Latin Percussion - a corporation Historical past

Latin Percussion, or LP because they are commonly recognised, were considered one of the initial firms Musica en linea Colombia established as many as mass manufacture percussion devices from all over the globe, driven via the musical passion of Martin Cohen, a youthful engineer and keen photographer. While in the mid nineteen fifties Mr Cohen started to regular New Yorks Jazz clubs and found the renowned Birdland club, and that is when he very first read Latin Jazz. He quickly turned a regular visitor and was influenced by percussionists this kind of as Jose Mangual, and because of the early sixties he turned hooked on mastering the Bongos. Because of the US trade embargo with Cuba, great high-quality bongos were hard to find in america, so the resourceful Cohen resolved to make his own, inspite of owning tiny expertise in wood-working. Following a several tries he got the result he was on the lookout for. Other musicians commenced to choose see of his drums and he commenced making bongos and cowbells for other percussionists, welcoming their feed-back in an effort to fine-tune his goods.

Word of his instruments distribute amongst the Latin audio neighborhood, and demand grew. He started to create cowbells with the Rogers Drum Enterprise, in addition to commenced to hear assistance from functioning drummers outside from the Latin local community this kind of as Television set session participant Specs Powell, who requested him to produce a established of bongos that would be mounted on a stand instead of played among the gamers knees. Cohen arrived up that has a alternative, a mounting bracket with the drums that did not entail drilling into your wood, and Tonight Show drummer Bob Rosengarden then questioned Martin if he could generate a modern variation from the conventional jawbone with rattling teeth.... quite a challenge but Cohen designed the Vibra-Slap, an result that is still well-known to this day. The Vibra-Slap was also his 1st patent. The next enhancement (once more originally designed for Bob Rosengarden) was the Afruche-Cabasa, an additional strong modern version of the historical and frail instrument. Martin Cohens skill appeared being changing these aged traditional devices with modern day versions created of potent present day supplies, but devoid of sacrificing the tone... these new instruments experienced to sound as reliable given that the originals. He still spent several hrs hanging all over the Latin new music scene, gaining awareness and accumulating many of the suggestions that he could on his goods, some coming from famed percussionists these types of as Carlos "patato" Valdez and Tito Puente, who both equally went on to become prolonged standing family members buddies. It genuinely was a situation of finding out what the players wanted, and then which makes it materialize.

In 1964, Cohen began the Latin Percussion Business, originally undertaking the majority of the perform by himself inside of a tiny unheated garage. In time Cohens spouse and daughter grew to become involved in the company, plus the business began to export items. Growth was rapid and LP soon turned a planet popular manufacturer between percussionists. Cohen arrived up with the notion to make congas from fiberglass, giving the drums a lot more volume which was properly acquired, particularly as Latin devices have been now getting to be far more mainstream and moving into well-known new music. At some point LP would turn out to be the worlds biggest producer of percussion instruments, having a listing of endorsers including major percussionists these kinds of as Giovanni Hildago, Jose Madera, and Armando Peraza. Lots of of these great gamers have place their names to several of LPs items these kinds of as being the LP Tito Puente Timbales, and Giovanni Hildagos signature series, the LP Galaxy Giovanni Bongos and Congas.

By 2002, Latin Percussion was acquired by Kaman Tunes Corporation, the worlds greatest independent musical instrument distributor, enabling even more progress with the LP model all over the world, and Martin Cohen acquired a unique recognition award through the Global Latin New music Hall of Fame, for nearly 40 yrs of innovation in music. Without a doubt its hard to picture how every one of these instruments might have at any time received these types of attractiveness without the enter and perseverance of Martin Cohen. The business continues to provide a big catalog of congas, bongos and timbales, as well as hundreds of hand percussion devices from claves to bells, wind chimes to woodblocks, caxixis, shakers and much a lot more.