Latin Percussion
Peggy Powell is near and dear to the NAMM family having participated in many events, especially those with her husband, Specs Powell. Specs was a studio drummer who helped Marty Cohen launch the Latin Percussion company based on his needs for percussive related hardware. Peggy played a vital role...
Oliver C. Brown was a member of KC and the Sunshine Band when they recorded their big disco hits that helped define an era of popular music. Oliver’s percussion instruments can be heard on “Shake Your Booty,” “Boogie Shoes,” That’s the Way I Like It” and “Get Down Tonight.” While influenced by...
Luis Miranda often visited the Palladium Theater as a teenager to dance. During one visit, Luis was asked by a member of the band if he played the congas since their conga player was out sick. This was the beginning of a 70 plus year career as a Latin percussionist! He worked with some of the...
Peter Kragh-Jacobsen started out as a percussionist performing all over Denmark. After tiring of being on the road, he opened the Drum and Percussion Center Denmark, established in 1980. Importing of percussion instruments to Denmark became very expensive due to the exchange rate of the Danish...
Paul Kimbarow grew up in the west side of the Bronx in NYC. He first started playing drums after seeing conga players in the streets of New York and being fascinated by it. The conga players would let him sit in, and he instantly knew that this was what he wanted to do with his life. He went on to...
Jackie Bertone knows firsthand about the power of music. As a percussionist for countless recording dates and live performances, Jackie has added the sounds, the feel and the color that puts the song in motion and in the pocket for performers ranging from Brian Wilson to Third World. His...
Bob Saunders began working in the accounting department for Kaman Corporation. He was asked by the company’s founder, Charlie, to work with his son Bill for the Kaman Music Corporation. After Bill retired, Bob took over as CEO and President of Kaman Music and ran the company for over a decade. ...
David McAllister grew up in Eastern Canada as a child of the 60s and 70s and a big fan of the music of the era. He studied sales and marketing, getting a job in one of the country’s largest food companies before meeting Bob Zildjian in 1984. Bob had just formed SABIAN and was looking for a sales...
Candido Camero was born in Cuba on April 22, 1921. By the age of four he was already interested in percussive instruments--a field he would revolutionize by blending Latin beats with jazz. Working with other pioneers on the concepts of Latin Jazz, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Candido opened up the...
Martin Cohen loves drums and he loves drummers, but as we learned in our interview with him, he loves making drums for drummers even more! His impressive innovations and forward thinking business plan were nearly as impressive as the market he created with Latin Percussion Corp. Martin took the...