Percussionist Armando Peraza, whose pioneering work brought together the worlds of Afro-Cuban, jazz, and rock music, passed away this past April 14 in San Francisco at age eighty-nine. He is survived by his wife, Josephine, a daughter, and three grandchildren. Peraza was born in Cuba in 1924. An orphan at age seven, he was supporting himself on the streets of Havana at fourteen, working as a vegetable vendor, a semipro baseball player, and a loan shark. A fifty-five-year musical career began when the youngster, nineteen and desperate for money, convinced Alberto Ruiz of the group Kubavana that he played congas. As Peraza related it to MD in 1999, “One day I was waiting for a bus, and Alberto said to me, ‘Armando, I need a conga player.’ I said, ‘You need a conga player? I am the conga player.’ I went and bought a conga for six dollars. “I learned […]