Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
A premier percussionist and one of the few to emphasize bongos over congas, Jack Costanzo taught himself both bongos and congas, and made three visits to Havana in the '40s to learn Afro-Cuban rhythms. He toured and performed with Stan Kenton in 1947 and 1948, then worked with Nat King Cole from 1949 to 1953. Costanzo continued to periodically play with both Cole and Kenton through the '50s, working with Kenton until 1957 while also heading out his own. This group recorded in 1954 and 1957, later touring London in 1961. Costanzo also worked in the '50s with Peggy Lee, Pérez Prado, Harry James, Charlie Barnet, and Pete Rugolo. Costanzo kept a relatively low profile during the latter decades of the 20th century, but made a comeback in the late '90s. His return-to-form album Back from Havana was released in 2001 followed by Scorching the Skins in 2002 (both on Cubop Records). Chicken and Rice was issued by GNP/Crescendo in 2006.
Wikipedia:
Jack Costanzo (born September 24, 1922, Chicago, Illinois) is an American percussionist.
Biography
A composer, conductor and drummer, Costanzo is best known as a bongo player, and is nicknamed "Mr. Bongo". He visited Havana three times in the 1940s and learned to play Afro-Cuban rhythms on the bongos and congas.
Costanzo started as a dancer, touring as a team with his wife before World War II. After his discharge from the Navy, he worked as a dance instructor at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Latin band leader Bobby Ramos listened to Costanzo playing bongos in a jam session and offered him a job. Throughout the 1940s, Costanzo worked with several Latin bands, including a revived version of the Lecuona Cuban Boys, Desi Arnaz, and Rene Touzet.
Costanzo toured with Stan Kenton from 1947–48 and occasionally in the 1950s, and played with Nat King Cole from 1949 to 1953. He also played with the Billy May Orchestra, Peggy Lee, Danny Kaye, Perez Prado, Charlie Barnet, Pete Rugolo, Betty Grable, Harry James, Judy Garland, Jane Powell, Ray Anthony, Martin & Lewis, Frances Faye, Dinah Shore, Xavier Cugat, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, and Eddie Fisher.
Costanzo formed his own band in the 1950s which recorded and toured internationally. Many Hollywood stars studied bongos with him, including: Marlon Brando, Rita Moreno, Carolyn Jones, Hugh O'Brien, Keenan Wynn, Van Johnson, Tony Curtis, Betty Grable, Vic Damone, and Gary Cooper.
Costanzo was in retirement until 1998 when he decided to make a comeback and in 2001 recorded Back From Havana under the Ubiquity Records umbrella. This album featured the likes of Blue Note's Guilbert Castellanos, Steve Firerobing and the Panamanian singer Marilu. In 2002 he released another album with the same cast called Scorching the skins this time he also added Quino from Big Mountain. Costanzo has continued to tour and perform in California and abroad.
