Mike Pacheco - percusionista - TT: Mike Pacheco - TA: percussionist - Artículo Breve - Entrevista

Latin Beat Magazine, Nov, 2000 by Nelson Rodríguez

For many decades, the west coast has been enriched by Latin music influences, especially the spice given to jazz since the early fifties by Latin musicians. These musicians who played with the giants of the time gave such jazz bandleaders the essence they required. One such musician was Mike Pacheco, a percussionist who played bongó, conga, timbal and anything else during the fifties; a veritable workhorse for some of the top west coast acts. The music was straight ahead jazz with a Latin tinge.

Earlier this year, I picked up on Mike's extremely rare Bongo Session on red vinyl and went to meet record entrepreneur Ray Avery to buy some Armed Forces transcriptions when Pacheco's name came up. He had also recorded Armed Forces transcriptions (16" vinyl records that were easier to ship in the '40s and '50s than the hard 78 rpms) with Sonny Burke and other artists. Pacheco had worked for Ray's Rare Records Shop on East Broadway in Glendale from 1979-1986. I expressed an interest in meeting Mike Pacheco, and within a few weeks, we met at his home in Burbank. I found the man to be a sincere and remarkable person with a wealth of history and professionalism.

Born in Tollerberg, near Denver (Colorado), on April 20, 1929, Pacheco's parents, María Macías and José Pacheco, moved to Los Angeles when he was 21 days old. Of Mexican heritage with Portuguese leanings, Pacheco remembers his father's group, the José Pacheco band, rehearsing in their Los Angeles home when he was nine years old. While his father José played bass guitar, it was drummer Frank "Chico" Guerrero who got young Mike interested in drums.

Guerrero played on a drum set with wooden timbales[1] on the side. To this day, Pacheco's wooden bongó and congas are the original ones he had made in 1952[2]. Watching Guerrero perform was his first exposure to a Latin percussionist.

The first bongosero Pacheco ever heard was a recording of Jack Costanzo with the Stan Kenton orchestra, on December 6, 1948, on Bongó Riff. The first bongó performance he ever watched was Ramoncito Castro, when he played with Toña La Negra at a local theatre, around the same time. Hearing the crispness and clarity of Castro's bongó, made Pacheco fall in love with percussion.

His first professional gig was with his father's band, but his big break came in 1951, when he got a call from Pérez Prado that led to a 10-day west coast tour, "an enlightening experience," as he recalls it...

"Prado was a subtle but demanding leader who was doing his first west coast tour after moving from Mexico," Mike explained. "We would get paid at a rate of $2.50 a week."

He recorded on Prado's 1954 Voodoo Suite which was a marriage between primitive rhythms and jazz. He also recorded on Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White. Due to union restrictions, Prado could not bring his band from Mexico and needed to form pickup bands for his stateside tours. During this period, Pacheco met many influential and prestigious musicians. The most influential, Pete Candoli (who he considers his godfather in the business), introduced him to Sonny Burke, who in turn introduced him to Peggy Lee. Through his exposure to the major movie studios such as Universal and Paramount, he was able to work with Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, Billy May (who recorded many mambos), Nat King Cole, Shorty Rogers, Les Baxter, Johnny Mandel, Les Brown, Dave Pell and others.

After Pérez Prado, Pacheco became a member of Peggy Lee's band on her CBS "Peggy Lee Show," presented by Club 88 and Oldsmobile. He recorded with her and the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra on the Decca label. He shared some memories of Peggy Lee: "I met her through Sonny Burke, who was the musical director at Decca. She was very considerate. As a good luck charm, she would have each musician give her a kiss on the cheek before going out to do her show."

Pacheco recorded with conductor Sonny Burke for Peggy Lee and on the Decca label the classic mambos Mambo Jumbo, KooKoo Mambo, Mambo Boogie, Mambo #5, etc. When asked about Burke, Pacheco said, "Sonny I met through Pete Candoli and he was strictly a business man."

From 1952 to 1958, Pacheco worked the studio circuit, going from Decca to Capitol to RCA Victor, Radio Recorders and finally to Gold Star, and it was there where he recorded three LPs for the Tampa label. He also had a fourth LP, a solo bongó album titled Bongó Date.

In 1958, he recorded on Shorty Rogers' classic release Afro Cuban Influence. "Shorty worked quite a bit at the Lighthouse club in Los Angeles when I met him. He was a very warm, soft-spoken, down-to-earth individual that musically speaking, was very intelligent."

In 1959, Pacheco became a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra, with whom he toured the U.S. and Canada. He recorded on Kenton's Viva Kenton and The Road Show and his talented percussion riffs can be heard on The Big Chase and Love For Sale.

The fifties was a big era for movie musicals and he worked in the sountracks of Guys and Dolls, A Star is Born (starring Judy Garland), and I Want to Live, with Susan Hayward. Along the way, he also met Desi Arnaz.