 | | GRAND MARSHAL Armando Peraza and John Santos will be honored at 2:00 pm on the 17th Street stage at the end of John Calloway's set. | | |  | | Armando Peraza (born May 30, 1924 in Havana, Cuba) will lead off the world famous Carnaval San Francisco Grand Parade accompanied by many of the most illustrious names in Latin percussion who have come to identify the Mission District as special historic grounds in the history of their music globally. Mr. Peraza has been internationally known since the 1950s. As a longtime member of Santana, the Cuban-born Peraza has established a career that spans six decades, mastering the conga and bongos, and developing a unique percussion style that many young musicians today cite as their inspiration. Although primarily known as a bongocero and conguero, Peraza is also an innovative and accomplished dancer and composer. Peraza lost both parents at an early age, and by the age of 12, was living on his own , supporting himself around this time as a vegetable vendor, semi-pro baseball player, boxing trainer, and a loan shark. It wasn't until Peraza was 17 years old that he got his start with music; One day at a baseball park, Peraza overhead local bandleader Alberto Ruiz (a brother of one of Peraza's teammates) say that he was in dire need of a conga player for a performance that night, as part of one of Havana's most popular bands at the time, Conjunto Kubavana. Although Peraza had no musical experience, he was able to convince Ruiz to give him a shot, and after practicing for just several hours that afternoon, pulled off the performance with flying colors. After relocating to the U.S. (first New York City, and then San Francisco), Peraza became an instantly sought-after musician. At the heart of the 50's mambo craze: In 1954, while performing in San Francisco with pianist Dave Brubeck, Peraza met Cal Tjader, who was Brubeck's drummer at the time. Legendary jazz writer Leonard Feather recommended Armando to Fantasy Records, along with Tjader to record an Afro-Cuban album, which was titled "Ritmo Caliente" and was groundbreaking in its use of Afro-Cuban rhythms with a Jazz sensibility and was followed up in 1957 with "Mas Ritmos Caliente". During this period, Peraza was introduced to British pianist George Shearing by bassist Al McKibbon. Peraza joined Shearing's band for the next 12 years and was a collaboration that found Peraza at the forefront of a new wave of popularity for Afro-Cuban music. Shearing's music is now regarded as "light" in jazz terms, but the rhythms and harmonic structures Peraza introduced to the pianist's music were unerringly authentic. It was during his time with Shearing that Peraza emerged as a composer, writing and record 21 songs for Shearing, such as "Mambo in Chimes", "Mambo In Miami", "Ritmo Africano", "Armando's Hideaway", "This is Africa", "Estampa Cubana" and many others. These recordings were at the heart of the "mambo craze", which swept the U.S. and the world and Peraza became highly visible, which was a major achievement for an Afro-Cuban at that time. Peraza has been featured on classic recordings by Perez Prado, Machito, George Shearing, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, and Cal Tjader. A regular fixture with Santana during the 70s and 80s, Peraza has also played with Eric Clapton, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, David Brubeck, Rick James, Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Eartha Kitt and many others.  | | Armando & Carlos Santana | He has been inducted into the Smithsonian Institution's Hall of Jazz Legends and has had three official "Armando Peraza Days" by the City of San Francisco. |
