild!.... :p

[Isaac]

Another Passing - VICTOR VENEGAS
~~~~~~~~~~~~
With all the sad news about Ray Barretto,
there was another passing last week ;
- bass player - Victor Venegas.

Victor is known as Mongo's Bass player, but he also
played with many other latin jazz legends.

Here's his Obituary from a Las Vegas Newspaper:

Published February 15, 2006.

VENEGAS, VICTOR

Victor Venegas, 73, of Henderson, formerly of Chicago, passed away Feb. 12, 2006, due to illness. He was a musician and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was preceded in death by his son, Richard J. Venegas. Vic is survived by his children, Linda D. Roberts of Henderson, Michael Venegas Perez of Chicago, Andrew Venegas, Evan Venegas, both of New York, and Mark Venegas of Florida. From the South side of Chicago to the barrios of New York Mexican-born Victor Venegas' bass lines were the backbeat to the funk of Mongo Santamaria, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Ismael Rivera y sus Cachimbos and so many more of the Latin music that became the soundtrack for the last two generations of Latinos. Meeting Armando Sanchez in Chicago was to be a turning point in Venegas' life. Vic became the bassist for Nuevo Ritmo which consisted of some of the very best Latin musicians in the country at that time. This association which brought him to the West coast led to his playing with such luminaries as Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria (whose band he helped form) and Errol Garner. Moving to New York proved to be a wise choice as he became the first call bassist of many for the top bands. Numbered among these were Eddie and Charlie Palmieri. Services will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimers Association.

~ ISAAC

[Zeno]

Victor Venegas was the bassist on one of Mongo's earliest LPs for Fantasy (3314), a timeless Classic: ¡Sabroso! Mongo Santamaria y su Orchesta, Charanga Y Pachanga. He is pictured on the back cover along with Rolando Lozano, Jose "Chombo" Silva, Pete Escovedo, Mongo Santamaria, Pupi Lagarreta, Baryardo Velarde, Rudi Calzado, Willie Bobo, and Rene "El Flaco" Hernandez.

Respect,

Zeno

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... Victor.jpg

[ABAKUA]

Thats a fantastic photo Zeno. Thanks for sharing.

[JohnnyConga]

I used to work in a band in NYCity called "Stevie Colon y su Charanga with Tito Gomez(Boogaloo blues) on the vocals, and Jose "Chombo" Silva..Man "Chombo" was the coolest cat to hang with,always in a suit and tie(ol skool) very classy, soft spoken and funny. but it would amaze me how easy he could go from Violin to Saxaphone...2 completely different instruments that he was good on both. I also got to work with Rolando Lozano in Los Angeles(Tipica Antillana) and he could go from flute right to piano, and he was a virtuoso on piano as well as flute....Amazing musicians both......playing with them was "going to school" for me....."JC" Johnny Conga... PS GREAT SHOT!....but what album has that photo??? I HAVE THEM ALL!....?

[Zeno]

PS GREAT SHOT!....but what album has that photo??? I HAVE THEM ALL!....?

Hey Johnny Conga, bro, maybe I saw you in LA with Rolando. Was that the group he had with Danilo and the woman cellist playing a club up on Sunset? I think I even made contact with the timbalero and went over to his house in Santa Monica one time. Rolando was the pianist, but this was in his later years.

aha! you have brought up an interesting bit of discographical trivia. Unless you have a very early first pressing of that Mongo album you will notice a blank space on the back where the photo would have been. For some mysterious reason they took the photo off all consequent issues. I have often wondered why. I lived in the SF Bay area at the time (basically still do eg. North Bay) and got a kick out the fact that Pete Escovedo was on that session as a singer mostly. Being on the West Coast we didn't have much access to Tico LPs and other cool East Coast records, but we sure had access to Fantasy which was in our back yard so to speak. I was going to ask Pete about the disappearing photo even back then, but probably never got around to it. I would still like to know what happened to that photo and why it was "censored" off the LP.
Sure is cool to see all these great cats when they were all young lions.

Zeno

[JohnnyConga]

Hi Zeno ..I was with Tipica Antillana back in 1980, with Kevin Ricard on timbales, Danilo Lozano on flute,"PoP's on piano, Kitty Cowen Miriam Mayor on violins and Johnny Crespo on the vocals..this photo was takne at the old "Pink Panther" in Montebello.....Im in the back row with my hand up....."JC" Johnny Conga...

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... __1980_L.A

[Zeno]

Hi JC,

You certainly have had a wonderful career playing with great people. I think it may have been a few years later that I saw this group in Hollywood. How long were you with them?

Zeno