Joe Cuba, born Gilberto Miguel Calderón Cardona on April 22, 1931, in Harlem,
New York, is renowned as one of the most influential figures in Latin music.
Raised in the heart of New York City's Spanish Harlem, he took up the conga
after suffering a leg injury. His professional career in music started in the
1950s, first with Joe Panama and later as a member of La Alfarona X. Following
an encounter with seminal Latin music percussionist Tito Puente, he formed the
Joe Cuba Sextet in 1954, a pioneering group that blended Latin rhythms with
American jazz and rhythm & blues, creating ...