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Machito
Machito
Latin jazz musician
1
Mario Bauzá Cárdenas
Mario Bauzá Cárdenas
American musician
2
Cándido Camero
Cándido Camero
Cuban percussionist
3
Rubén González Fontanills
Rubén González Fontanills
Cuban musician
4
Issac Delgado
Issac Delgado
musician, salsa performer
5
Professor Longhair
Professor Longhair
African-American blues musician
6
Sonora Matancera
Sonora Matancera
Cuban band
7
Carlos "Patato" Valdes
Carlos "Patato" Valdes
Conga player
8
Cachao
Cachao
Cuban musician
9
Tito Puente
Tito Puente
American musician, songwriter and record producer (1923-2000)
10
Miguelito Valdés
Miguelito Valdés
Cuban singer (1912-1978)
11
Jerry Gonzalez
Jerry Gonzalez
American musician
12
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri
American recording artist; pianist
13
Peruchín
Peruchín
Cuban pianist
14
Alfredo Rodríguez
Alfredo Rodríguez
Cuban pianist from the 1960s to 2000s
15
Giovanni Hidalgo
Giovanni Hidalgo
Puerto Rican percussionist and music educator
16
Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros
Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros
Cuban jazz trumpeter
17
Benny Moré
Benny Moré
Cuban musician
18
Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
ensemble of Cuban musicians
19
Mongo Santamaría
Mongo Santamaría
Cuban musician
Arsenio Rodríguez
Cuban musician

Arsenio Rodríguez

Intro
Cuban musician
Genres
Record Labels
Awards Received
International Latin Music Hall of Fame
Music

Arsenio Rodríguez (born Ignacio Arsenio Travieso Scull; 31 August 1911 – 30 December 1970) was a Cuban musician, composer and bandleader. He played the tres, as well as the tumbadora, and he specialized in son, rumba and other Afro-Cuban music styles. In the 1940s and 1950s Rodríguez established the conjunto format and contributed to the development the son montuno, the basic template of modern-day salsa. He claimed to be the true creator of the mambo and was an important as well as a prolific composer who wrote nearly two hundred songs.

Despite being blind since the age of seven, Rodríguez quickly managed to become one of Cuba's foremost treseros. Nonetheless his first hit, "Bruca maniguá" by Orquesta Casino de la Playa, came as a songwriter in 1937. For the following two years, Rodríguez worked as composer and guest guitarist for the Casino de la Playa, before forming his conjunto in 1940, one of the first of its kind. After recording over a hundred songs for RCA Victor over the course of twelve years, Rodríguez moved to New York in 1952, where he remained active, releasing several albums. In 1970, Rodríguez moved to Los Angeles, where he died of pneumonia shortly before the end of the year.