Biography
Louis "Sabu" Martinez ranks among the most productive conga drummers across the entire history of Afro-Cuban music. Apart from issuing his own albums, he appeared on recordings by influential jazz figures such as Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Buddy DeFranco, J.J. Johnson, Louis Bellson, Art Farmer, and Art Blakey, as well as vocalists Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis, Jr. After emigrating to Sweden in 1967, he brought his richly melodic percussion approach to an extensive catalog of releases by leading Swedish artists.
A native of New York’s Spanish Harlem, Martinez passed his early years tapping rhythms on tin cans along 111th Street. By age 11 he was already performing every third night on 125th Street for 25 cents. While still a young teenager he joined Latin bands led by Marcelino Guerra and Catalino Rolón. In 1944 he lived for an extended stretch in Puerto Rico.
After completing a year of military service at age 17, Martinez returned to music as a member of mambo originator Joe Loco’s trio. Within months his playing drew the notice of jazz musicians. Beginning in 1946 he formed a long-running association with drummer Art Blakey that continued with periodic reunions until 1959. He anchored the rhythm section on Blakey's pioneering Orgy in Rhythm in 1954 and appeared on the Jazz Messengers albums Cu-Bop and Messages, both from 1957.
Martinez stayed in steady demand as a session player. While performing traditional Latin music with the Lecuono Cuban Boys, he also worked with Charlie Parker and Max Roach during a 13-week run at New York’s Three Deuces. In April 1949 he performed with swing clarinetist Benny Goodman.
The peak of Martinez’s career arrived in 1948 when he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s band after the murder of influential conga player Chano Pozo. During the nine months he spent with the group he recorded five albums: Dizzy, Dizzier and Dizzier, 16 Rare Performances, When Be-Bop Met the Big Band, and Diz. Gillespie gave him the nickname “Sabu” after observing his resemblance to Indian actor Sabu, known as the “Elephant Boy.”
Despite his prominence, Martinez battled heroin addiction. In the mid-’50s he briefly stepped away from music to operate a strip joint in Baltimore. Although he overcame the addiction in 1956, several years passed before he became “psychologically free” from its hold. He then formed his own quintet and recorded three notable albums: the Afro-Cuban landmark Palo Congo in 1957 and the 1958 releases Safari and Sorcery, later described as “the wildest exotica records ever.”
In 1960 Martinez teamed with Louie Ramirez to cut the landmark Latin jazz album Jazz Espagnole. Four years later he moved temporarily to Puerto Rico, where he performed with bands including the Johnny Conquet Orchestra and met his future wife Agneta. They married in 1967 and relocated to her native Sweden, where Martinez remained for the rest of his life.
Shortly after arriving in Sweden he took a job with Lill Lindfor’s Musical Revue, beginning a sustained collaboration with Swedish musicians. In addition to teaching music and conga technique, he performed and recorded with Cornelius Vreeswick, Merit Hemmingson, Radiojazzgruppen, Björbobandet, the Eero Koisvistoinen Music Society, the Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination and Brass, Gugge Hedrenius’ Big Band, and Ivan Oscarsson. Occasional American partnerships included work with Kenny Clarke, Art Farmer, and George Russell. In 1973 he formed New Burnt Sugar and published a book of conga exercises. His final sessions took place on Debbie Cameron and Richard Boone’s album Brief Encounter in 1978. Martinez died on January 13, 1979, of a gastric ulcer.
A native of New York’s Spanish Harlem, Martinez passed his early years tapping rhythms on tin cans along 111th Street. By age 11 he was already performing every third night on 125th Street for 25 cents. While still a young teenager he joined Latin bands led by Marcelino Guerra and Catalino Rolón. In 1944 he lived for an extended stretch in Puerto Rico.
After completing a year of military service at age 17, Martinez returned to music as a member of mambo originator Joe Loco’s trio. Within months his playing drew the notice of jazz musicians. Beginning in 1946 he formed a long-running association with drummer Art Blakey that continued with periodic reunions until 1959. He anchored the rhythm section on Blakey's pioneering Orgy in Rhythm in 1954 and appeared on the Jazz Messengers albums Cu-Bop and Messages, both from 1957.
Martinez stayed in steady demand as a session player. While performing traditional Latin music with the Lecuono Cuban Boys, he also worked with Charlie Parker and Max Roach during a 13-week run at New York’s Three Deuces. In April 1949 he performed with swing clarinetist Benny Goodman.
The peak of Martinez’s career arrived in 1948 when he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s band after the murder of influential conga player Chano Pozo. During the nine months he spent with the group he recorded five albums: Dizzy, Dizzier and Dizzier, 16 Rare Performances, When Be-Bop Met the Big Band, and Diz. Gillespie gave him the nickname “Sabu” after observing his resemblance to Indian actor Sabu, known as the “Elephant Boy.”
Despite his prominence, Martinez battled heroin addiction. In the mid-’50s he briefly stepped away from music to operate a strip joint in Baltimore. Although he overcame the addiction in 1956, several years passed before he became “psychologically free” from its hold. He then formed his own quintet and recorded three notable albums: the Afro-Cuban landmark Palo Congo in 1957 and the 1958 releases Safari and Sorcery, later described as “the wildest exotica records ever.”
In 1960 Martinez teamed with Louie Ramirez to cut the landmark Latin jazz album Jazz Espagnole. Four years later he moved temporarily to Puerto Rico, where he performed with bands including the Johnny Conquet Orchestra and met his future wife Agneta. They married in 1967 and relocated to her native Sweden, where Martinez remained for the rest of his life.
Shortly after arriving in Sweden he took a job with Lill Lindfor’s Musical Revue, beginning a sustained collaboration with Swedish musicians. In addition to teaching music and conga technique, he performed and recorded with Cornelius Vreeswick, Merit Hemmingson, Radiojazzgruppen, Björbobandet, the Eero Koisvistoinen Music Society, the Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination and Brass, Gugge Hedrenius’ Big Band, and Ivan Oscarsson. Occasional American partnerships included work with Kenny Clarke, Art Farmer, and George Russell. In 1973 he formed New Burnt Sugar and published a book of conga exercises. His final sessions took place on Debbie Cameron and Richard Boone’s album Brief Encounter in 1978. Martinez died on January 13, 1979, of a gastric ulcer.
Albums
