Personal favourites: "Jingo", "Thousand Finger Man" and "Dancin' and Prancin'"
Candido was the Latin percussionist of the 1950s, the first person that jazz people would call when they wanted a conga or bongo player. Early on he had recorded in his native Cuba with Machito and he worked regularly with the house band at the Tropicana Club in Havana for six years. Dizzy Gillespie heard him and encouraged him to move to New York in 1952. Soon Candido was performing and recording with Gillespie. During 1953-54 he was in the Billy Taylor quartet and in 1954 he performed and recorded with Stan Kenton. Since that time Candido has recorded with the who's who of jazz including Erroll Garner, Gene Ammons, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, Elvin Jones and Lionel Hampton among many others. He remains busy in the studios up to the present time. -- Scott Yanow