Jack Costanzo

about

Jack Costanzo (Chicago, Illinois, U.S., September 24, 1919 – August 18, 2018) was an American percussionist. A composer, conductor, drummer and bandleader of Jack Costanzo & His Orchestra, Jack Costanzo is best known as a bongo player, and is nicknamed "Mr. Bongo". He visited Havana three times in the 1940s and learned to play Afro-Cuban rhythms on the bongos and congas. Costanzo started as a dancer, touring as a team with his wife before World War II. After his discharge from the Navy, he worked as a dance instructor at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Latin band leader Bobby Ramos heard Costanzo playing bongos in a jam session and offered him a job. Throughout the 1940s, Costanzo worked with several Latin bands, including a revived version of the Lecuona Cuban Boys, Desi Arnaz, and Rene Touzet. Costanzo toured with Stan Kenton from 1947–48 and occasionally in the 1950s, and played with Nat King Cole from 1949 to 1953. He also played with the Billy May Orchestra, Peggy Lee, Danny Kaye, Perez Prado, Charlie Barnet, Pete Rugolo, Betty Grable, Harry James, Judy Garland, Patti Page, Jane Powell, Ray Anthony, Martin & Lewis, Frances Faye, Dinah Shore, Xavier Cugat, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, and Eddie Fisher. Costanzo formed his own band in the 1950s which recorded and toured internationally. Many Hollywood stars studied bongos with him, including: Marlon Brando, Rita Moreno, Carolyn Jones, Hugh O'Brian, Keenan Wynn, Van Johnson, Tony Curtis, Betty Grable, Vic Damone, and Gary

top songs

albums

Latin Fever

Latin Percussion With Soul

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Carnival

Back From Havana

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Ultra-Lounge / Tiki Sampler

Afro Can-Can

Ultra-Lounge, Vol. 17: Bongoland

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Ultra-Lounge, Vol. 2: Mambo Fever

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Jack Costanzo And His Afro Cuban Band

The Versatile Mr. Bongo Plays Jazz, Afro & Latin

Ultra-Lounge / Mambo Fever Volume Two

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Ultra-Lounge / Mambo Fever Volume Two

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