Born to a musical family in Havana in 1926, Patato, often written as Potato, grew up playing the Cuban guitar known as tres, as well as the African thumb piano and numerous other instruments. By the time he was a teenager, he was already considered one of the hottest conga players in Cuba, and at a time when American high society regularly vacationed in Havana, Patato became one of the featured players in the country\'s famed Conjunto Casino. He also played with Chano Pozo, who helped create the Latin jazz movement with Dizzy Gillespie, and with Mongo Santamaria. Like them, he immigrated to the United States to take advantage of the burgeoning jazz scene, and has lived in New York since 1954. There, he immediately found himself in demand. First hired by Tito Puente, Patato went on to play with the great Machito and Kenny Dorham. Then he hooked up with Herbie Mann, in a musical partnership that would last nearly a decade.

Valdez\'s understanding of melodic percussion was ahead of his time and required advances in drum technology. During the late 1940\'s he helped develop the first tunable congas, as earlier models were tuned by the unwieldy method of heating them with a sterno can. His interest in design, as well as his friendship with LP Founder Martin Cohen, led to the development of the LP Patato Model Conga, one of the top-selling conga drums of all time. It is Valdez\'s spontaneity and charm that enabled him to draw audiences from vastly different backgrounds and cultures into the irresistable Afro-Cuban rhythms which he creates.

Patato\'s influence reaches beyond the Jazz and Latin music scenes. He also gave Brigitte Bardot a mambo lesson in the movie And God Created Woman. As a New York resident since 1954, Patato\'s work was collected in \'The Legend Of Cuban Percussion\' (2000, Six Degrees), which featured Omar Sosa, John Santiago, Changuito, Orestes Vilato and other Cuban and African all-star performers.

Herbie Mann was quoted as saying on the 1965 Atlantic release Standing Ovation At Newport:

\"A wild personality and a funny cat, he\'s exciting and pixie-ish at the same time.\"

Patato made a name for himself as a character as well as a musician. Whether jumping on top of his congas barefoot or appearing on television (including \"The Bill Cosby Show\"), Patato\'s image was that of a man who knew how to have a good time - and didn\'t mind sharing that knowledge.

After leaving Herbie Mann in the mid 1960s, Patato teamed up with the singer Totíco, a boyhood friend from Havana, on the 1967 Verve album Patato y Totíco, This record documented the vitality of an increasingly important rumba scene that was emerging in NYC and included such giants as Israel \"Cachao\" Lopez on bass and Arsenio Rodriguez on tres.

In the following years, Patato recorded and toured with virtually all of the world\'s leading Latin Jazz artists, including Cachao and Machito. In 1995, he recorded the first of two albums in the series Ritmo y Candela, with the second volume coming a year later. Both albums received Grammy nominations in the newly appointed Latin Jazz category. Patato: The Legend of Cuban Percussion is compiled from those two recordings, and even on a record with several world-class drummers, there\'s no mistaking Patato\'s playing. The congas leap out of the music, chattering and throbbing, and propelling the band through a dizzying series of musical changes bursting with musical surprises.

Drummerszone.com endorser Martin Verdonk:

\"He is one of the most influential players of all time. Being one of the first to add more drums to the single conga, he was a true pioneer and one who reshaped the scene. He added the melody to the drums, and I remember Giovanni always talking about him in his clinics. He is one of the old masters like Mongo and Tito that layed down the road that we walk musically now.\"

Armando Peraza:

\"When la Comparsa El Cocuye came by the streets of Havana, you could hear the quinto 20 blocks away before any other instrument. It was a small giant playing that quinto \"Patato\".

More on Patato

• On Potato\'s artist page on Drummerszone.com, you find an extensive biography and a listing of the records he plays on.
  
• Congahead tribute photo series by Martin Cohen
  
• Congahead Patato page
  
• LP artist page