Traditional Afro-Cuban Santeria Percussion and Vocal Music.

6 MP3 Songs
WORLD: World Traditions, LATIN: General



Details:
The world-renowned percussionist, Carlos o Go Gomez has played and recorded with a long list of artists as varied as they are great, including: Mariah Carey, Tito Puente, Sade, Airto/Flora Purim, Charlie Palmieri, Gypsy Kings, Gato Barbieri, Arturo Sandoval, Jose Feliciano, Manhattan Transfer, Mickey Hart, Pharaoh Sanders, and Grupo Afro-Cuba de Matanzas.
Born of Cuban and Puerto Rican lineage and raised in the Bronx, Carlos o Go Gomez grew up listening to old Cuban standards from his mother, while his father played and sang tangos in the house. As a teenager, he was influenced by the great musicians who lived in his neighborhood, i.e. Machito and Eddie Palmieri. Carlos first began playing professionally at age 14. By the ripe young age of 16, he joined Seguida, one of the first Latin rock bands that experimented in mingling Latin grooves and salsa with rock and roll, recording for the infamous Fania Records. Comprised of young, multi-talented musicians, Seguida was a hit in the New York nightclub scenes, and toured all over the East Coast. Throughout the 1970 Carlos was playing music and studying ethnomusicology at City College of NY. By the end of the decade, Carlos calling for performance and his deep studies of spirituality and religion took him to the West Coast, where in 1979 he established and taught the first program of Afro-Cuban studies in song, drum and dance at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California. Out west, Carlos was one of the select group of musicians who were hired to play any style, anytime, anywhere. Settling in San Francisco Bay area, his ethnic music background helped Carlos land gigs with jazz greats such as Pharaoh Sanders, Bobby Hutcherson, John Handy, Rodney Franklin, Babatunde Lea, Jules Broussard and Manhattan Transfer, while also playing salsa and Latin jazz with Pete and Coke Escovedo and Sheila E., Conjunto Cespedes and playing high-life and world music with O. J. Ekemode & Nigerian All Stars and Batucaje Brazilian Dance Troup. During the 80 , Carlos recorded with world famous producer/ drummer Narada Michael Walden on his solo album, Maurice Starr's (of New Edition fame) production of Tom Brown album and was featured beside Airto and Flora Purim on The Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's seminal album Dafos, from Mickey's Planet Drum Album series. Carlos eventually joined the Bay Area-based Con Funk Shun, whom he recorded and toured with extensively for many years. The end of the 80 brought a move to Los Angeles. Here, Carlos began touring with Jose Feliciano, Justo Almario, and Strunz & Farah. He landed the percussion/vocal post for Laura Branigan, which he held for eight years, and even became her musical director. Carlos also appeared and played in numerous films, commercials, TV shows and even had his own Salsa band Go Go Gomez* featured in the motion picture, "Fires Within" and its soundtrack during his stint in Southern California. Around the early 1990 , Carlos began touring and recording with Arturo Sandoval. In 1994 he recorded a multitude of percussion instruments on Arturo Sandoval Danzon/Dance On on GRP Records which won Arturo his first Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Carlos continued to teach seminars at several universities in California and taught privately while deepening his own knowledge by studying stateside with many masters. Currently, Carlos plays in the Tri-State area working with artists such as Little Louie Vega/Nuyorican Soul Orchestra, Roy Ayres, Jocelyn Brown and Jody Watley. Rarely taking a night off, Carlos works incessantly, playing clubs, and doing dance mixes and recording sessions for the likes of Mariah Carey, Sade, Pet Shop Boys, Lisa Stanfield, Chi Chi Peralta, Maxwell, Jay Denes of Naked Music and David Morales of DEF Jam. He is an adjunct professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Percussion Department at Queens College, City University of New York. He also continues to teach at seminars and privately, and is currently in the studios, working on his second Afro-Cuban record.