My Father, Sammy Figueroa, Paulinho Da Costa, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Stanley Turrentine, Luis Conte, Daniel Ponce, Tito Puente, Parliament-Funkadelic, Ray Parker, jr. Bootsy Collins, Jaco Pastorius, Weather Report, Return to Forever, James Brown, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Commodores, Quincy Jones, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Munyungo Jackson, Lenny Castro, Carlinhos Brown, Airto, Ray Barretto, Giovanni Hildalgo, Chanquito, Billy Cobham, Dave Valentine, Sly Stone, Mint Condition, Stevie Wonder, The Funk Brothers, Chris Rock, Ralph MacDonald, Roger Squitero, Errol “Crusher” Bennett, Mamady Keita, Doc Gibbs, Kevin Ricard, Alex Acuña, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Prince and all of my fellow musicians making music all over the world!
Why percussion? Why not guitar, a horn, keyboards? I had no choice. My father is a drummer and like most little boys I wanted to be just like dad! It wasn’t till high school that I found hand percussion, or actually, hand percussion found me. Symphony Hall, Newark New Jersey. Angela Bofill, with Sammy Figueroa on percussion (old schoolers know what I’m talking ’bout!). He was not only playin congas, bongo and timbales, but had these “toys” creating sonic colors that sang to my soul. That was my epiphany! I started collecting drums and toys and my journey began. I then found Paulinho Da Costa and his playing just took me to another place! He would play a percussion orchestra of one instrument or a thousand instruments and it would be the right sound. That is what I try to bring to music. It’s not how much I play, but how much is the music impacted by what I play. I’m musician first, then percussionist!
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