Willie Bobo, born February 28, 1934 and died September 15, 1983. His real name was William Correa. He was an American jazz drummer. Eric Bobo, his son, is a Cypress Hill member. Willie Bobo was born in Spanish Harlem and grew up in New York. He made his mark in Latin Jazz in New York in the 1960’s u0026 70’s with the timbales being his favourite instrument. Shortly after arriving in New York, he met Mongo Santamaria. He studied with him and also acted as his translator. Later, he joined Tito Puente where he remained for four years. The jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams gave Bobo the nickname in the 50’s. He was first exposed to the world when he joined George Shearing’s band for The Shearing Spell. Cal Tjader approached Bobo and Santamaria after he left Shearing. They were asked to join the Cal Tjader Modern Mambo Quintet. This group released many albums during the height of mambo fever in the 50’s. The pair released Sabroso in 1960 after reuniting with Santamaria, his mentor. Fantasy Records. Later, he formed his own band and released Do That Thing/Guajira along with Bobo’s Beat and Le’s Go Bobo. However, it did not achieve much penetration. Bobo was involved in the success of Tjaders Soul Sauce. He later formed his own band and released Spanish Grease with the support of Verve. Bobo was a huge success with this endeavor and he released 7 more albums with Verve. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970’s, and became a session musician for Carlos Santana, as well as a regular member of The Bill Cosby Show’s band. He recorded several albums for Blue Note and Columbia in the late seventies. After a time of illness, he died in 1983. Text contributed by users is available under Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
