Francisco "Chino" Pozo was a Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n drummer.

Pozo claimed to be the cousin of Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo

Chano Pozo was a percussionist, singer, dancer and composer who played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz...

, though this has been disputed. He was an autodidact on piano and bass, but concentrated on bongos

Bongo drum

Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...

, conga

Conga

The conga, or more properly the tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban drum with African antecedents. It is thought to be derived from the Makuta drums or similar drums associated with Afro-Cubans of Central African descent. A person who plays conga is called a conguero...

s, and drums. He moved to the United States in 1937, and played with Machito

Machito

Machito , born as Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo, was an influential Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music...

 from 1941–43 and with the Jack Cole

Jack Cole (choreographer)

Jack Cole was an American dancer, choreographer, and theatre director known as the father of theatrical jazz dance.-Early life:...

 Dancers from 1943-1949. Following this he played in numerous jazz ensembles, especially latin jazz

Latin jazz

Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...

 and Afro-Cuban jazz

Afro-Cuban jazz

Afro-Cuban jazz is an early form of Latin jazz that mixes Afro-Cuban rhythms with harmonies and musical timbre typical of Bebop. It was developed in the early 1940s by both Cuban musicians and Jazz musicians, with Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauza, Machito and Stan Kenton among some of the most notable...

; his credits include work with Jose Curbelo, Noro Morales

Noro Morales

Norosbaldo Morales was a Puerto Rican pianist and bandleader.-Biography:Morales learned several instruments as a child. He played in Venezuela from 1924 to 1930, then returned to Puerto Rico to play with Rafaél Muñoz. He emigrated to New York City in 1935, and played there with Alberto Socarras...

, Tito Puente

Tito Puente

Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...

, Tito Rodríguez

Tito Rodriguez

Tito Rodríguez was a popular 1950s and 1960s Puerto Rican singer and bandleader. He is known by many fans as "El Inolvidable" , a moniker based on his most popular interpretation, a song written by composer Julio Gutierrez.-Early years:Rodríguez , born in Santurce, Puerto Rico,...

, Enric Madriguera

Enric Madriguera

Enric Madriguera was a Spanish child who was playing concerts before he studied at the Barcelona Conservatory. Whilst still in his twenties he was lead violinist at Boston's and Symphony orchestras before becoming the conductor of the Cuban Philharmonic.In the 1940s he was recording Latin American...

, Perez Prado

Perez Prado

Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, musician , and composer. He is often referred to as the 'King of the Mambo'.His orchestra was the most popular in mambo...

, Josephine Premice, Tadd Dameron

Tadd Dameron

Tadley Ewing Peake "Tadd" Dameron was an American jazz composer, arranger and pianist. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon called Dameron the "romanticist" of the bop movement, while reviewer Scott Yanow writes that Dameron was the "definitive arranger/composer of the bop era".-Biography:Born in Cleveland,...

, Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....

, and Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

. He toured with Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...

 in 1954-55 and played with Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton

Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....

 (1955), Herbie Mann

Herbie Mann

Herbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...

 (1956), Xavier Cugat

Xavier Cugat

Xavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...

 (1959), and René Touzet

René Touzet

René Touzet y Monte was a Cuban-born American composer, pianist and bandleader.-Career as bandleader:...

 (1959). He also recorded with Illinois Jacquet

Illinois Jacquet

Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....

, Phineas Newborn

Phineas Newborn

Phineas Newborn, Jr. was an American jazz pianist, whose principal influences were Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell. Newborn came from a musical family with his father, Phineas Newborn, Sr., being a blues musician and his younger brother, Calvin, a jazz guitarist...

, Gábor Szabó

Gábor Szabó

Gábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...

, and Paul Anka

Paul Anka

Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...

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