Manny Oquendo y Libre
Biography
Manny Oquendo (born 1-Jan-1931) is a Latin/American percussionist, influenced by Cuban drumming. He grew up in New York and worked in the bands of Eddie Palmieri's tropical and Latin Jazz ensembles which developed what was called the NYC Mozambique style rhythm, originally created by master Cuban percussionist, Pedro Izquierdo, aka 'Pello el Afrokan' in Havana. His own group Conjunto Libre, later simply Libre, had a hit with Little Sunflower. Manny had his own signature when it came to soloing and many students of the Timbale study his style.
