Jack Costanzo & His Orchestra

Jack Costanzo & His Orchestra

Genres: latin

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About Jack Costanzo & His Orchestra

Jack Costanzo (Chicago, Illinois, US, September 24, 1919 – August 18, 2018) was an American percussionist. A composer, conductor and drummer, Costanzo is best known as a bongo player, and is nicknamed "Mr. Bongo". He visited Havana three times in the 1940s and learned to play Afro-Cuban rhythms on the bongos and congas. Costanzo started as a dancer, touring as a team with his wife before World War II. After his discharge from the Navy, he worked as a dance instructor at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Latin band leader Bobby Ramos heard Costanzo playing bongos in a jam session and offered him a job. Throughout the 1940s, Costanzo worked with several Latin bands, including a revived version of the Lecuona Cuban Boys, Desi Arnaz, and Rene Touzet. Costanzo toured with Stan Kenton from 1947–48 and occasionally in the 1950s, and played with Nat King Cole from 1949 to 1953. He also played with the Billy May Orchestra, Peggy Lee, Danny Kaye, Perez Prado, Charlie Barnet, Pete Rugolo, Betty Grable, Harry James, Judy Garland, Patti Page, Jane Powell, Ray Anthony, Martin & Lewis, Frances Faye, Dinah Shore, Xavier Cugat, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, and Eddie Fisher. Costanzo formed his own band in the 1950s which recorded and toured internationally. Many Hollywood stars studied bongos with him, including: Marlon Brando, Rita Moreno, Carolyn Jones, Hugh O'Brian, Keenan Wynn, Van Johnson, Tony Curtis, Betty Grable, Vic Damone, and Gary Cooper. Costanzo was in retirement until 1998 when he decided to make a comeback and in 2001 recorded Back From Havana under the Ubiquity Records umbrella. This album featured the likes of Black Note's Gilbert Castellanos, Steve Firerobing and the Panamanian singer Marilu. In 2002 he released another album with the same cast called Scorching the skins this time he also added Quino from Big Mountain. Costanzo has continued to tour and perform in California and abroad. Costanzo died of complications from an aneurysm at his home in Lakeside, California on August 18, 2018, aged 98. Discography Albums Bongo Cha-Cha-Cha!, (Golden Tone) C 4061 King of the Bongos Bongo Fever, (Sunset) SUS-5134 Afro Can Can, (Liberty) LRP-3137 Learn–Play Bongos, Liberty LRP-3177 Jack Costanzo and His Afro Cuban Band, GNP Crescendo GNP-19 Vivo Tirado, GNP Crescendo GNPS 2057 Mr. Bongo Afro Cuban Band, (Palladium) PLP 126 1949: Nat King Cole & His Trio - The Forgotten 1949 Carnegie Hall Concert, Hep 2010 CD 1954: Afro Cuban Jazz North-of-the-Border 1954: Afro-Cubano 1958: Latin Fever, Liberty LRP-3093 1950's: Mr. Bongo Has Brass, (Zephyr) 12003 1950's: Mr. Bongo Plays Hi-Fi Cha Cha, (Tops) 1564 1950's: Naked City & Other Themes, Liberty LST-7195 2001: Back from Havana 2002: Scorching the Skins 2003: Latin Percussion with Soul 2005: Versatile Mr. Bongo Plays Jazz, Afro and Latin Selected singles A: "Mambo Costanzo" B: "Mr. Bongo" 1954 A: "Barracuda" B: "I Got A Bongo" 1959 A: "Viva Tirado" B: "Guantanamera" With Stan Kenton Stan Kenton's Milestones (Capitol, 1943–47 ) Stan Kenton Classics (Capitol, 1944–47 ) Encores (Capitol, 1947) A Presentation of Progressive Jazz (Capitol, 1947) The Kenton Era (Capitol, 1940–54, ) Kenton with Voices (Capitol, 1957) With Art Pepper and Conte Candoli Mucho Calor (Andex, 1957) With Pete Rugolo Rugolomania (Columbia, 1955) New Sounds by Pete Rugolo (Harmony, 1954–55, ) Percussion at Work (EmArcy, 1957)

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