Born in Spanish-Harlem, the land of luxuriant music from the urban jungle, little Willie Correa was sure to blossom.
Although small, he was no bad seed and started playing percussion for Perez Prado before crossing paths with Mongo Santamaria and joining the Tito Puente orchestra. With such prestigious influences, only time would tell what Willie Bobo would become.
And the harvest brought a number of albums in the 1960s with the label Verve which were to bring him out of the tutelary shadow of his mentors and into the limelight. Forerunner of the Boogaloo, this perfectionist wanted to merge styles, in particular Latin and Jazz sounds. The brilliance of his album "Bobomotion" demonstrates the great alchemist that he was.
The artist's light went out in 1983, but his lineage is fertile. Here we have his son, also a percussionist, with the rap group Cypress Hill...other times, other music....
Bonus of the Day : a remix of Willie Bobo which features on the excellent Verve Remixed Vol 4.
Willie Bobo « Bobomotion » (1967, Verve)
"Evil Ways""Night Walk"
"Evil Ways" (Karriem Riggins Remix)
