Manolo Badrena, a Puerto Rican drummer, has a track record that dates back to Art Blakey’s experimentation with percussionists of different ethnicities. Badrena was a supplementary percussionist for the Rolling Stones and Weather Report in the 1970s. He worked with them for many years. While he worked with rock musicians, Badrena did more for his career. It led to sunny days playing with Steve Khan and Spyro Gyra. Badrena worked with Bill Evans, the saxophonist, during the 1980s. A stint with Carla Bley, the eccentric pianist and composer, lasted a little longer. Throughout the 2000s, he was active with the Zawinul Syndicate, Trio Mundo and appeared on albums by John Mayer, Pete Levin and Ahmad Jamal. Allmusic
