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Steve was born in uptown Manhattan in
1945 to parents who had just arrived from Puerto Rico. His father,
Steve Sr., was a drummer with the major Latin bands of the era,
including Noro Morales, Miguelito Valdez and Pupi Campo.
Steve was given a bugle at age eleven
and soon began trumpet classes in public school. But his real
musical education came from his father’s records (which included
modern jazz like Ellington and Bird) and his father’s musician
friends. On the percussion side, his two greatest early influences
were Willie Bobo and Julio Collazo, the legendary master of the
batá sacred drum. Steve became a percussion apprentice
under Julio; at the same time, Julio became his spiritual mentor
in santeria, the Yoruba-based rites that are the wellspring of
all serious Afro-Cuban music.
At 16, Steve started winning competitions
with his trumpet, including five Apollo Theater first places.
In high school, he becoming friends with his Harlem neighbor,
budding pianist Larry Willis; this was the beginning of a lifelong
friendship and jazz collaboration.
At age 19, he got his first steady gig
as house drummer with a hotel band in Manhattan thanks to his
father’s recommendation. He joined Mongo Santamaria’s
band a few years later, playing both traps and timbales.
In 1981, he became a founding member
of the milestone Latin jazz group, the Fort Apache Band. He’s
been a crucial ingredient in Fort Apache ever since. Great drummers
like Max Roach and Billy Higgins regard Steve as the master of
bridging the Latin and the jazz tradition, a unique drummer who’s
completely authentic in both worlds.
Because of this mastery, Steve is now
a veteran of more than 300 recordings and has played and recorded
with an enormous range of greats including, among many more: Tito
Puente, Paquito D’Rivera, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Michael
Brecker, Grover Washington, Hilton Ruiz, and Miriam Makeba.
He’s leader on a remarkable CD
of santeria-based music on Fantasy, Son Becaché. In addition
to his continuing work with Fort Apache, Max Roach’s M’Boom
and a spectrum of first-rate New York musicians, he’s a longtime
member of the Larry Willis Trio. With the Trio, he’s recorded
at Mapleshade on Every Rung Goes Higher (Mapleshade 08232).
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