Daniel Ponce

A star percussionist and one of the finest to come from Cuba since the heyday of <a href="spotify:artist:6BW7FX1tlaJqg7CZXY09vt">Chano Pozo</a>, Candido Camero, and <a href="spotify:artist:300gz3Y4Q2mFZoAG1RVWH2">Armando Peraza</a>, Daniel Ponce displayed rhythmic mastery of both traditional Cuban sounds and contemporary African-American rhythms. Ponce's grandfather was a famous bata drum player and gave his grandson his earliest training. Ponce played cowbell with Los Brillantes in Havana at 11. He switched to congas as a teen, and played with Comparso Federacion Estudiantil Universitario. He came to America in 1980, and soon moved to New York. <a href="spotify:artist:2QOZ5cUcKD9OMn8S7KIGI3">Andy</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2mnn3P1usWd9ccif5MwDmx">Jerry González</a> invited Ponce to sit in at the Village Gate, where he met saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:30Mx3ZadPgGZTcs38FvYP8">Paquito d'Rivera</a>. He later played on a pair of <a href="spotify:artist:30Mx3ZadPgGZTcs38FvYP8">d'Rivera</a> albums, and did sessions for <a href="spotify:artist:2VviFtXYreO6Zn9n8Ibk6C">Eddie Palmieri</a>. But producer/bassist <a href="spotify:artist:5RISqKCcrhGITX2TQAPGPL">Bill Laswell</a> really aided Ponce. He landed him a session with <a href="spotify:artist:2ZvrvbQNrHKwjT7qfGFFUW">Herbie Hancock</a> that led to the critically and commercially successful release Future Shock in the mid-'80s. Ponce did several sessions for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22OAO%22">OAO</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Celluloid%22">Celluloid</a>, and issued his first session as a leader, New York Now!, in 1983. His next outing, Arawe, arrived in 1987, followed by Chango Te Llama in 1991. Ponce also led a pair of New York groups, New York Now and Jazzbata, in addition to considerable session work on dates led by others. ~ Ron Wynn & Michael G. Nastos, Rovi